Look out! Orders are falling behind again as Games Workshop has announced more shipping delays for all products, including in North America.
Lately, many hobbyists and gamers have been left disappointed due to shipping delays from Games Workshop here in the States. Unfortunately, it seems like the trend is continuing as the company has announced their second delay this year already to their shipping services. The news has left many wondering how long these even delays will last this time. Plus we think that the explanation may have something to do with an issue we saw a few years ago…
Even More New Shipping Delays Announced By Games Workshop
Here is the latest on the shipping delays straight from the Warhammer Website.
We’re updating our Warehouse facilities in order to provide you with a better service.
From the 24th of February we are making an update to our warehouse facilities. During this time some orders may take an additional 3 days to dispatch. Our delivery times below and during checkout will be updated to reflect these delays.
While three extra days don’t seem like anything wild, this is on the back of many other delays (most notably the recent weather issues that plagued the Old World). However, they don’t really give an end date for this; they say anything after the 24th. This could last for a day, or this could last for the next two months; we really don’t know at this time. Let’s hope it’s the couple of days option…
It could also be that Games Workshop is updating their North America warehouse with more robotic order pickers as they indicated in their mid-year report.
North America
Additional robotics have been purchased (increasing from 45 to 70 robots) to further increase pick capacity. IT systems here are less complex than those at EMG (although both warehouses are using the same technology and robotics solutions), and they are meeting agreed KPIs and milestones.
However, we know what happened last time GW let the robots learn in the facility, as things got a little wild with the outgoing orders.
The Ongoing Robot Issues
Image From Hikrobotics
We first heard about the robot takeover in 2019, and this fumbled first attempt at a rollout of an automated system for Games Workshop happened in December of 2021 at the height of the holiday shipping season!
According to an Industry Insider from back then, these IRL robots are part of GW’s new automation system and warehouse expansion.
Games Workshop has been growing. Now they’re making things more automated with IRL robots. It’s called something like a Hikrobot– a smart machine that can pull orders from shelves and recharge itself (like a Roomba).
In 2021, the main issue was that it seems the people who work there can’t make any changes to the automation or what’s happening, and the automation seems to be making many mistakes currently. It also seems from the responses customers and retailers alike are receiving that orders can not be canceled once placed, as that would somehow mess with the automation.
While Games Workshops logistics eventually worked it out in the first quarter of 2022, this was highly disappointing to both hobbyists and LGS locations in the 2021 holiday season. Now, in 2024, we might see the same thing happen, but luckily, it’s not in the holiday season at this time.
How long do you think this new Games Workshop delay will last?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group and our Discord server. Make sure you enter the latest monthly giveaway for FREE today!
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Joined: 2019
Socials: @paschbass
Bio: Dark Eldar Dracon and Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the third edition in 1998. He also loves camping because you can only paint so much! He joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the main daily writer since 2020.
Maybe one day, he’ll finish converting all his Ad Mech models and turn into a true tech enjoyer, complete with sad and happy robot noises!
