docsmachine
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Boxin' & Shippin'!
🕑 Added 2018-11-07 10:56:24 +0000 UTC The comic ain't lyin'- I've done nothing but print postage, box orders and take 'em to the Post Office, since about Sunday afternoon. I've received just over 100 orders so far, and thanks to the beer glasses, orders that include those take extra effort to pack, since I want them all to arrive intact.Thanks for your patience with the comic. :)
It's worth noting, however, that the glasses illustrate yet another stunning display of my business acumen: If a customer orders a single beer glass, they pay nearly $20 for it. My profit margin on that glass? Literally twenty-seven cents.
I was only making a few bucks per glass in the first place, but that assumed they'd be included with a medium or large Flat Rate box. To ship a single one, I either have to use a medium Flat Rate (which would cost me about $2.50 per single-glass sale) or a smaller box. A decently-packed single glass still just breaks the one-pound mark, not only preventing me from sending it First Class, but also bumping it up into the 2 lb range for Priority- about $10.80.
But, I need boxes. I had a few, and rather naively thought only a few singles would be sold by themselves, so they disappeared early. No one had any decently sized box in town, so the easiest route was to get some 4" shipping tube, which I bandsaw to length.
Which costs me about $2 per package. If I'd bought the caps, it would have been $6 per package. Well, like I said, I only made a few bucks per glass anyway- throw in a few squares of bubble-wrap material (about 10 cents per sheet) and... yup, I'm left with $0.27 in "profit", after the customer pays nearly twenty dollars for a single glass.
Warren Buffet, look out! :)
Doc.
Comments
Doc Nickel
I appreciate that. :) But don't worry, it's just a lack of planning on my part. If I do more glasses like this, I need to figure out a way to get them shipped up here a LOT cheaper- shipping was astronomical, really. Or, as another reader suggested, having them drop-shipped from a place in the States. If I ship out of here, I should have had more, less expensive packing on hand- and, as yet another reader suggested, maybe setting them up in packages. A lot of people ordered a set of books and two glasses- make that a standard package, and get the store pricing spot-on ahead of time. Live and learn. :)
Joe Johnson
Sorry, I am one of the singleton glass purchasers, I thought I was doing you a favor getting a little extra something from the store. :/ (edit to say that I just bumped up my Patronage to compensate ;) )
sergeant_0ddball
Hey, keep Roger from Tickling the Dragon's Tail! We don't need another Demon Core!
Brighttail Faux Pas
It is a live n learn situation the way I see it. In the end you'll adapt. You'll either stop selling them, get a little smaller glass or find a shipping box that is perfect.
So if I want a glass I should just plan on ordering a set of 4?
Scott Anderson
Are these howies glasses. Ones you've. Nicked from his bar
