Daring Fireball T-Shirt
Earlier in the year I decided to join Daring Fireball; July 4th to be precise. Daring Fireball is a Mac focused website authored by John Gruber. Mr. Gruber had recently quit his day job to focus entirely on his website. He wasn’t the first person to put his livelihood in the hands of his readers, but he was the first I considered worthy of my money for his in-depth analysis on all things Apple.
You can become a member of Daring Fireball for 19 bucks, but for 29 he also throws in a Daring Fireball t-shirt. This is in addition to the full RSS feeds Mr. Gruber gives to all members. Most members, me included, become members to help Mr. Gruber continue writing. I would have joined even without the t-shirt option.
After joining I instantly received an email with my key to unlock the full Daring Fireball RSS feeds, and the promise of a t-shirt within 2 weeks. Several weeks went by with no t-shirt. I wrote Mr. Gruber instructing him that I hadn’t received my t-shirt and though it wasn’t a big deal, I thought I’d write in case my order got lost. I included my receipt along with the email.
Several month went by with no t-shirt. During this time Mr. Gruber mentioned on his website that he was behind a little on t-shirt orders. I thought surely one of those orders was mine, and my shirt would be coming soon. Not long after I read of people receiving their t-shirts, and even photographs of those t-shirts on flickr. I was not one of these people.
I then switched to writing Mr. Gruber once a month asking about the t-shirt. It went from a basic:
“It’s no big deal, but if there’s a problem with the t-shirts please just drop me a line.”
to a helpless:
“4 months….still no t-shirt.”
Despite multiple emails begging for an explanation I never received a response. It seemed so bizarre to me that Mr. Gruber would make no effort to respond that I emailed from different accounts in case one was being filtered into his spam folder. Still, nothing. Eventually I gave up. After all, it wasn’t about the t-shirt (I kept telling myself this).
Until one day, when I had given up on ever receiving my Daring Fireball t-shirt, it was at my doorstep. I half expected a note inside with an apology, or an explanation, but alas, nothing. Which is fine. I didn’t join Daring Fireball for the t-shirt. I joined Daring Fireball to help Mr. Gruber continue writing great articles about Apple, and continue he does. Though waiting almost half a year for a t-shirt promised in 2 weeks was frustrating, I still believe it was money well spent.
However, if you’re buying a Daring Fireball t-shirt for a gift (as I would have this Christmas), or intend to wear it on an upcoming trip (as I had originally planned oh so many months ago), you might want to take my story into consideration. Though Mr. Gruber promises delivery within 2 weeks, it could easily be 5 months, and you’ll get no reason why.
