Flipping the Finger

Ever wonder how a company president spends his day? Playing golf? Jetting around the country in his private plane? Dictating memos in his high-rise office, maybe? Not this president. On my good days, I spend a lot of time boxing up orders, buying postage, and schlepping boxes to and from the post office. Today was one of my bad days. Stay awhile, and listen….

A couple of customers recently received nonworking Ultra Bright Finger Lights. It’s no big deal; they’re cheap, so I apologize, send out free replacements, and absorb a small loss. After the second complaint, I started testing them before sending them out. A bit more than 10% are defective. That’s annoying, but the markup on these things is good enough to make up for that.

Last week somebody ordered several finger lights in specific colors, one being purple. I was out of purple ones in my main stock, so I opened up the reorder that I had placed nearly a year ago. I tried a purple. It didn’t work. Tried another with the same result. Another, and another.

Uh oh.

One by one, I tested my remaining 66 finger lights. Almost all of my backup stock is defective. Now, the finger light is my #3 bestseller and one of my flagship products. I like these silly things. I can’t just mark them all down and throw them away. So this company president spent his afternoon opening up battery compartments, removing defective batteries, and salvaging as many working finger lights as possible. I wound up trashing 25 of them, and probably resurrected 15 or 20. Altogether, I’ve lost 34 out of my initial 119 units. That’s awful. And those batteries are still deteriorating in the 28 I have left.

It is way too late to seek recourse from the vendor. They’re selling them in a different package now, at fire sale prices. Their defect rate is running as high as 50% and their stock is priced dirt cheap. I’m tempted to order a huge quantity; even after throwing away half of them, they’d be lucrative. But the thought of testing hundreds of them and swapping all those little batteries in and out just makes me shudder. Reluctantly, I’m probably going to have to let them go. But maybe I'll bring in a small reorder, just to look at the repackaging and ponder. If I can maintain my existing retail price, the markup would be something like 3,000%. That is hard to ignore.

* * * * *

On a completely different subject…have you ever noticed that most of the ads Google assigns to my blog are about debt and bankruptcy? It’s depressing. I’m half tempted to remove the danged things, except that every now and again somebody clicks on one and earns me a few cents. (Hint, hint).

Other Forthcoming Topics:

• Christmas Wrap-Up
• What Does Success Look Like?
• Credit Card Processing
• Possible Futures
• Planned features

Cyber Monday: Fact or Crap?

Fact, I guess. We did set a new record for number of sales in one day. We would’ve surpassed our dollars-per-day record, too, if one of our intrepid customers hadn’t been foiled by an AVS check. Damn you, Internet security! Of course, it’s the kickoff of the Christmas season. We would’ve been busy regardless. Who can say whether Cyber Monday made any difference? Maybe it did for the big retailers who can afford to offer free freight and deep discounts. I wouldn’t know.

As it turned out, Thursday, Nov. 30, was our busiest day to date, and I expect to surpass it next week. Business is booming and the Christmas season is just getting cooking. Our little spot in the Washington Post is this Sunday. The next two weeks should be pure madness here.

Another fact: I am way too busy to put much effort into this blog for the next few weeks. Message ends.

Other Forthcoming Topics:

• What Does Success Look Like?
• Credit Card Processing
• Possible Futures
• Planned features

(Marketing) Score, Once More!

Today’s post is short, this being a holiday weekend. Blogging will take a back seat to sales from now through New Years Day.

That crazy USB Computer Fan is up to 137 units sold. I learned yesterday that the Washington Post’s Travel section will feature it in their Dec. 3 gift guide. Amazing! I have added a USB Mini Vacuum and a USB Light to appeal to the same customers. The vacuum is actually the coolest of the bunch.

Media kits went out last Monday. It cost me about $400 to send out 48. My fingers are crossed.

Today is “Black Friday” – so named because it’s the day that tips most retailers’ balance sheets into black ink. It is supposedly the busiest shopping day of the year (in my bookselling experience, that was never true, but it was undeniably a busy day). I don’t know what to expect for online sales. I hope that plenty of my customers will take to the internet in an effort to avoid the crowds, and it will be a big day for Curio City, too. We shall see. I have had two sales by noon -- an encouraging start, when you consider that many people are sleeping in and starting their day late.

Other Forthcoming Topics:

• What Does Success Look Like?
• Credit Card Processing
• Possible Futures
• Planned features