One entry per chat per week — what moved, and the risks and open asks at week's end. Latest week expanded.
Mostly a logistics week: Hq's Toronto→LGA flight (AC8536, then AC724) was cancelled and repeatedly delayed on 8/10, finally landing ~1:30am and getting to the apartment ~2:20am on 8/11. Andrew worked from a WeWork/friends in LIC in the meantime and left bags at the front desk (unit 9F). The Aug 12–15 NYC working session is now effectively underway with ERP work stated as the priority. Real work output on 8/11: Andrew shared a Google Sheet plus a document pack — Q-K8R4T2A01_v4.pdf, Q-CC250906-00202.pdf, INV-7R4K8NA02_v2.pdf and Q-HFAL250701-00210_EXW_signed.pdf (Hamilton Farms quote signed on EXW terms) — and a competitor list (Ebottles, AEGlobal, Gamut Packaging, Cannazip, Green Rush Packaging, Treeform). Hq passed over WiFi/system credentials and Andrew's new andrew@mentumsupplyco.com account was set up. No movement this week on Gary's a la carte scope, the B2B Wave demo, the retainer SOW, or the 8/2 call recap.
Very quiet week — only the sample shipment moved. On Mon 10 Aug Jack posted a photo of the packed parcel plus FedEx tracking 383076458760, confirming dispatch of the held sample set (20pcs each of the 90mm and 98mm tamper-evident pop top tubes, invoiced and paid at $80 door-to-door under SC608041J). No commentary accompanied the tracking (one message was deleted), and there was no movement on any pricing/MOQ questions: 109mm client decision and improved sea-freight pricing, 116mm quote and label vs shrink-wrap decision, 80mm pop top and 80mm CR glass items all remain untouched. We have not yet replied or confirmed the parcel contents.
Quiet week on the Tyson 2.0 pouch order (13,500 pcs, in production after the 8/8 deposit clearing). The only movement was a blind-shipping compliance exchange: Andrew formally restated to Dora — now our main contact in place of Liz — that every order requires blind shipping with no supplier, office, business or factory information anywhere on or inside the cartons, and that a breach would end future business. Dora acknowledged the requirement ("we knew all the middle man requested it") but flagged that the order will move via the forwarder and that the forwarder's shipping agent information will appear on the outside of the boxes, which we have not yet accepted or clarified. No production schedule, sea shipping schedule, or tooling/production lead times were provided, and no leadership meeting on supply agreements was scheduled.
Quiet week on the sourcing cases — no movement on Gary's a la carte scope, Hamilton Farms glass tube samples, or the Tyson 2.0 pouch reorder. Activity was all relationship/planning: Andrew confirmed Aug 13–15 as workable for the NYC visit (Hq offered to arrive earlier) and proposed a virtual workshop on Aug 12 so most of the POA is set before meeting in person. Multiple calls happened (11-min call 8/4, a rescheduled Google Meet 7–8pm 8/5). Off-case, Andrew turned around a written logo critique for a friend's AI/robotics venture (C7V2H5A01_Logo Iteration Report_v01.pdf) on 8/6. Hq shared physicalreality.com for feedback on 8/8; Andrew wants a brief on the business objectives first and both agreed to push that discussion to Monday's in-person agenda. Andrew also asked for the NY address (4550 Pearson St, Long Island City) to plan a rental car drop-off, and Hq noted Joedat is still on board.
Only the 90mm/98mm tamper-evident sample shipment moved this week. Jack confirmed the 90mm mould is finished and offered samples; he initially proposed 3-5pcs, we pushed to 20pcs per size, and after negotiating his sample charge down from $220 to $120 to a final $80 door-to-door (originally quoted as $60 express delivery + $60 sample fee, with Jack absorbing $40 and half the sample fee refundable against a bulk order), he issued invoice SC608041J on 4 Aug. Random stock colours accepted, ship-to set as Monarch Packaging, Hazleton PA, and we sent payment confirmation the same day. Asked for an ETA on 6 Aug, Jack said tracking will follow Monday (10 Aug). Everything else in the relationship stayed dormant: no 109mm client decision or improved sea-freight pricing, no 116mm quote/MOQ, no shrink-wrap pricing, and no movement on the 80mm or CR glass items.
The week was dominated by the missing 50% deposit on the Tyson 2.0 pouch order (13,500 pcs). Dora reported non-receipt on 8/3; Andrew sent proof of payment and then the ACH trace # (121145431398721) on 8/5. The factory's bank (an Alibaba agent bank) said ACH funds sit ~7 working days for local clearing before release, and asked that future payments go by bank wire. Dora even offered to have us pay the remaining balance first while waiting. The deposit finally landed Saturday 8/8, and Dora confirmed on 8/9 that the order was already put into production last week. Andrew asked twice (8/6) whether tooling/production had started and for lead times — the lead times and sea shipping schedule are still outstanding, as is confirmation of blind shipping to Hazleton PA ahead of the factory's mid-August move.
No business movement this week — the chat was almost entirely personal (birthday, hangout plans, Delta travel griping). Andrew canceled the scheduled Wednesday call on 7/29 while dealing with flight problems, and a call did get underway Monday 8/2 (same link, audio issues at the start) but nothing from it was captured in the chat. No updates on the Hamilton Farms glass tube finished samples, the Tyson 2.0 pouch reorder artwork, or Gary's a la carte scope/pricing — all three remain exactly where they were last week, as does the retainer SOW work on our side.
The Tyson 2.0 pouch reorder moved from stalled artwork limbo to a placed, paid order this week. Andrew sent revised artwork (7R4K8NA02_8R3XK-5T8K3R02_v1.ai) by chat and email on 7/28 — only the white text on the back panel changed — and confirmed the order quantity at 13,500 pcs. Andrew pushed for $1,050 total landed; Dora came back with $60 off the fixing plate ($1,109), then a further $10, for $70 total in discounts and an explicit "no more bargaining" (she cited material cost increases and commission give-back). We elected sea freight, and Dora agreed that any overrun quantity above 13,500 (cap 2,000 pcs) would be billed at 60% of unit price versus their usual 80% floor. Andrew instructed blind shipping to our facility — Monarch Packaging Ltd, 572 W Broad St, PMB 147, Hazleton, PA 18201 — so we can observe how the client receives the shipment. Dora issued an updated PI/invoice (Invoice-Tyson 2.0 pouch-From Dora.pdf) on 7/29; we agreed 50% deposit (she asked for full, settled on half) and Andrew paid via Mercury Bank ACH the same evening, with Dora confirming she received the transfer email. She is pressing to start production immediately because their factory relocates mid-August.
Light week, mostly a verbal catch-up. Andrew expects to close the Tyson 2.0 pouch reorder this week — only artwork changes were outstanding (photo shared). On Gary, he passed heavy metals testing and wants to move fast; he wants packaging R&D, marketing and branding all together but priced a la carte, and we still haven't defined SOW or change-order criteria for the monthly consulting retainer. Andrew's preference is to refer Gary to a canna creative partner and take a cut rather than deliver in-house. Finished glass tube samples for Hamilton Farms are due from the factory next week — Andrew shared factory video of the version he wants to sell them. Separately, Hq flagged health issues and possible time in rehab, so availability will be limited; the two spoke by phone Wednesday at 5. The B2B Wave demo call for August was not mentioned and remains unscheduled.
The week was dominated by a quality escalation on the 116mm tamper-evident pop tops. Andrew skipped the formal sample report and walked Jack through it in chat with photos and two videos: tubes moulded from the "B" tool won't open when sealed — roughly half of them fail, including purple and yellow units, while the clear tube and the black tamper-ring tubes (non-B moulds) worked fine. A second supplier's tubes from the same mould showed the same fault. Jack said Type B is intentionally a tighter fit for CR performance, claimed this was the first such complaint, and escalated to his technical team; he offered to run all future orders on the Type A mould. Andrew stated flatly we will not buy any B-mould tubes. Jack confirmed there are 2 usable moulds excluding B, and that the tamper-seal range also exists in 90mm and 98mm (90mm mould cut this month). Andrew requested 20pcs per size in random stock colours (we pay sample freight); Jack can ship 98mm immediately but the 90mm mould is still being adjusted with defective samples — about 1 week out — so Andrew told him to hold the whole shipment until 90mm is right. Jack also confirmed he can supply custom printed shrink wraps (Andrew sent a reference photo) as an alternative to the tamper ring. Jack twice pushed to confirm a bulk order; Andrew said we must first select the pop top and produce label/shrink-wrap art, but that the client is interested in the tamper ring and we could sell the 116mm size immediately. Andrew then flew to Canada for client meetings and will reconnect in a week — he flagged other products/questions still to raise, which Jack asked about and got no answer. No pricing or MOQs moved this week; nothing new on 109mm, 80mm or the CR glass tubes.
Quiet week on the Tyson 2.0 pouch [7R4K8N]. Dora checked in on 7/21 asking whether the job would move soon; Andrew replied that final artwork is going through approval on our side. No quantities, pricing, sample or shipping decisions advanced — Dora is now waiting on our news. The two-option shipping quote (air vs sea) remains unselected, updated artwork still hasn't gone out, and there was no further mention of the leadership meeting on supply agreements or the group rename.
Quiet week — no case activity. Andrew shared a link to B2B Wave (B2B e-commerce/ordering platform) as a tool worth evaluating and proposed booking a demo call. Our side agreed in principle but asked for a couple of days before scheduling; Andrew suggested pushing the demo to August. No specific date set, and no quotes, samples, or production items moved.
Quiet week, mostly logistics. The USD 350 pop-top sample set (UPS 1Z193GJ10339915337) landed in Hazleton on 14 Jul — Jack sent photos of the packages and chased confirmation of receipt three times before Andrew acknowledged on 16 Jul that the shipment contains many items and is being catalogued. Andrew shared the PTT series.pdf internally in-chat and flagged that each sample needs to be logged and matched to an item name/code. Jack's answer: he won't supply a packing list — he asked us to differentiate the samples by diameter and height, measure them, and send him pictures plus dimensions so he can quote. So the ball is firmly on our side: sample identification and measurement now gate all pop-top pricing (80mm, 109mm, 116mm TE). No pricing, MOQs, 109mm sea-freight numbers, blind-shipping confirmation or wholesale/stocking price list moved this week, and there is still no word on client artwork approval for the pre-kitted label RFQ.
The stalled sample shipment finally moved. Jack quoted a full pop-top sample set at USD 350 (USD 200 samples + USD 150 freight) covering 20 units of every pop top tube size in the catalogue; Andrew confirmed stock colours are fine, gave the Monarch Packaging address in Hazleton PA, and — after Jack confirmed there is no US bank/ACH option — paid via PayPal (info@marijuanapackaging.ltd) on 30 Jun against invoice SC606307J. Jack sent a new Product Catalog PDF and flagged the one exception: the tamper-ring pop tops (73/80/82/85/90/98/105/109/114/116/120mm) are on a new mould with limited stock, so those sizes may ship under 20 pcs each. ETA was Friday or the following Monday; Jack shipped and posted UPS tracking 1Z193GJ10339915337 on 3 Jul. Andrew also opened distribution talks ahead of a mid-Q3 soft launch — Jack confirmed PLK has no US warehouse, so the model is us buying, stocking and shipping to clients ourselves. On the quote side nothing moved: both sides are still waiting on client artwork, which Andrew explained is held up by state-level regulatory/compliance approval, and the RFQ will follow once it's cleared.
Dora (JDY) delivered the production dieline for the Tyson 2.0 pouch (63.5x168, red) plus a quote covering two shipping options (air and sea). Lead times confirmed: 20-25 days production, 5-10 days air, 30-40 days sea after sailing. Our designers initially couldn't open the dieline due to a missing linked asset; Dora's designer resent corrected files in a zip on 7/05 and the issue is resolved. Andrew will meet the end client this week to confirm the expected order date and provide updated artwork. Andrew also raised the idea of a leadership-level meeting to discuss supply agreements as volume grows, and agreed to rename the chat to include the bag name ("TYSON") per Dora's request.
Effectively a dead week — the only message was Jack checking in on 23 Jun to ask whether Andrew is still travelling. No quotes, samples, pricing or artwork moved on any of the open threads (109mm pop tops, 116mm tamper-evident, 80mm CR glass, or the sample shipment). Andrew's promise to send the sample selection list/pictures by end of week 19 Jun has now slipped, and the freight payment to release the sample set is still unpaid, so Jack cannot ship. All ball-in-our-court items (client decision on 109mm pricing, target qty/colour for CR glass jars, 116mm RFQ, artwork approval) remain untouched.
Effectively a quiet week. Jack pinged once on 15 Jun asking whether the sample selection was ready; Andrew replied that he would send the sample list by the end of the week (still not sent as of the last message). No movement on pricing, MOQs, samples or freight for any of the live projects — 109mm pop tops, 116mm tamper-evident pop tops and the 80mm CR glass tubes all stayed untouched, and no documents or quotes were exchanged.
Light week — mostly sample logistics. Jack sent a product photo and Andrew replied that artwork is still not ready, then asked whether Jack can ship samples. Jack agreed, provided we cover the shipping cost (no amount quoted yet), and confirmed the pop top tube size range runs from 19*90mm (shortest) to 19*116mm (longest). Andrew is traveling in LA and said sample shipment will be initiated next week, and that he wants to add other items from Jack's catalogue to the sample box; Jack asked him to send pictures of what he wants. No pricing, MOQ, tooling or D43 measurement answers came through, and the tamper-evident label RFQ remains blocked on client artwork approval.
Very quiet week — the only traffic was Jack chasing on 2 Jun to ask whether the artwork is finished ("finished artwork?"), which relates to the pre-kitted label / sealed pop top work on the 116mm tamper-evident tubes. No pricing, samples or production updates moved. All other threads (109mm sea-freight order decision, 80mm CR glass internal height and tooling cost, 80mm pop tops) were untouched, and Jack's question is still unanswered as of the last message.
Quiet but forward-moving week on the PLK relationship. Jack sent a full PTT series catalogue covering all pre-roll pop-top sizes, which should answer the outstanding size/option questions. On the 109mm pop top project, Andrew was due to meet the client Tuesday (Monday was a US holiday); by Thursday the client had bought domestic inventory to cover the interim, so the China order is deferred rather than dead \-dash Jack pushed sea freight from China as the cost-effective route and Andrew has already proposed that to the client. Jack flagged that sealed/tamper-evident pop tops are selling strongly; Andrew said we will submit an RFQ for pre-kitted labels once client artwork is approved. No new pricing, samples or movement on the D43 CR glass jar project this week \-dash all jar questions (measured internal height, tooling cost to reach 80mm, quantity/colour) remain outstanding on both sides.
Pop-top tubes came back to life this week. Andrew asked Jack for reseller DDP pricing on 109mm black glossy pop-top tubes (no printing/label) at 10k/15k/20k with 5k by air and the balance by sea, DDP to Millville NJ under Monarch Packaging, blind shipping. Jack confirmed he stocks a 19*109mm tube and quoted same-day: EXW $0.032/pc at 10k, $0.031 at 15k, $0.030 at 20k, plus freight of $635 air for 5k and $185/$290/$430 sea for the remainder; all-in sea DDP for 10k works out to $0.059/pc. Andrew pushed for ~$0.028 and flagged that domestic suppliers are at $0.05/tube with free ground freight, so overseas is currently uncompetitive on landed cost; Jack said freight is the issue and offered better pricing against a confirmed quantity. Jack sent a photo of the 109mm tube. Andrew also opened a second thread on tamper-evident pop tops — Jack has these only in 116mm, sent a photo plus PTT-116TE Screen Print Dieline.pdf, and confirmed the factory can do customised (pre-kitting) labels on tube; no pricing yet. Andrew meets the client in a couple of days for a decision. No movement on the D43 CR glass jar enquiry this week.
Contact with Jack resumed on 17 Mar after months of silence (Andrew explained he's been rebranding). The conversation pivoted from pop-tops to a new requirement: CR glass pre-roll tubes/jars, wider and shorter than standard, with a target total height of 80mm (cap+lid assembly) and ~75mm interior, able to hold 5-7 pre-rolls of 70mm length. Jack offered existing molds at 43*88mm and sent D43 3oz and D43mm 2oz CR glass jar PDFs. Jack claims the 2oz jar (~75mm tall) can fit a 70mm pre-roll and, after Andrew sent a photo asking for a measurement, said the internal height is "about 73" — not yet confirmed precisely. Andrew asked for tooling cost to shorten the jar to 80mm total height; Jack instead asked for quantities and color, so no tooling price or unit pricing has been given. Pop-tops were explicitly deferred by Andrew: he said he'll come back on them in a few weeks.
No project movement this week — the only contact was a New Year's greeting from Jack on Jan 1. The 80mm Pop Top Tube project remains where we left it: deferred by us to Q1 2026, with samples on hold, no sample selection list sent, and still no pricing, MOQ or customization detail from PLK. Note that Q1 2026 has now started, so the deferral window we set has arrived and the project needs to be picked back up on our side.
Nothing moved commercially this week — the PLK relationship went on ice. Jack chased the sample selection list on 12/23; Andrew told him to shelve the project until Q1 2026, citing bandwidth and an extended vendor/product qualification timeline, and explicitly instructed Jack to hold the 80mm pop top tube sample shipment (previously targeted before Christmas). Jack agreed to revisit next year, noting his own year-end workload. No pricing, MOQs or customization details were ever received, and no samples are in transit. Remainder of the chat was holiday greetings and small talk about Andrew's US hiring for account managers and sales directors.
No substantive movement on the PLK tube project this week — Jack chased twice for the sample selection list, and we told him it's still in progress. Both sides are aiming to get samples shipped before the Christmas holiday, and Jack flagged that shipping takes time, so the list is now the critical path. Jack also volunteered that PLK is a cannabis packaging manufacturer covering tubes, jars, bags and other formats with customization available, which widens their potential scope beyond the 80mm pop tops. Still no pricing, MOQs or customization details received.
New supplier contact opened: Jack from PLK (China), met at the exhibition, reached out about their 80mm pop top tubes. He confirmed three sizes available — 15x80, 19x80 and 25x80mm — which we flagged as potentially all usable for single and 2-pack cones plus straight pre-rolls. No quantities, pricing or customization discussed yet; we want to test fitment with clients first. Jack sent the digital catalog (画册 2025.10.24.pdf, 22 pages) and offered free samples. We provided the Dongguan forwarder address (Ryan Xiao, note for Andrew at Budder Creative) but told him to hold shipment until we send a sample selection list. As of Friday morning Jack is waiting on that list — the only thing blocking samples moving.