Back to Same-Day Shipping (for now):

We're back to same-day shipping on the Max, Max+ and Mini carriers - for now.

Inventory is limited because supply and logistics challenges persist, hardware now being the latest bottleneck. We hope to have plenty of hardware by the end of the month.

The Sport and m3 are back-ordered until the end of January (we hope). This could be pushed back further - we'll see.

Keep an eye on this page for updates.

Thanks again to our wonderful, patient customers!

Finally Catching Up:

Here's the update from production manager Tyler as of Monday afternoon (two days ago): We're running full speed on the [Sherwin Williams] Anthracite today. We will get the license plate holders powdered along with all the other items. As of this afternoon we are about 40% through all the MTM kits. We will continue with Anthracite until we have all items coated.

And this morning: We will start packing the MTM’s today and see how far we get, we just wrapped up the last of the powderocating on those. Still shooting the MTX [Max/+] components. We should have a good group by tomorrow afternoon.

This means the inventory will be at the MotoTote logistics facility on Airline Drive by Thursday afternoon, allowing us to get lots of shipping done by the end of this week.

We have powder!:

We finally received the right powder coat today after another week of delay because of FedEx Freight's "personnel shortages".

We decided to not re-coat the Mini carriers with the alternate finish (as previously announced), expecting to receive the "real" powder shipment by the 23rd. This caused another week and a half delay for the Mini's and the last few Max+. We are sorry about that.

We can now finish the current production runs of Mini's, Max's, and Max+'s.

Thanks again for your patience.

More News on Texas Production:

Last week we began powder coating Max and Max+ carriers as mentioned in the last update and were able to ship a good number of orders on Friday.

This week we are continue to ship orders in the order they were received.

Next, we'll finish up enough Mini carriers to fill existing orders and new orders in the near future. It may take until next week to get all of the existing Mini orders shipped.

Once we're caught up on old orders, we'll show the items as "In Stock" for shipping right away.

Thanks again for your patience.

Good News on Texas Production:

We have found a very suitable alternate powder coating for the Mini, Max, and Max+ carriers so powder coating will begin tomorrow morning on the Max/+ carriers. We hope to start shipping units by the end of the week although it may not be a large number. We expect to have all orders shipped by December 17.

The so-called "alternate" coating is every bit as good as the specified coating - just a little shinier. There will be no sacrifice in quality.

Today we were unable to get a satisfactory delivery guarantee from Sherwin-Williams so we felt we had to make this decision in order to not keep our customers waiting any longer.

On-Time:

We are enjoying normal shipping times on the Sport carrier and most accessories and tie-downs.

Sold-Out:

The m3 carrier, always popular, recently sold out with restocking expected by February. Pre-order now for a discount!

Texas Production:

The powder coat saga continues... Our powder coat supplier Sherwin Williams continues to push back the production schedule on the powder for the Mini, Max, and Max+ carriers. What's frustrating is they seem to do it 2 weeks at a time - perpetually. This wait is taking WAY longer than we could have imagined.

We've been searching for alternatives to get production moving again at the Texas factory. These include looking at new suppliers OR an alternate coating from our existing suppliers including Sherwin Williams. This last option seems to be the most viable.

What makes things extra complicated is that all of half the components of each carrier were already coated by the time we were notified of the shortage. If all componenets were still uncoated, we could simply switch to a more readily available substitute coating.

When we became aware of the shortage in September, the delay was to be a couple of weeks. That has now turned into months.

We are even considering re-doing the already coated parts with an alternative powder coat. We will re-coat a few sample pieces in order to make a decision on this option.

Whatever we do, we will not sacrifice quality.

Please stay tuned here for updates.

We are back to normal shipping times on the Sport and m3 carriers as well as most accessories and tie-downs.

The last update from production is that  November 30th is the last that [the Sherwin Williams rep] could tell me but he also mentioned that he plans to escalate his inquiries on the delays.  

We can assure you that we WILL ship your order as soon as we can but at this point we don't feel we can supply an accurate date until we have better information. We are as frustrated as you are.

If you need to cancel your order, we would of course completely understand. HOWEVER, the Mini, Max, and Max+ carriers are in a class of their own so if you can wait, it will be worth it. Please note that orders to date received introductory pricing - the price has already increased and will only go up in the future.

Be rest assured we are doing everything we can to complete this production batch including exploring other sourcing options.

Once again, we apologize for these delays but you can be sure we WILL come through for you.

First the good news: We now have the Sport and m3 in stock so all those orders will be shipped by tomorrow!

The last information we received on the powder coat from Sherwin Williams is the 19th to 22nd of November which means we would start shipping the Mini, Max, and Max+ carriers next week. This is the best information we have at this time.

Thank you again for your patience.

The wait continues. The last information we received is that  Sherwin has this powder scheduled for 'Mid November'  . At this point, I don't think Sherwin Williams knows for sure but we continue hoping and waiting.

Based on this update, we would expect to be shipping the Mini, Max, and Max+ carriers starting on about November 17. Obviously this could change but it's the best information we have at this time.

As always, we want to be as transparent as possible. We are a strong, well established company so you can be sure we will come through for you.

The best shipping estimate we can now provide for the Mini, Max, and Max+ carriers is the first week of November.

Here is the latest update from our production manager:

...I heard back from Sherwin Williams late yesterday. [Our] powder is now scheduled for completion November 1st. I will continue to monitor the progress and report any developments to you.

I wish we had better news today.

We were fully expecting to start shipping the Max and Max+ on October 8.

Here's the lates update from our production manager:  ...Additional powder was expected last week but now being told backorder will be filled mid-October. We’re working to bring this date in, Sherwin Williams is working out the logistics... Not all components made it through powder before we ran out so I’m afraid we will not be able to assemble partials until we get more powder.

Here's the update MotoTote received directly from Sherwin-Williams:  Unfortunately there remain global shortages in pigments, resins, additives, etc that are used in both liquid and powder coatings. On top of that, global transportation and logistics and supply chains continue to be overtaxed. When I looked this morning, the next batch of [your] powder is currently scheduled for 10/17-18.

The best shipping estimate we can now provide for the Mini, Max, and Max+ carriers is October 20.

We apologize for this additional delay. We're posting these updates to be as truthful and transparent as possible.

We appreciate each and every one of our awesome customers and thank you for your patience.

We're back to the "normal" same-day shipping on in-stock items.

The challenge until about October will be keeping carriers in stock.

On the bright side, ramping up, we have a large number of all carrier models in the production pipeline, including the awesome new MotoTote Mini for heavy electric bicycles and small trail bikes. All of the carrier models will become available to ship starting end of September to first half of October.

In the meantime, we encourage you to pre-order to assure you get what you want and maybe get a pre-order discount! If you live in the Sunbelt, don't worry about winter - it's the best time to get out!