We Appreciate You

Without you, there would be no AR500 Armor®

We value every single customer. Without your support, we wouldn’t even exist, let alone be the leader in the consumer body armor industry. Thank you.

The Pain Points

Every business has them and we’re blessed that ours are the kind that come with growth, thanks to your trust in our brand. We respect that trust and want to reciprocate by acknowledging some pain points that our customers have been experiencing lately:

1. Our lead times are long
   We’re aware that few companies can sell products with our wait times. We see that both as a problem to fix and a vote of confidence from our customers. We believe that people are only willing to wait for quality (ever been to Chick-fil-a at lunchtime?), so thank you for your patience.
   
   Here’s the deal:

• Manufacturing quality products here in America, using free craftsmen like we do, instead of robots, takes time. 

• Increased demand for those products pushes lead times up until capacity can be increased to meet the demand.

• Increasing production capacity is a slow process. Unlike spinning up more servers when an app goes viral, it can take awhile to find and train high calibre manufacturing talent.

• We do not like our lead times any more than you do, but we will never sacrifice quality for the sake of speed, so thank you for waiting.
  

2. We’ve had challenges meeting lead times
   Having long lead times is bad, but missing them is even worse.
   
   We are keenly aware that our systems for updating lead times and processing orders leave much to be desired. The cracks in such systems often reveal themselves under great strain and that has been the case here.
   

3. We have long Customer Service wait times
   Perhaps the lead times wouldn’t be so bad if you could at least get someone on the phone.
   
   We have been ramping up our production staff, but we failed to grow our Customer Service team proportionately.
   
   With more orders comes more inquiries and when the wait time on the phone is long, you might try email. When you don’t get an email response, you might try a DM on Facebook or Instagram. Each delayed response makes it harder on ourselves as the message volume only increases.

   It is taking us far too long to respond to our customers, like you.

4. We continue to run aggressive sales
   When our lead times are long and you can’t get a Customer Service Representative on the phone, we understand that seeing a new sale can feel like a slap in the face.
   
   It looks like we care more about acquiring new customers than taking care of the ones that we’ve already got. That is not the reality. We cherish your business.

If you have experienced one or more of these pain points, we hear you.

Our Solutions

Now having acknowledged the pain points, let’s talk about how we’re addressing them:

1. We’re hiring!
   If you’ve been laid off due to COVID-19, or are just looking to join our cause of equipping every free man with the tools of liberty, we have several immediate openings (apply here).
   
   We’ve already grown our production staff, added a second shift, and authorized overtime, but we need to find more quality individuals to join our team as:

• Free Craftsmen (Production)

• Free Craftsmen (Warehouse & Quality Control)

• Sewn Goods Craftsmen (Textiles)

• Customer Service Representatives

2. We’re coding
   There are several areas where better software, better algorithms, and better integrations will help alleviate the pain. We have a team of developers working as fast as possible to update our systems to improve:

• Lead time accuracy

• Order status visibility

• Customer communication

• Customer Service responsiveness

3. We’re investing
   We’ve already grown our team significantly and we’re looking to grow it further as quickly as possible (did we mention that we’re hiring?). We’re investing in our people.
   
   We make tools of liberty that require other tools to produce them. Such tools are large machines with price tags that are just as large. We are investing in those tools to increase our production capacity.
   
   Not all tools are physical. We’re investing in software tools that will make our Customer Service team more responsive, our Operations team more efficient, and our Product team more capable of designing the next great innovation.
   
   With all of this growth, we are even starting to think about where we’re going to put everything. It may be that a new facility will be needed to meet the demand and we’re exploring those options.
   

4. We’re refocusing
   Our mission is to honor Christ the King by equipping 3% of the free men in America with the tools of liberty necessary for resisting tyranny.
   
   The reality is that every dollar we take in today enables us to make the investments described above so that we can achieve our mission as quickly as possible.
   
   We are grateful for the trust of everyone who purchases our products, and we’re working to respect the trust of our existing customers by focusing on delivering. Increasing our manufacturing capacity and our customer service team are our top priorities for 2020.

YOU are key to all of this.

We trust in God above all else, and we see it as our responsibility, given by Him, to serve you.

You are the reason for our growth, so thank you for your business.

With growth comes growing pains, so thank you for your patience and understanding while we address the pain points.

None of our solutions, from growing our team to purchasing new machinery, would be possible without you, so thank you for your support.

We want to extend our heartfelt appreciation for your continued loyalty, understanding, patience, and support as we work to equip every free man with quality tools of liberty. Thank you.