To the Scrooges out there looking to stir up trouble,

Congratulations, you have revealed one of evil Palladium Books’ rotten conspiracies.

First, Kathy gave this customer an explanation. Apparently he didn’t like it.

Second, Kathy did not have a chance to respond to his next e-mail which she received only yesterday morning. Ironically, she was going to respond this morning. Sorry that wasn’t fast enough.

So here’s the deal with the Christmas Grab Bags.

1. We have NO IDEA how much “stuff” or which books will go into a Christmas Surprise Package. After all EACH and EVERY Grab Bag is HAND PICKED to the buyer’s “Wish List.” Some books weigh more than others. Some grab bags require more than one package (i.e. large prints, original art, odd items, may require separate packaging and extra cost to ship two packages for the one order, etc.).

We can NOT know in advance what the shipping cost will be until we pick and package the individual Grab Bag. To do so, however, would mean charging first for the Grab Bag and later (often days later) for the shipping.

This would, a) first and foremost, create a HUGE amount of extra work and time processing the Grab Bags. So many steps and work that it would make it IMPOSSIBLE for us to do the Grab Bags! We ship out 1200-2000 every season. They are a ton of work already. They cost us a TON of time already. To prepackage, weigh, list specific weights and shipping costs, give that to Kathy to place on charge cards, then wait to see if the charge goes through, then to let the shipping department (Hank and Julius) know which packages can be ship, is too convoluted and costly in time, steps and manpower/work.
b) It would cause confusion (what’s this charge on my credit card?).
c) Delay shipping by several days, making it impossible for most orders placed in December to arrive before Christmas.
d) It would make mail order impossible and telephone orders much more difficult and costly.
e) Btw, part of the shipping cost is a $3 handling fee to cover shipping materials and a tiny fraction of our work.

2. Because of the “estimated” flat price based on projected weight, Palladium does, indeed, make a little money on some packages. We also lose money on others that end up weighing more or require special packaging and handling, etc. Ultimately the cost difference is a wash. If anything, Palladium probably loses money on shipping overall.

3. The “shipping cost” is NOT a secret. It is calculated when the order is placed. YOU KNOW the price you are paying when you send the order in. There is no deception about it. And BECAUSE OF THE HIGH SHIPPING COST OVERSEAS we always try to make overseas orders extra special.

4. Even if you feel you were overcharged by what was it, $13.80 per package, it sure did NOT stop you from ordering FOUR of them. And not all at once, but weeks apart after receiving the previous ones.

Could it be because you were getting $380 worth of books ($100, $101, $96 and $83 for the four various Grab Bags – signed by us)?! Like I said, we try to make Overseas Grab Bags special to compensate for the cost. You would have paid that plus shipping if these books were purchased separately, so you still saved at least $100, not to mention the autographs. I can’t help it you live far away in the land Downunder.

You obviously felt the Grab Bags were worthwhile because you wrote the following (I don’t know what changed your mind).

“Unfortunately, I won’t be able to order anymore books from you ‘till next Grab-Bag. The postage costs works out that my Grab-Bags ordered are reflective of your standard book prices, though it would be a little more expensive to buy them at shelf prices here in Australia. I’ve appreciated the lengths you guys have gone to in order to provide me with a great selection of new Palladium gaming books, and I now have the core rulebooks for all of may favourite games, some of them, such as RiftsUE and Nightbane, I had never played before. By the way . . . I LOVE them! Best wishes to you all through the new year, and thankyou very much for being so kind with your oders. Until next Grab-Bag season, farewell.”

Yep, autographed books at below Australian store prices. We’re evil creeps, that's plain to see.

5. Where’s YOUR Christmas spirit? These Christmas Surprise Packages are OUR gift . . . our THANK YOU to Palladium fans.

We are NOT looking to make a secret profit somehow, or to take advantage of Overseas Purchasers or anyone, anywhere.

We use what little extra money we might make on some Grab Bag Orders to help out OTHER gamers. As Christmas approaches we ship a number of the Media Mail orders (super slow) via UPS at our cost so they can get them in time for Christmas. When we hear that someone’s collection was destroyed by the Katrina Hurricane, lost in a fire, or stolen, and the person seems sincere or is someone we know from the Palladium website, we send the EXTRA books and goodies. Sometimes a lot of extras. Which, in addition to the extra books, also costs more to ship. We do the same for Servicemen on duty overseas. We may do the same for teachers who are trying to start a game club in their school or use RPGs to help students read or hone their social skills.

I can hear the Scrooge's response now: “That's nice, but why should I pay to help any of those people?” I’m sorry to say my answer to that would start with an F-word.

6. We bust our backs doing the Grab Bags. We work in a cold, uncomfortable warehouse, and we HAND PICK and try to make EACH and EVERY one of them special. We sold approx. 1600 X-Mas Grab Bags this year. Each Grab Bag has, on average 5 books per bag and 99% of the purchasers want autographs (which we are happy to do). That’s 8,000 books signed by me and the Palladium Staff, and often by many more. How about factoring any of that into the shipping cost. *** And again *** that was a cost you KNEW ABOUT (like it or not) BEFORE you placed your order. There was no deception. No misrepresentation. You accepted the cost. And you were so satisfied you placed multiple orders (4) over a two month period. Give me a break.

While complaints and meanspirited threads like this one makes me angry as hell, I cannot say that doing the Christmas Grab Bags is a thankless job. It’s not. It’s wonderful. In fact, we got around 60 letters and Christmas cards thanking us for their Grab Bag. A few wonderfully crazy fans even sent us some small presents in gratitude. That doesn’t even count the dozens of Private Messages I get, the several hundreds of thanks and well wishes we get in the comments section of Grab Bag ordes, or the multitude of comments that are posted online.

Furthermore, I'd like to point out that this is one of 4-5 complaints out of approximately 1600 people who ordered, and the other complaints were about Grab Bags that got lost in the mail or damaged (which we always try to resolve, if possible), not the cost.

Here’s the bottom line.

If we have to refund people for shipping or have to stop going with a flat fee estimate and go through a couple of extra very time consuming steps, we CANNOT do the Christmas Surprise Packages any longer.

I am sorry that a month after Christmas there seems to be “buyer’s remorse.” I’m sorry you are so disenchanted that you have to try to make a mockery of something good and rip us in a public forum. I'm sorry you try to make me, Kathy or Palladium Books appear like cold-heart S.O.B.s who cheats the fans. I suggest you do not purchase any Christmas Surprise Packages in the future.

I imagine we’ve lost you and your sympathizers as fans and customers, but I hope others who ordered Christmas Surprise Packages don’t feel the same. They must not based on the kind words we hear and the multitude who order every year. We work painfully hard at trying to give back to the Palladium gaming community at Christmas time. Our goal is to make Christmas for gamers a little bit more fun and special. To put a smile on people's faces. I apologize if we have failed at this.

A shame the Christmas spirit can’t last all year long.

Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer, Artist and Would-be Surrogate Santa</blackquote>