When imports become profitable

Importer system in 1.0 build 3674

Importers are weekly, contract-managed sources for retail inventory and factory raw materials, with urgent ordering as an exception path.

EA 0.9 redesigned the system around individual units, Monday 08:00 standard receipts, Smart Delivery, and per-item weekly limits for each receiving location. EA 0.10 then refreshed the piers: product importers occupy Piers 1 through 4, Pier 5 became a party pier, and raw-goods importers expanded across Piers 6 through 9. New entertainment goods and factory recipes changed catalogs. A guide that says all products can be imported, lists only three raw-goods piers, or schedules ordinary daily importer deliveries is not current.

Build 3674 repaired an employee quit-state defect that could block imports, deliveries, and training simultaneously. After updating an affected build 3672 save, continue through the next game day before rebuilding every contract. Normal isolated failures still require plan, cash, limit, and storage diagnosis. The in-game F1 Help and live importer catalog are the final authorities for whether an item is supplied, manufactured, restricted by game mode, or capped in the current save.

Source-of-truth hierarchy

Product availability and numbers change; use a hierarchy that favors build-aware evidence over convenient lists.

First use the current F1 Help product entry and the live importer/purchasing interface. Second use official patch notes for redesigns and additions. Third use explicit developer replies tied to a reproducible save or current timing. Fourth use recent build-labelled player tests for observations the developer has not documented. A maintained fan table can help locate a candidate source, but must be verified before a large order. Old Fandom pages, unversioned videos, and search-optimized articles are excluded from factual numeric claims.

Maintain an evidence record for volatile data: build, game mode, difficulty, mods, importer, item, unit price, weekly limit, units per box, and observation date. A current value is not automatically a universal value. Prices depend on Purchasing Agent skill, Import Index, and contract timing; urgent fees can depend on settings; limits and box sizes have been rebalanced. The guide therefore teaches measurement and formulas rather than publishing a frozen master-price list.

End-to-end importer dependency chain

An importer receipt is the midpoint of a supply chain, not the complete retail solution.

The inbound chain is unlocked importer contact to Headquarters to assigned and scheduled Purchasing Agent to agent-owned contract to selected warehouse or factory to item plan and order mode to Sunday lock or urgent confirmation to cash to receiving pallet capacity. The outbound retail chain is separate: warehouse Logistics Manager to destination plan to assigned vehicle and Delivery Driver to store target and store capacity. For raw materials, replace the retail branch with factory machines, recipes, Factory Workers, production targets, output storage, and a factory-to-warehouse logistics plan.

Prove each handoff with inventory deltas. A Monday importer notification does not prove the warehouse accepted every unit. Warehouse stock does not prove a Tuesday store route. Raw material on a pallet does not prove a line can consume it. If the final shop is empty, locate the last location where the item exists and inspect the next controller. This method prevents unnecessary contract termination when the real failure is a zero logistics target or full destination.

Unlocking and selecting importers

Visit or otherwise unlock the relevant pier, then bind the correct current catalog to a Purchasing Agent contract.

Use Voogle Maps and F1 Help to locate the importer category. Product importers at Piers 1–4 provide many retail goods; raw-goods importers at Piers 6–9 provide factory ingredients after the EA 0.10 expansion. Pier 5 is not another ordinary product importer in the current layout. Visit and speak with the appropriate representative where required so the contact and contract path becomes available, then inspect the actual catalog before hiring around it.

Map requirements item by item. Some ordinary or cheap products can be imported, while high-end products such as expensive jewelry may be factory-only outside custom settings; a March 2026 developer reply explicitly used expensive jewelry as an unavailable import example. Game mode can change availability. Never assume a category name implies all tiers are sold by the same pier. For factory recipes, map every ingredient, not just the finished product.

Purchasing Agent contract architecture

Each contract consumes a Purchasing Agent relationship and records negotiated economics for its importer.

The operating model is one importer contract per Purchasing Agent. The employee needs a complete computer workstation in an active HQ, a valid schedule, and explicit assignment to the Purchasing Agent plan. A developer-inspected July 2026 save showed that returning an employee to the schedule did not restore the order because the employee had not been placed back into the plan before Sunday 20:00. Plan membership must be audited separately after training, replacement, or moving HQ.

Contract count follows source diversity, not store count. Ten stores using products from one importer may share one contract and warehouse if limits, storage, cash, and routes suffice. One factory needing ingredients from several raw importers may need several agents. Create a matrix of agent, HQ, importer, receiving location, products, contract price, Smart state, recurrence, and weekly exposure. Empty plans in old HQs are a known developer-cited source of confusion after moves.

Contract price and Import Index

The negotiated price reflects both employee skill and market index at contract formation.

The developer stated that Purchasing Agent skill and Import Index affect prices, that the index changes daily, and that the result locks when the contract is made. Training an agent therefore does not necessarily reprice an old contract. Renegotiating with a more skilled employee can still be worse when the current index is unfavorable. EA 0.10 build 3463 later fixed an incorrectly low Import Index that had depressed export prices for expensive jewelry and electronics, confirming that index behavior remains economically important.

Represent the offered price as p = F(base price, agent skill, Import Index), because no reliable universal public formula defines F. For a possible renegotiation, calculate gross horizon benefit G = sum(volume_j times (old_p_j - new_p_j)). Deduct reconfiguration cost and shortage risk. Preserve old plan details and enough stock for a missed cycle. A live displayed offer is stronger evidence than an old percentage table.

Standard weekly delivery schedule

The standard import week has a hard planning rhythm and a six-hour Monday interaction with internal logistics.

Official EA 0.9 notes place regular delivery at Monday 08:00. A 2026 developer save diagnosis requires Purchasing Agent plan assignment before Sunday 20:00. Internal logistics runs at 02:00 daily. Thus the warehouse sends Sunday's residual stock to stores at Monday 02:00, then receives the import at 08:00. The new goods normally enter automated retail distribution at Tuesday 02:00, not Monday morning.

Protect the gap with bridge stock. If expected Monday route demand is d and safety allowance is b, keep at least d+b at the warehouse before Monday 02:00. Also retain pallet headroom for the 08:00 peak. A warehouse can be simultaneously too empty at 02:00 and too full at 08:00 if routing and receiving capacities are poorly balanced. Always read notification timestamps before concluding that the importer delivered late or logistics ignored available stock.

Smart, recurring, and fixed ordering

Select amount logic and repetition independently.

Smart ordering treats the entered amount as desired destination inventory. With target T and counted stock H, nominal order is max(0,T-H). Recurrence controls whether the calculation repeats each standard cycle. Smart plus recurring gives weekly target fills; Smart without recurrence gives one manually confirmed top-up; fixed plus recurring adds the same quantity each week; fixed one-time buys the entered quantity once. The developer explicitly confirmed this separation and that neither changes delivery time.

Actual receipt is further bounded by weekly item/location limit L, affordable units A, and receiving capacity C: Q = min(max(0,T-H),L,A,C) for a simplified smart model. Record H at the relevant lock and account for any 02:00 outflow before the 08:00 screenshot. If fixed recurring inventory accumulates, that is expected behavior rather than an importer bug. Switch deliberately and test one low-cost SKU.

Urgent orders and recovery economics

Urgent delivery repairs a midweek planning mistake at a premium; it does not replace a correct standard plan.

EA 0.9 preview build 3216 added urgent orders to importers after feedback on the weekly cycle and described the initial premium as double cost. Later settings made the fee difficulty-sensitive or customizable, so the current quote is authoritative. Record request time, quoted arrival, units, unit price, premium, destination, and reason. Do not use the original two-times statement as a universal number for every build 3674 save.

Let x be units of avoidable lost sales, m be contribution margin per unit after product cost, and P be the displayed urgent premium. The simplified economic case is x times m > P, provided the warehouse and downstream route can use the goods in time. An urgent receipt into a full warehouse, or stock that misses the next 02:00 route, may not prevent the expected loss. Correct the root target, cash reserve, or limit plan after the emergency.

Weekly item limits per location

A location-specific cap is a progression and network-design constraint, not an error in Smart Delivery.

The EA 0.9 design assigns weekly ordering limits by item and receiving location. If planned need R exceeds limit L, standard receipt cannot close the full gap at that site. Limits were rebalanced during preview and can vary by item or settings, so no fixed master table is safe. Read the value in the current contract UI. A second receiving location may expose another cap, but requires another complete storage and management path.

When limit utilization U = planned bounded units/L approaches one repeatedly, forecast the shortfall before opening another store. Options are another eligible warehouse or factory destination, another source, factory production where intended, an urgent order if allowed and economic, or reduced service. Some high-value items are deliberately factory-gated in ordinary modes. The correct response to an unavailable product is not a second identical contract; it is the F1-specified production chain.

Warehouse and factory receiving capacity

Importers deliver units, but receiving buildings must hold the corresponding product-specific boxes.

Let U be inbound units and k be units per box for the current SKU. Required boxes are ceil(U/k). Pallet shelf capacity must exceed current boxes plus the receipt, with headroom for goods that cannot leave until the next internal logistics event. There is no safe universal units-per-pallet claim because k differs and patches have changed box sizes. Inspect current item and furniture tooltips.

A raw-material factory destination needs room for all recipe inputs and produced output. Oversupplying one ingredient can crowd out another or block output. A distribution warehouse peaks after Monday 08:00 and before subsequent store draws. Track occupancy by SKU and total after receipt. If the message says no inventory, investigate source; if it says no space, investigate receiving capacity. A developer explicitly distinguished those alerts.

Forecasting importer quantities

Forecast complete in-stock consumption across every destination served by the receiving site.

For retail item j, let a_i be average complete-day sales at each served store, H=7, g expected growth, F reliable alternative weekly supply, and B explicit safety stock. Set candidate target T = ceil(H times sum(a_i) times (1+g) - F + B). If four stores consume 150, 230, 320, and 400 daily, g is 10 percent, no factory supply exists, and B is 1,000, T = ceil(7 times 1,100 times 1.10 + 1,000) = 9,470 units.

For raw materials, derive input need from planned finished output and the live recipe. If output target is Y units and recipe uses r_k units of ingredient k per finished batch or unit according to F1, gross ingredient need is Y times r_k adjusted to the recipe's basis, plus startup and uncertainty stock minus usable on-hand. Do not invent a universal conversion. Validate by measuring ingredient consumption over a controlled staffed shift, because worker skill and production settings affect realized output.

Importer versus wholesaler versus factory

Compare landed cost, timing, limits, capital, and management burden rather than only the displayed unit price.

Importer landed unit cost includes negotiated price plus allocated Purchasing Agent, HQ, warehouse, and logistics overhead, plus expected urgent premiums. Wholesaler supply may be faster or simpler for a new store but can lack Smart features or importer economics. Factory cost includes raw inputs, production labor, machines, industrial rent, management, storage, logistics, and export/overproduction risk. Some products are available only through one progression path in standard mode, making the choice constrained rather than purely economic.

Let C_i, C_w, and C_f be consistently allocated landed unit costs. Add a reliability penalty E for expected lost margin from timing or limits. Compare adjusted cost C+E at current volume. Low volume may not amortize HQ and warehouse overhead; high volume may justify them. A favorable locked Import Index can make importers strong, while a factory can hedge an import cap. Never reuse another player's prices because difficulty, skill, index, and contracts differ.

Commissioning test for an importer contract

Use one inexpensive SKU and one receiving site to prove contract execution before placing a portfolio-sized order.

Record build, game mode, difficulty, importer, agent and skill, HQ, contract, destination, SKU, unit price, target or fixed quantity, Smart state, recurrence, weekly limit, free pallet boxes, cash, and Sunday pre-lock inventory. Keep the agent assigned before 20:00. Predict the bounded receipt. Record Monday 02:00 outbound movement separately, then record inventory and transaction immediately before and after 08:00.

A pass reconciles units received with the expected calculation and invoice. Continue to Tuesday 02:00 to prove downstream logistics, or through a staffed factory shift to prove input consumption. A failure should be repeated without unrelated plan edits. If every chain failed on a build 3672-origin save, apply build 3674 and next-day recovery first. If only one SKU failed, inspect availability, limit, target, and counted on-hand. Submit exact values through F2 if the controlled result remains inconsistent.

Missed-import diagnostic procedure

Read the event and notification first, then walk through plan, economics, and receiving constraints.

Confirm whether the expected event was a standard Monday receipt or an urgent delivery. For standard supply, verify agent-plan assignment before Sunday 20:00, active contract, correct destination, positive item entry, Smart/recurring state, actual order confirmation where needed, sufficient liquid cash, remaining per-location limit, and pallet capacity. Search all HQs for an empty or duplicate plan after moves. Check whether Smart correctly calculated zero because on-hand already met target.

If the warehouse is full after 08:00 but a 02:00 message reported shortage, both states can be correct. If importer stock exists but store stock does not, audit the warehouse Logistics Manager. If factory raw materials exist but output does not, audit recipe, machines, workers, schedule, targets, and output space. If one importer fails and others pass, focus on that plan. If every import, delivery, and training action fails, use the build 3674 recovery path.

Scaling gates and network architecture

Scale the importer network only when a measured source, limit, storage, route, cash, or risk gate is reached.

Source-diversity gate: required items belong to another importer, requiring another contract and agent. Limit gate: repeated need exceeds an item's per-location weekly cap. Storage gate: Monday receipt peak cannot fit. Route gate: the warehouse cannot add another store. Cash gate: the weekly invoice crowds out wages or rent. Progression gate: the product must be manufactured. Resilience gate: one agent or warehouse controls too much profit. Each has a different corrective lever.

A central warehouse pools safety stock and contracts but concentrates route and outage risk. Category warehouses make importer ownership clear and can add per-location capacity, but duplicate buffers and managers. Factory-input destinations should be separated when raw goods crowd out retail stock. Before adding a location, model incremental rent, shelves, Purchasing Agent capacity, Logistics Manager, vehicle, driver, and safety inventory. A second cap is not free. Commission it through one weekly cycle before redirecting critical stores.

Operations ledger and review cadence

Weekly imports become predictable when every contract is reconciled against consumption, receipt, price, and constraint data.

Track build, week, mode, HQ, agent, skill, importer, destination, SKU, contract unit price, Import Index at signing, Smart, recurrence, target, Sunday inventory, Monday 02:00 movement, weekly limit, free boxes, predicted receipt, actual receipt, invoice, urgent premium, warehouse outflow, stockout hours, and residual inventory. For factory inputs add recipe basis, planned output, actual consumption, and output lost to shortages.

Review demand Thursday or Friday, cash and capacity Saturday, plan ownership Sunday before 20:00, and receipt/invoice Monday at 08:00. Review downstream availability Tuesday. Compute forecast error, limit utilization, days of cover, fill ratio, and urgent-cost share. Change a target only with a reason and next review date. This ledger also provides the exact expected-versus-observed evidence the developer requests in bug reports.

Add a weekly reconciliation identity for each SKU. Beginning warehouse stock plus standard receipts plus urgent receipts plus factory or manual inbound should equal ending stock plus warehouse-to-store transfers plus manual outbound plus any other documented disposal, allowing only the timing convention used by the inventory screen. Call the unexplained difference V. A non-zero V does not prove a defect until event timing and display stock are aligned, but it tells the operator which SKU deserves a controlled test. Reconcile in units first and use product-specific box conversion only for physical-capacity analysis.

Create exception thresholds without pretending they are game constants. For example, review a plan when limit utilization exceeds a chosen internal threshold for two clean weeks, when days of cover falls below the Monday bridge requirement, when urgent premiums exceed a chosen share of gross contribution, or when receipt variance remains non-zero after a second controlled cycle. The threshold is management policy and should be stored beside the metric. This prevents an arbitrary number from being presented as a universal Big Ambitions rule.

For multi-location networks, add an allocation field that states which fraction of each store's demand belongs to each warehouse. The sum should equal the planned demand, not exceed it. Duplicate allocation can create recurring surplus even when every Smart plan individually works. Missing allocation creates a structural shortage. When changing a store's source, date the cutover, preserve one cycle of buffer, and reconcile old and new warehouses independently before removing the old route or contract.

Retain a contract-change log containing the prior unit price, prior index observation, prior agent skill, new offer, date signed, and all recreated plan fields. Review realized savings after actual receipts rather than assuming the preview became the invoice. When an agent trains or a market index changes, calculate a volume-weighted opportunity but do not reopen a favorable contract merely to keep the ledger cosmetically current. The purpose of tracking is to preserve profitable decisions and expose failures, not to force weekly renegotiation.

Version caveats and rejected claims

Importer guidance is invalid if it ignores the EA 0.9 timing redesign or EA 0.10 catalog expansion.

Reject daily standard importer schedules, box-based order entry, universal minimum orders, one global cap, and pre-0.10 pier lists. Official notes replaced them with Monday 08:00, individual units, no general minimum, per-item per-location limits, and expanded Piers 6–9. Reject claims that every finished product is importable in standard mode. Reject exact universal prices and caps because skill, index, difficulty, custom settings, and balancing matter.

Treat the historical contract-price lock explanation as developer evidence but verify the current interface after future economy patches. Treat urgent double cost as its introduction behavior, not a universal build 3674 multiplier. Do not cite Fandom or unversioned guides for current recipes, boxes, or pier inventories. Build 3674's hotfix resolves a systemic failure; it does not excuse a missing employee-plan assignment, zero target, lack of cash, or full warehouse. Preserve screenshots of F1 sourcing, live limits, the plan, and event-time inventory whenever a future patch appears to change availability or quantity. That evidence distinguishes a deliberate rebalance from a configuration mistake and keeps the next revision anchored to a reproducible build rather than memory.