Lightning Strikes Twice

One fun thing about this game is that the score can unexpectedly change at any moment. June was sailing calmly into the fail column, propelled mostly by the Jackite inventory shortages that I explained last week. On Tuesday, out of the blue, a $500 6-led cap order moved it up to the "meh" zone. On Wednesday, $900 worth of Bald Eagle kites with poles (dropshipped, naturally) kicked it up to awesomeness. (The eagle kite, btw, is a proven Canada goose repellent if you know of any golf courses or parks that need to solve that problem. Just sayin'.)

June

Total income: +33.2%
Total COGS: +109.5%
Payroll: +36.5%

Marketing: +177.9%
Net Income (Profit): -570.6% (-$1,118)

Year to Date

Total income: +13.5%
Total COGS: +24.6%
Payroll: -43.1%

Marketing: +11.6%
Net Income (Profit): +75.9% (+$7,186)

With the year half over, I'm unlikely to achieve the 21% increase that I had hoped for. But I'm up double digits from last year's awfulness. With a few more lightning bolts...who knows?

What's going on with the Cost of Goods Sold? Two things: First, at this time LY I put $400 worth of merchandise that the vendor never billed into inventory at zero cost. They eventually caught up with me so that gets reversed later in the year. Second, shipping expenses for dropships go into COGS rather than the usual office-expense line, and single-item shipping is far more expensive than bulk order shipping.  

I finally paid for tax preparation this month, an expense that I usually book in March or April. Those two things account for most of this month's hit to Net Income. My paychecks are so small that big percentage swings there don't really affect anything.

I can't afford to replace those 6-LED caps until my August credit card statement period opens on July 13. I probably won't lose any sales during the month that I'll be out-of-stock, but one never knows when lightning might strike. One does know, however, that it can't strike if one has no merchandise.

At the moment I have $1,000 in the bank against July charge bills of $3,400...and Monday is payday -- that's nice for me, not so nice for my company. I have about a month to close the $2,400 difference. It's going to be a long and unforgiving climb back to zero.   

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"GRC*MFBEAUTY VITAMIN" has charged my business Mastercard $32.94 every month since March. I don't take vitamins and I'm not beautiful. I've changed my account number twice after dutifully disputing each new charge. I thought it was finally solved last month when they sent me this email:

We acknowledge your statement that you have never placed an order with us. Account number xxx-xxx-xxx has been canceled due to reported fraud. In addition, your credit card has been removed from file. There will be no further charges to your account.

Hah! Another $32.94 charge appeared on 6/24. And just to really piss me off, they're challenging the May chargeback, meaning that I had to actually pay the damned thing to avoid interest. Have I mentioned that I'm especially cash-poor at the moment? If there's any consolation, I know that the merchant pays a chargeback fee (typically $25) every time they lose...and the industry is biased for merchants to lose. This company is going to be out hundreds of dollars when all's finally said and done.

Yesterday they apologized again and offered to send me a check for $98.84 to cover all three charges. Since I've only paid out $32.94 so far (and that one's still in dispute), this bribe will actually put me ahead. Now I can stop disputing the charges and just pay them to put an end to this -- assuming, that is, that they don't pile on any new ones.