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We get asked on an almost-daily basis why we don’t ship things overseas. The answer is: We do. We ship our books to our international vendors so they can sell them to customers with a reasonable shipping cost.

But what about T-shirts, bandanas, chore coats and the like? That’s where it gets complicated.

Shipping directly to Europe is a tax nightmare for us (thank you, EU). And on advice of our attorney and accountant, we have decided to sell only through our international vendors so that we don’t end up doing a lot of paperwork.

Shipping to Canada, Australia and other countries is a different kind of problem. It’s insanely expensive. Even with a fully automated, high-tech warehouse with accounts with all the international carriers, we can’t get shipping rates that are even close to reasonable. The cost of shipping a book is usually more than the retail price of the book or bandana or sweatshirt.

We have tried many schemes (too many to list here) to sell shirts and the like outside of the U.S., but they all failed or were too complicated to maintain.

Lost Art Press might look like a big company at times, but are only two guys who run the thing. There are physical limits to what we can do – and publishing books will always be at the top of the list.

I offer a couple solutions for those outside the U.S. who want some of our specialty products:

1. Use a parcel forwarding service. Many LAP customers have had great success with these services. Here is a list of five recommended by Huffington Post. I wish we could get rates as reasonable as they get. It must be magic.
2. Print your own shirts and sweatshirts. You can download our logo file here. There are thousands of services all over the world that will let you print your own shirt, jacket or (shudder) thong with the logo.

I wish at times we were a big company that could have a person dedicated to shipping. And that we shipped a million parcels a year so we could qualify for the dirt-cheap rates. And that I had to attend marketing meetings three times a week to get harangued to sell more of the things that suck. And then I had to meet with the executive types above me to explain why we needed a $500 digital camera to continue making books. And that I had to fill out performance reviews and attend classes on how to harass your employees legally. And then I wake up from the bad dream.

— Christopher Schwarz

 

Charles Brock and Stephen Price from “The Highland Woodworker” stopped by recently to film a segment on Lost Art Press and our storefront. That day, Brendan Gaffney was teaching a class on building a sector, and Megan Fitzpatrick was editing Christian Becksvoort’s new book, so it was quite a circus.

You can view the entire episode here if you like.

Personal note about my performance: I know that I am likely somewhere on the spectrum when it comes to autism. I have difficulty looking people in the eye (always have). Feel free to make fun of me on this (Megan does). Also, I attended a special school when I was 5 for some of these developmental problems, so I’m easily mocked for that as well (Brendan does).

Suffice to say, I’m not sensitive about it.

Aside from the fact that I look and act like a freak, the episode is excellent! We tour the Covington, Ky., neighborhood where the storefront is located and show Charles the bench room, the research library, the biergarten and the Electric Horse Garage (the machine room). And we chat about three of our newest titles: “Hands Employed Aright,” “Welsh Stick Chairs” and “The Intelligent Hand.”

Thanks to Charles, Steve and Highland Woodworking, which sponsors the show. I am now crawling back into my spider hole so I can build a couple more chairs in peace.

— Christopher Schwarz

The Lost Art Press storefront will be open this Saturday (Nov. 10) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with our full array of books available to purchase, including our newest title “The Intelligent Hand.”

In addition to that, Brendan and I will show a wide variety of chairs. Many of them we made and will be for sale. But we’ll also show chairs from other makers that we have collected. If you have any interest in chairs (Windsor, Welsh, ladderback etc.) this show will be a great opportunity to try out a variety of them and talk about the construction process.

The two most interesting (and beautiful) chairs in the show are the chair Larry Barrett built for the forthcoming edition of “Make a Chair from a Tree” by Jennie Alexander, and Chris Williams’s four-stick Welsh stick chair in the show, which is about as wondrous a chair as you can imagine.

We’ll post a full list of chairs in the show later this week.

If you haven’t been to Covington, Ky., recently, the town continues to clean up its act. For some reason all of the prostitutes have left our area (we don’t know why; maybe it was something Brendan said). We’ve also gotten a few more interesting and independent restaurants.

One of our favorites is Peppe Cucina at 39 W. Pike St. It’s a great deli that makes its own bread. And it has a pizza oven – slices are $4 on homemade focaccia. It’s a nice spot to eat lunch. Or you can take your food across the street to Braxton Brewing and get a beer to go with your sandwich or pizza.

Of course, our favorite place in town is still Main Street Tavern. Brunch there is about as good as you can get (right now I am fixated on the breakfast biscuit sandwich with fried chicken, egg and cheese).

The storefront is at 837 Willard St. in Covington, Ky., and we hope to see you there.

— Christopher Schwarz