While we have been shipping your orders in huge numbers (it is almost as if DHL, who collect them every day, are starting to wonder whether to come with the lorry instead of the van), we have made some changes behind the scenes in the shops. One change this past month is that we have switched from Svea Ekonomi to Bambora. We were happy with Svea, but we wanted more of our customers to have more payment options than Svea offers. From now on, our Danish, Finnish and Norwegian customers can pay with their equivalents of Swish: Vipps and MobilePay. All you need to do is choose your local currency, and the option appears at checkout. For Swedish customers there is our usual Swish, which has also been updated (more on that below), plus card, invoice and instalments. The last three now sit in the same box that appears.
Since we started taking Swish payments just over two years ago, first by paying manually to our Swish number and then, this past year, an automatic version where you enter your Swish number and just approve the payment in the app, about every other order is now paid with Swish.
We have now updated Swish to a new version where you don't need to enter your number. Instead you get a QR code that you scan with the Swish app, and the payment appears straight away, ready to approve. If you are on a phone or other device with the Swish app, just tap the QR code and the app opens. We hope this makes shopping even quicker for you.
In a few days a pallet of books and tools arrives from Lost Art Press. Among other things we are restocking The Anarchist's Tool Chest, which has been out of stock for a week or so. We are also getting a few copies of the deluxe edition of Roubo on Furniture. We have ordered more that will hopefully arrive in a few weeks, but only a limited number remain. LAP will not reprint this magnificent work; the copies now being sold are the last. We are also getting a few lump hammers and their new tool for easily finding the angles when making chairs, the Chairpanzee.
All the books are here: Lost Art Press and the tools are here: Crucible Tools
This week a smaller delivery from Veritas is also arriving. It includes their router plane, the dual marking gauge and a product we haven't had before, Veritas honing compound. That last one is actually a product you have asked us to bring in, and of course we are doing so. That is the advantage of buying directly from the manufacturers: we don't depend on a wholesaler having it in stock, but discuss what we want and when it can come directly with the people who know what is available.
We are also getting a large delivery from York in the next few days, restocking lots of different products, several of them brand new and in fact so new that there are no product photos of them yet. Keep an eye out for pictures here: York. York, together with Sjöbergs and Veritas, makes up Sweden's widest range of front and end vices. All of them are on the shelf in Farsta and can be shipped right away.
In a few weeks more planes are coming from Clifton, and then we will have their whole range of high-quality tools in stock. Clifton
Deliveries are also coming in the next few weeks from Piher, Pégas, Narex, PEC, Shinwa and other Japanese suppliers, masks from GVS, rasps from France and a couple of brand-new products and manufacturers.
Given how the pandemic is growing in Sweden, at the same time as we have a very high inflow of orders, we will shortly "close" the shop again. We need to use all the time we can spare on site to get orders out, handle incoming deliveries and answer your questions by phone and email. We really want to give you all the attention you deserve when you come to shop in person, but right now we feel that will be difficult, so we are choosing to do this. During December we will also temporarily stop handing out orders in Farsta, as we don't know what hours we will be "working"; it may be early mornings or late evenings. We hope everyone understands. There are only two of us working at Rubank Verktygs, and we shouldn't be on site at the same time (those of you who have visited know it is quite cramped and hard to keep your distance), and with all the deliveries on their way it will get even more crowded. We are also rearranging the shop to fit all the products, so it is a little "chaotic" right now. We hope to show you pictures of how it looks in the next newsletter.
A reminder that you get discounted or free shipping if you log in on the website when you shop. If you don't have an "account", you can create one at checkout. It is only a line or two more to fill in than shopping as a guest, and it makes things much quicker next time. You can also save your basket, see past orders, get more delivery options and so on.
A reminder too that we have gift cards.
We haven't had exact delivery times for Christmas yet, but Monday 21 December will probably be the last day for deliveries across the whole country. We have noticed that deliveries south of Sundsvall, across to Östersund and down to Skåne arrive overnight, and that almost the whole coast north of Sundsvall now manages overnight delivery too. Inland Norrland and the far north of Sweden take at least two days. We will ship orders until the 23rd, but of course cannot guarantee anything. From what we have heard, online shopping will increase enormously this Christmas; we ourselves have already bought our Christmas presents online, or will do so very soon.
Would you like your projects to appear here? Get in touch with some pictures and text, and we will post them.
Until next time, take care and see you soon!
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