The made-to-order lead time is approximately 6 weeks

The lead time is an approximate estimation and not a hard deadline. The time it takes us to work through our list of orders can vary and since we are so small, there isn't much we can do about it. Please leave a buffer when planning trips. The first orders in each month might ship out in a couple weeks, while the last orders in might take the full 6 weeks.

 

Ordering

Since we are small and can only serve a portion of our demand, we use a lottery system to limit our workload in a way that is fair to everyone. Anyone who would like to place an order can enter the lottery below by correctly answering the question(s). One entry per person. On the first of each month, the lottery will close and we will begin to make random selections among the people who answered correctly, until we reach our workload limit. The daily winners will be issued coupon codes and can place orders, relatively at leisure. However, being issued a code does not guarantee a spot. It is still first come, first served amongst winners, but there will be much less need to rush through an order. Soon after we fill up, we will reset the lottery for the following month so people have plenty of time to enter. We will post the correct answer with an explanation once the raffle has ended. You'll need to check in as the lottery will not confirm whether you answered correctly or not.

Since, we all tend to work on different items here, often we will fill up workload for one person, but not others. In this case, we will issue codes only for those specific items. Also, later in the month, sometimes we will have worked through projects and end up with extra room. In that case, we'll send out more codes later in the month. The majority of the codes go out in the first week of the month, but keep watch for codes all through the month.

This lottery is in place in order to make ordering fair for everyone, so please do not email and ask if there is a separate wait list or any other way to circumvent this system. We are taking in the work we can do each month, so obviously putting ten thousand people on a wait list that we can never tend to doesn't make much sense.

Why require the question(s) to enter the lottery? Good performance requires an educated user and our designs are centered around that. One needs to know what strengths and weaknesses each item of gear possesses so that they know when and how to use it. Or, when and how not to use it. We can't ensure a full education with just a few questions, but the hope is that it favors those who are open to thinking critically about their purchases and weed out low effort consumerism. The questions are likely to be pretty basic and the info clearly available on the website. The lottery will not inform you of a wrong answer.

 

June lottery

Essay quiz!

What is the primary use case and reason for fill power testing of down fill? Asking what it is for, not what it is.

Email your answer to timmermade@gmail.com with the subject " June Lottery ". Thorough, concise, and accurate answers will be ranked above others and given priority.

 

May Answers

" Calculated loft is an exact down quantity metric that is not subject to the large margin of error associated with total fill weight, does not require any formulas to compare items, and allows consumers to compare down quantity of any item, instead of being limited to comparing like items. Of course, down quantity is only a partial picture of warmth, but an exact partial picture is better than a vague partial picture. However, its usage is limited by a lack of availability. Ideally, manufacturers would make the info available, but in lieu of manufacturer cooperation, consumers can find the info on their own.

Assuming someone is in physical possession of a quilt, in 150 words or less, describe all the ways they would be able to find calculated loft on their own, without manufacturer cooperation? Total fill weight and fill power are advertised specs you can use.  "

These are the answers I was looking for.......

Using total fill weight and fill power to determine total down volume. Then calculate the total surface area of the quilt, considering the trapezoidal areas where there is taper. Divide total fill volume by area to find calculated loft. This method assumes that the advertised TFW and FP are accurate.

Open a seam for one chamber and remove the fill. Weigh that fill and multiply by advertised fill power to determine down volume in that chamber. Find surface area of that chamber and divide volume by area. Typically, this is a pretty easy job that won't ruin a quilt. There is usually an accessible seam. This assumes advertised FP is accurate, but this is very likely since it is tested by the processor, not the manufacturer. This also assumes that the entire quilt is filled to the same level, which they usually are. If not, this would need to be repeated for other sections that are filled differently.

Some other good ones that I didn't anticipate, but accepted....

Open a seam and remove fill from a chamber. Build a box that matches the area of that chamber and place the fill in it. Measure uncompressed loft height. This would be more labor intensive, and would be a little difficult to get a good measurement since the top surface of the fill isn't going to be flat....but it would give you all the info without needing to use any advertised specs.

Measure baffle height multiply by advertised overstuff percentage. I accepted this answer because in some cases it is correct. However, I wouldn't necessarily use this method due to the varying usage of the term " overstuff ". If a manufacturer is using the mathematical definition over overstuff, then calculated loft is simply the percentage the uncompressed down sits above the baffle height. You can usually easily measure the baffle height. However, if manufacturers are using a general definition of overstuff where it is simply " more added " then it wouldn't tell you anything.

There were some that suggested removing all the fill in the quilt to find TFW....or removing all fill to put into a box matching the total area. I considered these correct, since they would work....but they are not what I was looking for because they aren't practical methods. I should have added that I didn't want the quilt to be destroyed in the process.

By far, the most frequent wrong answer was suggesting that you can find calculated loft from measured loft. Measured loft is a reflection of loft when the down is under an unknown pressure inside a chamber. Calculated loft is the uncompressed loft when it's allowed to fully expand. When down is tested for fill power, it is measured in that uncompressed state and that is our baseline for establishing down quantity.

The selection priority is given to those with multiple correct answer, then one correct, then those with some correct / some incorrect....

Overall, I think there were many really great answer and there is a really valuable take-away from this essay. It's often argued that calculated loft isn't useful because it isn't available information that you can use to compare. While it is correct that manufacturers don't make it available, it is very accessible to consumers. If someone has a 20f quilt in any size from a manufacturer, they could run one of these methods on it, and everyone could know what the CL is for all their 20f systems in any size. It wouldn't take much for the community to find folks with 10f, 30f, 40f, etc and do that for each brand and you'd have a pretty comprehensive list.

Lottery Odds

For those who have been trying and trying at the quiz/lottery, here is an idea of some of the odds. It seems like on the easy quiz months, we're sending codes to about 10% of correct entrants. On one difficult quiz month, we sent codes to 100% of correct entrants. As education catches up, the harder months are now looking more like 50% success. There is limited return on the number of codes sent out though, so prioritizing the WordPress winner email is key. Overall, good odds, and if you can nail the difficult ones, the odds get really good.

 

Shipping

International customers - International shipping is less reliable than our domestic postal service. While issues are infrequent, Timmermade does not have the capacity to be responsible for delays or lost items due to customs or foreign postal services. Order at your own risk. FWIW, the issues we've encountered have been mostly Australia and Asian countries.

For domestic orders where there is a risk of theft or loss from the delivery location, we can select signature requirement. However, this is not a default setting. It is up to the consumer to request this option.

 

If you have any questions that are not answered on the site, please email timmermade@gmail.com