LAST CHANCE! Only 12 hours left → GIR Peelers, Mashers, Basting Brushes, and more
over 4 years ago – Fri, Sep 06, 2019 at 12:06:32 AM

Hi team,

Our Kickstarter campaign for GIR Peelers, Mashers, Basting Brushes, Nonstick Tongs, and Spaghetti Spoons ends TONIGHT (9/5) at 11:59pm EST—this is your last chance to back our hot new tools at backer-only prices. PLUS, we're giving away a free ultimate straw set with every pledge. And in case you missed it, we have two very exciting updates to share with you all:

#1 - We unlocked BLACK as our stretch goal color for this campaign. Woohoo! Backers voted for black at nearly 40% across all tools, so this classic is making a comeback. We've added black as a color option for every tool in this campaign—peelers, mashers, basting brushes, and tongs.

#2 - NONSTICK TONGS in more colors. We're happy to have answered the call for more tong colors with not just one extra, but three! In addition to NAVY, we're going to be able to produce tongs in RED, SLATE, and BLACK (as mentioned above, of course). These nonstick tongs feature a traditional slide-lock mechanism that won't trip anyone up, ever.

Thanks for everyone who's backed us so far—this new campaign has been something of a road to redemption after a very rough couple of years for the GIR team, and we're so thankful if we've earned your support. We're good people trying hard to make good things, and when that doesn't go as planned it's rough for everyone. We're so proud of these new products. They're in production already, and we're looking forward to delivering rewards well in time for holiday gift giving, and getting back on track with the GIR mission for years to come. 

Only 12 hours left to pledge → Pledge Now

Love,

Sam and the GIR Team

Just launched: GIR Peelers, Mashers, Basting Brushes, Nonstick Tongs, and Spaghetti Spoons
over 4 years ago – Wed, Aug 07, 2019 at 02:24:23 AM

We're back! Our campaign for six new products from GIR is lifting off, and we'd love your support if you're willing. Thank you to everyone who took the time to write a note of encouragement in response to the last update—you guys are the reason we got into this whole adventure in the first place.

You can check out the campaign here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/productofgir/gir-peelers-mashers-basting?ref=a3uc96

Thanks so much to everyone for giving us another chance, or coming back for more if you love your stuff—we really love doing this with you.

Love,

Sam and the GIR Team

We'd like another chance to get it right.
over 4 years ago – Fri, Aug 02, 2019 at 02:55:47 AM

Hi team,

The reviews are in... and they're pretty mixed. Though we've had a number of backers report that they're really happy with their tongs, the number of defective units and unhappy users is way past our comfort zone. We've done our best to handle all the inbound customer service requests and make things right for every backer, whatever that has meant to each of them. And we need to say this: we're really sorry if you hate your tongs. We get it. We tried our hardest, and in moments like this it helps to reflect on the privilege we're afforded on Kickstarter to take risks in creative product development with you all by our side. Not all of our endeavors have panned out, but being here with you means that we can share the story with people who know where we've come from, and how much effort we've put into delivering happiness.

This campaign has been tough. I apologize to anyone who received a faulty whisk at the outset, or bad tongs at the end of the road—for some of you, it was both. It's heartbreaking (and extraordinarily expensive) for us when things go wrong, and frustrating for you guys to have put dollars into something you don't absolutely love.

Next week, we're launching a new campaign on Kickstarter, with new tongs. We scrapped the squeeze-lock mechanism (I suppose I'll pick up that Quixotic quest in another lifetime) and we're using a traditional slide lock, the likes of which you've almost certainly seen before. Our pull tab is nice and grippy and covered in comfy silicone, but it's a simple pull tab nonetheless and I don't expect for there to be too many surprises in the user experience. They also feature a nonstick-safe blade, a feature so many of you were hoping we could deliver at some point.

I wish we could give you these tongs for free. I know that for some of you, the annoyance of supporting tongs you didn't end up liking, and then being invited to support a new! different! version will be enough to merit cries of frustration. And if you've lost all faith and just hate our guts at this point, please vote with your dollar and take a pass on this one.

We're still a pretty small company, and we lost a near-death amount of money redesigning tongs and remanufacturing both those and the whisks over the past year and a half. Now, more than ever, we'd like to ask for your understanding and help. We're not going to profit on these tongs - we just want to get them out the door to you.

If you're up for giving us a second chance, we'll do our best to earn the privilege. In addition to our nonstick tongs, we've designed peelers, mashers, basting brushes, and a spaghetti spoon that vibrantly embody GIR's mission of thoughtful design and excellent execution. We'd love to share them with you if you'll join us.

The campaign launches on Tuesday at 9am PT. We're so excited to take another crack at these bad boys, and to have you all with us for the ride.

With thanks and respect,

The GIR Team

That's a wrap!
almost 5 years ago – Wed, Jun 05, 2019 at 02:37:03 AM

Hi team,

Thanks again for supporting this campaign! It was a rough one as GIR campaigns go - we were late on tong delivery, and had some surprise production defects in both tongs and whisks that were a frustration for any of you that were affected, and an expensive misadventure us of course. That said, all in all I'd call this project a success and I'm grateful to have had everyone's support in bringing these new products to life, and your patience as we learned as much as we could during the process.  

As of my latest tally, over 3500 reward packages have made their way to backers' doorsteps. Primary shipping was completed in April and we'd been patiently tracking the progress of the last few international shipments that seemed to be taking the scenic route. Both domestic US and international shipping groups are now over 99% fulfilled.

There are still about 100 backers for whom we are either missing address verification details or a response to a pledge-specific question we've emailed about directly. A few more backers never started or completed their surveys. If you're in either category, we'd love to get your reward delivered! Please email us directly at [email protected] if you haven't received a tracking notification, and we'll help out immediately to get your shipment on its way. If you've already corresponded with us via email, we've got you covered of course. NOTE: The comments board can't track support tickets and isn't a place we're comfortable posting backer-specific information like addresses, pledge details, or tracking numbers, so please just email us at [email protected] if you need help of any sort.

With that, I'm going to call this campaign a wrap. I'll monitor the comments board well into the future, of course, and if you need help with rewards from this campaign or any other GIR product, ever, you can find us at [email protected].

We'll be back, if you'll have us!

With thanks,

Sam and the GIR Team

International shipping + some tong tips
about 5 years ago – Mon, Apr 08, 2019 at 02:59:49 AM

Hi team!

Shipping Update

With a few exceptions, all domestic US packages have shipped out to backers who confirmed their details - phew! We've gotten out few hundred of international shipments as well, and we're packing up more this week. About 2,500 orders have gone out so far and about 800 are in the queue.

If you're an international backer still waiting for your shipping confirmation, thanks for your patience! We've had limited success tracking the first round of shipments outside of the US, so we requested new shipping accounts from DHL and Asendia that offer a fully-tracked option. We put that effort into motion a few weeks ago, and our reps are just now finalizing our shipping accounts - we should have them loaded into our system later this week. This will give us much higher confidence that your package will get where it's supposed to go, and we'll have actionable information should anything go wrong. If there's one thing we've learned from all these Kickstarter campaigns over the years, it's this: eventually, everything comes down to logistics!

If you're a US backer still waiting for your shipment, look out for an email this week from our team. There may have been an address verification or other issue that held up your package, and we're reviewing all US orders versus delivery status to reach out to anyone whose package hasn't shipped (or arrived).

If you haven't yet let us know about changes to your shipping address, please do so ASAP - we don't want to send stuff to the wrong place! Check your email for a message from us on March 10th with the subject line, "Your GIR Tongs + Whisks Kickstarter Order | Address + Add-ons Confirmation." If everything looks good, there's a link for you to click to let us know that we can ship it with no changes if needed. Otherwise, you can respond to the email with any updates and we'll make sure your package gets to the right place with the right things inside the box.

I'll post another update once we've completed the final shipping rounds, so that if somehow you haven't received a shipping notification and tracking number you can holler at us and we'll make sure it reaches your inbox.

The best place to reach us for shipping questions is via email at [email protected]. We don't ever like to share private account details on the comments board, so leaving a message there puts us in a challenging customer service position. An email with your question will free us up to respond directly and in detail!

Notes from the Field

Thanks to everyone who tuned in to our Kickstarter Live broadcast a couple weeks ago. If there's sufficient interest, let me know in the comments section below and we can schedule another one! In the meantime, here are a few thoughts and takeaways from the past couple weeks of having these tongs "out in the wild."

1) The black tongs have some attitude

That is, occasionally they need some breaking in. We're learning that that's because of the extra material deposited on the arms during the electroplating process - it's only a fraction of a millimeter, but it seems to be enough to gum up the works on the first use. There's a pretty easy fix though: working a bit of oil (olive oil, mineral oil, or avocado oil, for example) into the hinge area should free up the the lock quite nicely.

Here's what one backer wrote back in response to that suggestion:

• I wanted to let you know that after I got home I washed the black tongs and what I had thought was part of the texture seemed to be a fine dust or something from the finish that washed off leaving them feeling smoother. It worked a little better then, but after drying them I added a couple drops of avocado oil to each side of the hinge pin and flexed it a few times. That solved the problem and they work just as Sam demonstrated in the video. No excess friction anymore at all.

I'm the first to admit that it's a bit awkward of me to ask backers to break this product in. After everyone's patience with our shipping timeline, yet another "thing gone wrong" isn't a great look here. We took a big risk in bringing a novel mechanism to the market, and when the tongs are assembled within the right tolerances, it works like a charm. When anything is just slightly out of spec, though, it seems to be causing headaches and for that I just can't apologize enough. The materials, design, and concept here are bar-none, in my naturally biased opinion. But the production mechanics leave little to no room for error - which is something that most tong manufacturers have ample leeway around. If you are having trouble with the hinge lock, please don't hesitate to let us know - and do give the oil a chance to work its magic. We stand behind our products 100%, so if you need help or think that you received a defective pair of tongs, reach out to us at [email protected] and we'll make it right.

2) Using the tong covers

The red blade cover included with each pair of tongs is packaged between the tong arms, tucked away near the hinge under the paper wrap. If you're using scissors to cut the packaging off, take care not to slice the cover!

If you notice that the tongs are technically unlocked when the blade cover is on, you're right! The cover disengages the lock since it's effectively pressing on the blades (and keeping them closed by its own force instead). If you're using the cover, anticipate that the tongs will open once you remove it and then you can relock them for around-the-kitchen use as needed.

3) Heavy-grip lock engagement

If you're exerting a lot of force when squeezing down near the hinge, even while holding food, you can accidentally engage the lock mechanism. If you notice this happening, I'd recommend a lighter grip right around the hinge if at all possible, or adjusting your grip a tad further away from the hinge itself to avoid pushing right on the "lock spot."

Feedback

Thank you so much for the honest feedback everyone has been sending; good, bad, or indifferent, we're always out to learn from backers and figure out how we can bring better products, and better experiences, to the table. Please don't hesitate to shoot us a note at [email protected] if we can provide any other tips or thoughts that might be helpful. 

Onward to the last 800 shipments!

Sam