Surviving Palladium’s Big Move

[Kevin]

Hey, we all survived Palladium’s Big Move!

Wow, the last couple of grueling weeks have flown by. I can’t believe it has been eight days since I posted my last, quick, Murmur about Palladium’s Big move.

As most of you may already know, Palladium moved the weekend of March 28, 2008.

It was quite the undertaking, moving the accumulation of 16 years' worth of product, furniture, books and personal items from our roomy, 22,500 square foot facility to our newer, but smaller, 15,000 square foot facility. The real challenge has been squeezing the 5,000 square feet of office into 2,000.

The Three Day Move

The move itself was organized chaos. There was little time for gaming or even friendly conversation, though a handful of maniacs got in a couple of games, and various groups of fan volunteers did get to meet various Palladium staff and freelancers and spend some time talking.

I’m afraid, people got to see me at my worse. I tend to use foul language in the comfort of my workplace to begin with, and when under a mountain of stress, the expletives flew freely. Not only did I handle ALL the logistics (rent the truck, all building inspections and paperwork, new telephone, alarm and utility service, securing a forklift, renting a second forklift, getting and installing the pallet racks, and ALL things involved with the move), but I was the guy who had to assign and direct everyone else.

I was disappointed that I had neither the time or focus to meet with or chat with . . . well, most anyone. Other than barking orders and pointing to this and that, I didn’t have an opportunity to have any down time with any of our volunteers. Like I said, organized chaos. I'm just glad folks were happy to cut me some slack.

For me, it started two weeks before the move, calling city inspectors, the Fire Marshall, installers, utility companies, carpet cleaners, the electrician, the pallet people, Bell Fork Lift, the trucking company, the moving company (I had professionals move the heaviest and largest items upstairs at the old office, thank God!), the T-shirt company, the landlord, volunteers, and many others. On Thursday and Friday of the move, I get done with one telephone call in time to answer the next call. Sometimes I was juggling two or three calls at the same time, sometimes for hours at a time! (I was on the cell phone 8 hours straight on Thursday!) And, of course, there seemed to be small (and sometimes large) complications with half the plans, like the semi-truck breaking down Sunday evening with only one load to go; that caused a three hour delay until a new starter could be installed!

That having been said, the move really went very well thanks to nearly 50 volunteers from across the country. Carmen Bellaire was a godsend and a workhorse. He and I started the morning at 6:00 AM and worked till 1:00 AM the next morning on Saturday and from 7:00 AM till 11:30 PM on Sunday. Joe Bergmans, Eric Campion, Julius Rosenstein, Jason Marker, Randy Shanks and his pal Dennis, Diane Brown, James Brown, Mark Oberle and a number of others also truly worked like mules for long, long hours. Kathy Simmons supplied and served food, and our stalwart intern, Margaret was a big help.

I hoped to have a complete list of the names of helpers, but one of the lists were lost and some people I can only remember by their first names. My most heartfelt apologies to those of you who helped, but are not listed. Thank you everyone!

Rob Adkins, Thom Bartold, Carmen Bellaire, Joe Bergmans, Diane Brown, James Brown, Lucas Buck, Roger Cartier, Eric Campion (and his four pals – sorry guys, I forget you names), Corey Crandall, Tony Davis, Andre Duda, Kenny Gunther, Margaret Hailey, Jeff Hansen, Josh Hilden, Mike Leonard, Scott Moore, Mark Oberle, Tim Parker, Chris Perrin, Ray Salo, Joshua Sanford, Randy Shanks, Dave Sommershoe, Brandon Streu, Thomas Walters, Todd Wargin, Erik Willison, Peter Tirpak, Barry, Dennis, Phil, Joe, plus about a dozen unnamed volunteer (sorry folks), and the Palladium staff.

For their hard work, everyone got a "Palladium Muscle" T-shirt, some free books, and/or big piles of books for 50% off. Hey, I appreciated EVERYONE who came to help. You guys and gals were nothing short of AWESOME. Could not have done it without you!

Unpacking and getting up and running

Thank goodness we had 40+ volunteers to help us with the big move and we accomplished a Herculean feat moving everything in just two and a half days! Unfortunately, we only had the Palladium Staff and 4-5 volunteers (thanks Eric, Joe, Maggs, Barry and Phil) to help us unpack and get everything in place. That’s mostly okay, as we’d only be tripping over people if there were more. Reorganizing our operations takes care and forethought.

We’ve spent the last week unpacking and reorganizing the office and warehouse. I’d say we are already at about 65% unpacked and settled in (in large part thanks to the enormous and constant efforts of Joe Bergmans).

We’ve been shipping orders since Tuesday, and poor Julius has been swamped trying to catch up as Robotech® and other book orders continue to pour in. Several distributors have also placed reorders.

There are a lot of nice features to the new place and it should work out wonderfully. I hope to have the office up and running at 90-95% by the end of the week.

The Rifter® #42 delayed

Despite our high hopes and best efforts, I could not get The Rifter® #42 finished and to the printer. That means it should ship around April 22. Sorry.

Likewise, I have ben unable to work on Dyval as I continue to work nonstop, even on Sunday, to get the office back up and running at 100% as quickly as possible. However, Dyval is the next book I work on until it is done, and will hit store shelves in May.

Otherwise, we are super-busy and a little exhausted, but getting a lot accomplished. Heck, I even forgot it was my birthday Wednesday! (52 years old. How did that happen?)

Haven't had a chance to answer my e-mail, private messages or mail either. Hope to get to it in the next couple of days. Hope you understand.

Here is our new address and telephone number:

Palladium Books
39074 Webb Court
Westland, MI 48185
(734) 721-2903 Help/Order Line

More Murmurs news and updates to come.

Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Your very Tired Publisher, Artist and Writer

Copyright © April 6, 2008 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.
Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Palladium Books®, Phase World®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Megaverse®, Nightbane®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars® and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. Heroes Unlimited, Beyond the Supernatural, and other published book titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc., and Kevin Siembieda.

Robotech® and Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® are Registered Trademarks of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.