New coach question: when does FIRSTchoice stuff ship?

[trycatch]

I see stuff about when your priority lists need to be submitted, and when the draft happens and round two and all that, but when does the stuff actually ship? Immediately after each round's draft? (I'm sure it's in clear black and white *somewhere* and I'm just missing it like a goob, but I didn't see it..)

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by trycatch

I see stuff about when your priority lists need to be submitted, and when the draft happens and round two and all that, but when does the stuff actually ship? Immediately after each round's draft? (I'm sure it's in clear black and white *somewhere* and I'm just missing it like a goob, but I didn't see it..)

As soon as you know what you're getting in each round (dates here), our operations team springs into action and starts stuffing FedEx trailers full of parts. You'd rather get it before Kickoff, and we'd rather not have even more things to pack and ship during those first few weeks of build season when it's this easy to avoid.

[Jon Stratis]

In the past, I've usually gotten round 1 before Christmas, and round 2 within a week of it closing.

[trycatch]

Awesome! Thanks for the info!

[MrRoboSteve]

Also -- just to set expectations if you're new. There's usually very little relation between what's available in FIRST Choice round 1, and what specialized items you might want to build a robot for next year's game. Teams normally use FC to build up stocks of commonly used items that may-or-may-not be useful this year.

So don't take the availability of the igus slewing ring as a sign that rotating shooters are the thing.

[Nuttyman54]

We actually just had an episode of Behind the Lines the other night on this exact topic! I recommend you check it out, it will probably answer all of your questions and more that you didn't know you had, plus some tips and advice on how to best utilize FIRST Choice:

Behind the Lines S03E05: FIRST Choice and the Virtual Kit with Jerry, Liz, and Kate Pilotte


The episode features Jerry Budd and Liz Smith, AndyMark employees who are involved in running FIRST Choice as well as Kate Pilotte from FIRST who is in charge of pretty much everything related to the Kit of Parts, so this is all straight from the source.

[rlance]

Once they determine each teams 1st round order, does that appear under the "Orders" section of FirstChoice, or do we have to wait until the order arrives to know what we got?

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by rlance

Once they determine each teams 1st round order, does that appear under the "Orders" section of FirstChoice, or do we have to wait until the order arrives to know what we got?

According to the blog post, you should receive word from AndyMark as to what you're getting on Thursday.

[rlance]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

According to the blog post, you should receive word from AndyMark as to what you're getting on Thursday.

Don't let my students know I skimmed that blog and didn't read it thoroughly.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by rlance

Don't let my students know I skimmed that blog and didn't read it thoroughly.

Everybody misses something.

Good lesson for the students (and mentors ) to learn.

[billbo911]

Originally Posted by rlance

Don't let my students know I skimmed that blog and didn't read it thoroughly.

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

Everybody misses something.

Good lesson for the students (and mentors ) to learn.

We all get inundated with information. Learning how to glean exactly what you need is a skill that never quite seems to be perfected.

Daniel nailed it!
Take this "failure" and make it a learning opportunity for everyone.