Thoughtcast #14

We hope you've been well over the past two months.

For us here at Team Calico, it feels like we've been set adrift in some sort of weird limbo. Having said that, you needn't worry too much about us; business has been better than ever, everyone's being looked after, and we're not in any danger of going away any time soon! But our raison d'être has been noticeably absent; bringing our community together to play the games we love, with the people we love.

We've got a plan, and we hope you understand why we're doing what we're planning on doing. But before we get to that, two quick updates.

 

Delayed Midnight Hunt Products

📷 Field of Ruin' by Chris Ostrowski

At this stage, we're expecting MID Bundles and Collector Boosters to arrive at the end of next week; on Friday 15 October.

As we touched on towards the beginning of the year, the changes to how Magic is distributed to LGSs has meant that delays are a common occurrence. In this particular case, our supplier received Bundles and CBs from Hasbro a week after the set was released (which was out of their hands), and sent them out to us as fast as they could.

We appreciate the patience that our preorder customers have shown while waiting patiently for their Bundles and CBs (we'll be throwing some goodies your way as a thank you!); the situation is unfortunately out of ours (and our suppliers') hands. Hopefully things improve going forward, but I think we can expect MTG product delays for the foreseeable future. 

 

New Contact Email

As our humble little business grows, we've been formalising a lot of the roles and responsibilities that members of Team Calico are responsible for. As part of this work, we've created a new email address.

For any general questions you may have about Calico Keep, our event schedule, and the goods and services we offer, feel free to continue sending message through our contact form, or directly to info@calicokeep.com.

For any questions relating to order status, tracking information, etc., please send them through to our new e-mail address: logistics@calicokeep.com.

While we do our best to monitor messages sent to us via Facebook Messenger (we unfortunately don't monitor questions sent via Instagram :( ), the best way to reach us is via email!

 

Return to Organised Play

As the New Zealand government adapts from a Covid-19 Elimination strategy to a Vaccination strategy, we also feel the need adapt with changing government policies.

After discussing with the whole team, we have decided that (assuming we are still at Alert Level 2), we will be returning to our regular opening hours and resuming our weekly event schedule on Monday 1 November, and our play space will be open again for public use.

To ensure the safety of our staff and our community, the following measures will be put in place:

  • Anyone using our play space must provide either;
    • Proof of receiving at least 1 dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, or;
    • Evidence of a valid medical exemption from receiving the Covid-19 vaccine
  • Anyone using our play space must wear face masks at all times.
  • Customers who do not follow these rules will be ejected from the store.
  • As a serious matter of public safety, if you are found to have falsified either proof of vaccination or evidence for medical exemption in order to use our play space, you will a immediately receive lifetime ban from both our physical and online store. Falsifying documents is a crime in New Zealand, and may lead to criminal charges.

Additionally;

  1. From 1 January 2022, anyone using our play space must be either fully vaccinated against Covid-19, or provide evidence of a valid medical exemption from Covid-19 vaccination.
  2. These policies will be enforced at any Alert Level where social distancing at events is a requirement.

We know you'll have some questions; we'll do our best to answer the most obvious ones here.

Why are you taking this stance? Why now?

We've been monitoring the developing Covid-19 situation and the government's response intently. It seems very likely given recent case numbers that we may not revert back to Level 1 for quite some time. Even then, we may be operating under Alert Level 1 with additional restrictions in place.

Given the government's change in tactics from an elimination strategy to an immunisation strategy, we thought it would be best to think about how the store would operate under that lens going forward, and when the best time would be to implement our new policy. 

Discussions we've had with friends, family, our team, and our regulars indicate that those who are planning to get vaccinated have already had their first dose, with their second dose due over the next few weeks. The start of November seems to coincide with a time where most of us will have had our second dose.

We wanted to move forward in a way where we can take responsibility for everybody's safety, and this is what we've decided on.

 

How do we provide 'proof' of vaccination?

The Ministry of Health is currently developing a website which will allow the public to access their Covid-19 vaccination records. The website is slated to go live in mid-October, and is called 'My Covid Record'. The beta website can be accessed here:

https://app-beta.covid19.health.nz/

By late-November, members of the public will be able to download a Covid-19 Vaccination Certificate which will serve as a legal document verifying your vaccination status.

We will provide more information on how you can provide this information to us as we learn more about these systems over the coming weeks.

You can find out more here:

https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-vaccines/covid-19-requesting-proof-vaccination

 

What if we move to Alert Level 1?

If we move to Alert Level 1 as we knew it before our last lockdown, then thankfully none of this will be necessary; it'll just be business as usual again. As we touched on above though, it's possible that we'll revert down to something like an Alert Level 1.5, with additional restrictions in place to account for Delta.

We'll provide another update if and when we move lower down, with respect to any new guidelines we'll be required to follow.

 

Some of us have made a conscious choice not to be vaccinated. Doesn't this choice discriminate against us?

We recognise that there are many viewpoints regarding the pandemic and the levels of participation that people feel comfortable with regarding the policies that have been put in place. We recognise that there may be members of our community who have consciously chosen not to vaccinate, and will understandably feel excluded from our community as a result of this decision.

Calico Keep is a public place, and so it is our responsibility to take everybody's wellbeing into account.

If you extended your bubble some time in the past two months so you and your mates could meet up and play some games, then all parties involved were aware of the risks, consented to be subjected to them, and were ready to take responsibility for the consequences.

In a public setting, such an arrangement would be impossible. We have a responsibility to prevent our wider community from being subjected to additional risks that they aren't aware of, haven't consented to, and aren't ready to deal with the consequences of.

As a company, we're held to a higher standard than you and your mates, and that responsibility feels even more important when you consider that you and your mates are also our mates.

We're looking forward to a time when we can all be together again. Until then, we hope you do everything you can to stay safe.

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