Well, come to find out, it is not easy to communicate with customers instantaneously and simultaneously.  And if you think about how often I send newsletters, you will realize I am not really a communicator to start.

If you want to know how we got here and other boring stuff, continue reading.  If you just want to setup your notifications, click here to jump down to those instructions.

But, with the advent of the Early Reserve System (ERS), it has become critical to ensure that we do just that.  No delays to some, advantages to others, etc. etc.  So, when it became obvious email was not going to work, we employed a system called “TellMyCell” which would allow people to subscribe and then we could send out SMS messages to all.  Two problems.  1) It was sequential; so first person on the list got the message some number of seconds before the last person.  Although it didn’t cause much of a fuss at the time, it was obvious it would eventually be a problem.  Especially will some reserves closing in 45 seconds.  2) It was expensive; it was costing around $0.05 per message if I bought in bulk.  Again, that doesn’t sound bad; but we quickly built to 1000 folks and there were months where we have a dozen or so notifications (back in the days where GEC made 500 knives to a run).  So 12 notifications x 1000 people x $0.05 per go expensive quick.

Then there was Remind.  Remind was an app written for school systems to be able to send messages to student / teacher groups via SMS, App, or Email notifications.  They allowed anyone to use it for a time; and it worked very well.  Three  problems with Remind. 1) It wasn’t really intuitive and the configuration of anything other than SMS got a bit technical.  2) You really needed to be getting the SMS notifications for previously mentioned reasons; and they did not work outside the U.S.  3) [this was the biggie] Remind finally figured out they could monetize their hard work.  And my cost to continue with them was going to start at $8000/yr.  I have to sell a lot of knives to clear $8000….

So, I had the grand idea of a CK app.  But after two months of development, when we sent it to the Itunes store for inclusion – they rejected it because “the app on sends notifications and that is not functionally rich enough”.  So, we put that on hold and are going to try something else….

Today we have “Telegram”.  Telegram is an app that can work on Android devices, Iphones, Ipads, Windows phones, Windows, MacOS, or Linux.  You can read all about it on the Telegram website.  We are hoping this will be a permanent solution for economical instantaneous / simultaneous communication with our customers and friends.  Below are the instructions to install  and subscribe to the CollectorKnives notifications.

Telegram basic installation / configuration

Friends, it is very important that you follow these instructions exactly.  I know that I only read the installation instructions for the things after I completely screw it up – don’t be like me.

The basic installation only requires an Android or iOS (Apple) phone number.  There are many devices supported, but if you don’t have either of these you might just have to opt-in to the email notifications (on the Early Reserve page).

App Installation:  Links to all of the possible app interfaces can be found on the Telegram.org home page.  Install the one of your choice on the device of your choice.  This is really straightforward, as it is a typical app installation (We have tested it on almost every available option).

Subscribe to CollectorKnives:  Again, fairly simple, just click this CollectorKnives Channel link or scan the QR code below.  If it ask what app you want to open it with – just select Telegram.  It should be very straightforward.

If Telegram does not show the CollectorKnives channel like below – you have not completed the signup correctly.

Notifications:  Once you are subscribed to the CollectorKnives channel, you should be good to go.  Just make sure your device notifications are going to all the type of notifications you desire when that new product drops on the Early Reserve System.

If you are having troubles and want to chat with me directly from Telegram, us this link or the QR below.  This is not part of the notification system – this is just my personal messaging.