09:28 – We got nailed by a winter storm overnight, which continues today. There’s a lot of sleet and ice on the ground. More than 100,000 homes and businesses locally are without power. Barbara thought about going in to work, but she’s decided just to take the day off.
I’ve decided to be completely arbitrary about foreign shipments. On Tuesday, I got a query from Germany asking about buying multiple kits and combining shipments to save postage. I told him we’d be happy to ship the kits to him. On Wednesday, I got a query from a teacher at an international school in a very poor Western African country. He wanted to buy a bunch of chemistry kits. I turned him down, simply because I’m not comfortable shipping to that country, or indeed to any other third-world country. The risk is simply too high. Yesterday, I got a query from a guy in Denmark who wants to buy a biology kit. I told him we’d be happy to ship to him. What it all comes down to is that I trust the customs and postal services in first-world countries, but not those in poorer countries.
Speaking of biology kits, we’re down to under 15 in stock, so we’d better get started on building more.