Hello fellow 02ers!
I am giving you all an update as I have been somewhat absent from the forum for a good while now. The last two and a half years have been crazy for everyone, myself included. From having my first child in November of 2020, to moving my entire livelihood from Morro Bay, CA to Placerville, CA to closing a business, starting another, trying my hardest to keep 02bumpers afloat and then having my second child in February of 2022 things have been moving at lightening speed and I have not been my best at communicating this to forum members and customers of mine, that being said I really have been trying my hardest to keep everyone, my new family included, happy.
Covid 19 really messed up my supply chain as it has all over the world. It seems that bumper shipments have gotten fewer and farther between in the last two years. I have only received two shipments in the last 6 months. This is a very unusually long lead time and it has not been easy on me dealing with some harder to work with customers who are understandably frustrated with this "new normal" in supply chain issues. It had taken a hit on my mental health and I was very seriously considering closing the business (after all outstanding orders were either fulfilled or refunded) and focus on my career in guitar building.
I am not sure who knows that the bumper business has been my method of supporting my career in guitar building for sometime now and I have been running the bumper business since 2011 while working at National Reso-Phonic Guitars in San Luis Obispo from 2010-2017 and then a full time apprenticeship with acoustic guitar builder Mike Baranik from 2017-2020. I am now pursuing this career full time and trying to make a name for myself in the acoustic guitar world. I thought about closing down 02bumpers.com and walk away from the bumper business, for my own personal health. But after careful consideration I have decided to change my business plan with 02bumpers.com and keep it running on the side and continue to provide for the 2002 community.
That being said, now the supply chain is starting to get more streamlined, I have decided to change my business plan to a strictly inventory based system. This means if I don't have the bumper on hand, it will not be available to order, meaning there will be no custom orders that can be placed from 02bumpers.com from here on out. I will only provide bumpers that I have on hand and in stock.
This will help alleviate the stress of supply chain issues and to help keep a happy customer base who will now be receiving their orders within a week instead of within a year...or more. I do apologize in advanced for any inconvenience this may cause, but I hope it gives peace of mind to future customers who will know that if they order from my website, it will be shipped the next possible business day.
All currently outstanding orders will still be fulfilled.
I hope you all are doing well during 2002 season! I am working on installing a new IE header so I can get my 74' 2002 back on the winding roads of gold country! Looking forward to taking my 18 month old for her first spin in the 02
Please reach out to me here or at chris@02bumpers.com if you have any questions, concerns or comments and thank you all for the continued support over the years. I look forward to adding new products to 02bumpers in the next year, so stay tuned.
Cheers and best regards,
Chris Broemmelsiek
02Bumpers.com