Get the Best Package for your Company

The best part of being in the business world is learning about ways to save money.  This can be from time spent on less important things that should be delegated to simply changing tape for your warehouse.  There are so many different ways to be efficient and to start changing the way our company works.  I truly enjoy being apart of victories and understand that our failures and lost money are a reminder about being wise and thinking about all the different areas of being successful.  Lately, with the bonus of eCommerce starting to become one of the biggest sales industries we have been working hard to be successful at shipping our items with the best price and most safe for our clients.  This area is something that we want to really narrow down our costs and possible competitive advantages against our competition. So I just wanted to go over some of the areas that have helped us cut costs and improve our quality.

The first eCommerce section that we ended up changing and lowering costs and increasing capabilities was such a small thing.  It turns out that tape is a big deal when it comes to shipping and getting the best quality and lowest costs are easier said than done.  To be honest I really only thought that packing tape existed in one flavor.  But there are different thicknesses and types that hold all kinds of different weights.  There is also gum tape and it is water activated and is much stronger and can be super fast as well once you program a machine to cut it to the perfect length.  I have really been impressed with the whole process and am excited to rock the future without new water-based tape. 

See we were using up to 15 strips of tape for each of our cardboard boxes that we were shipping.  This was because some of our products are really heavy and some of our employees get a little excited and go overboard on taping. But it turns out that in some cases it was needed with the type of tape we were using.  So we ended up calling up a packaging supplies store and asking what might work best for our company.  It turns out that for the cardboard boxes that we were using we could incorporate gum tape.  This was a small investment to begin with but we ended up saving 69% of all our costs of tape within 3 months.  That was a massive difference and it allowed us to cut labor costs because our workers were able to do their job 30% faster.  That is a huge deal in eCommerce.

The process of using a gum tape dispenser is simply having a machine that wets and cuts the tape to a certain length.  Our machine programs the legnth and width of each box that we use.  So we can choose to have it cut 3 pieces of tape and have it done within a few seconds.  It then is put on the package and it perfectly fits each time giving the perfect amount of tape.  Once we programmed the right lengths our team was flying through packages and we were super happy that they enjoyed not having to lean over and tape as much. 

Get your Candy While you Still Can

It may be Fall, and Halloween may be right around the corner, but that may not be the biggest reason to go shopping now.  In all honestly, usually, the candy aisles start to get a little barren around this time of year because everyone is getting trick or treat candy for the holiday.  But this year it may be a little different.  The economy has been very strange this year and many companies are struggling to get supplies in order to even produce products.  The other factor is that the election is right around the corner after Halloween and people are all worried about rioting and stores shutting down not only from COVID-19 but from lack of supply or criminal activity.  It is a whole mess of craziness out there right now and if you need that sweet delectable treat with your favorite candy boxes then you may need to get them now before the shelves clear out. 

Now normally in a regular holiday season candy will ramp up and people will be able to not only get all the treats they want before Halloween, but also after.  This year most of the country has reported that trick or treating is going to drastically go down.  As a result, stores and manufacturers simply did not make as much.  This means that if you want some now only for the holiday, but also possibly for after it may be the time to do it.  If companies have already told you they didn’t make nearly as much and are also struggling to get supplies then if you want you favorite candy boxes in your home this year, you may need to get them now.

It is also not only a supply situation.  Even though the companies are not only creating less, but people are now on their own buying more in fear of what may come.  COVID-19 has started to rise and there is talk from our legislative and executive branches of government all accross the nation from states to federal that the economy and states may shut down again.  What this has done rather people thought it would happen or not is cause people to start pannic buying again.  Albeit it is slightly less then the first go around, the real issue is that everyone is now doing it just slower.  So there are more people preparing for the worst because we have already seen shelves empty for months at a time and rationing take place.  Yes, when a store only allows you to get one of an item, and none of another it is rationing.  This is what happens in pandemics, economic collapses or hyperinflation.  The truth is that our economy is not what it was and our sweet tooths may end up suffering for it.

So what I am saying is plan out what you enjoy and maybe even how much you like to eat.  If you know that your family lives happily with a large bag of assorted treats per month, then maybe pick up enough to last the year.  Make sure to check expiration dates as well. You do not want to waste food or money on something that wont last long enough to enjoy. So plan ahead be careful and safe and enjoy life.

Is Candy On your Shopping list?

This year there are so many words being thrown out. Pandemic and Essential have been played to death and are getting on my nerves.  The topic came up when I told a friend that I was going to the store to get snacks for the family. They immediately chastised me for putting lives at risk over snacks. Let me tell you that snacks are life and I am happy to take that risk in order to live a normal life and have a happy family. I want to let you know that the need for anything outways the risk of freedom and if you need to get some top of the line candy boxes for your family then go right ahead and go to the store.

The issues that have arrived this year are always based on the word essential.  Food is essential, and life, liberty, and the pursuit of justice are as well. It is when someone goes and tells me that any kind of grocery shopping is not essential that I must protest.  I live in the United States due to freedom and going shopping is part of that.  I take a massive risk of driving to the store. The risk of getting into a crash is always there and that is higher than any other health risk in the world. I say this to let people know that they are at risk of dying every day. It is a normal thing and we all have most likely been in a car wreck or no someone who has died from one.  So going to the grocery store has always been a big risk. 

Candy kiosk inside a shopping mall

There truly should be no limits on what is considered essential food.  If your family is going crazy from being locked inside together going on 4 months than anything to save your sanity is essential. That is how I look at many things these days.  It is no one’s right to tell you what food is good and what is not. That is part of why we live in this country and that is the freedom that it brings.  Yes, that even comes down to the candy boxes we choose when walking down that lovely aisle. So indeed don’t let anyone tell you what food is essential or even come close to taking away the choice as to that. It could mean later on that some choices for food for your children may be limited. The FDA says aspartame and corn syrup are healthy. If they are soon the only options then we may all be dying of following the rules if they take away healthy alternatives.

I mean to say that going to the grocery store is really simple.  It should be allowed anytime and there is no reason to ever tell someone not to go.  The right of freedom is involved and even in 2020 when pandemics that don’t seem to be causing much harm are happening essentially has taken a different turn. So do not fret, but go out and be free. Enjoy your amazing groceries and don’t be afraid of news that is proven to be false every day.  Don’t let your friends who have been persuaded to think the world is ending dictate your actions. That would be the end of freedom and freedom of thought as we have known it.

Cardboard Box Forts for home

One of the most fun and cool things I have seen was a castle built out of the good old fashion moving boxes.  I was instantly brought back to the feeling of being a child and wanted to instantly go play. 

Luckily, I am also able to live those feelings through my family.  But what amazed me the most was the absolute size of this piece and then realizing that many people live in cardboard boxes every day made it very emotionally complicated to realize that what I was thinking of a child’s play toy was actually someones home. So I wanted to make a way for people who had to live in these items to actually have a great template to survive and thrive on the budget they have. 

So first and foremost if you need to live in a your own box fort then you have to have material in order to do it.  I want to make sure people know that they can ask companies for boxes but know that they crush and recycle every day and night so you have to get them at the right time.  Go to your nearest big box store and ask for cardboard boxes and then ask what time of day is best to get them.  Then ask for the shipping boxes specifically.  These shipping boxes are going to be made for corrugated paper and that means it is more insulated and thought than a regular box.

Now where you are going to end up spending some money is the tape or sealant to seal up the boxes in order to make them wind and more waterproof.  I also suggest using plastic bags to create  kind of roof.  But you can also go to hardware stores and find used and broken shingles to help make an actual roof. This is another ask for broken and unsellable shingles in the building supplies department and many of the times you will find they are more than happy to help. Most manager will even make sure you get what you need.

But don’t be afraid to ask and don’t be afraid to be told no.  Not everyone has a heart and many young people simply do not know enough hardship to have mercy.  So you may need to ask at a few different stores. But know that Lowes and HOme depot like to be right next to each other for sales purposes so if you are at one the other is usually close by!

The Subscription Craze

Since the early 1900s, our culture has become incredibly engrossed with the entertainment industry. Both producers and businesses alike have capitalized on making big bucks off of entertainment, ranging from sports to film and live concerts and more. Of course, consumers eat this stuff up, as it’s a way to get away from the daily life and do something that they enjoy specifically. Thanks to everyone’s niche likely getting some love from entertainment in some capacity, you’ll never be left out no matter how weird or unique your hobbies are.

In this age, Netflix has completely overhauled what entertainment is like. Considering how huge film was not that long ago (and don’t get me wrong, it’s still big) and even how big of a fad video stores were for renting movies and episodes in a series, things have become drastically different in a sudden wink of an eye.

So, this has caused everyday people to have gained a huge amount of convenience in such a service. And boy does it show. People are much more likely to stay in and watch something on Netflix than actually go out to a film or rent something from a store (let alone buy anything new). Instead of buying expensive popcorn and candy boxes at the theatre, they’re much more likely to buy cheap popcorn and cheap candy boxes from the store to bring home for a binging marathon.

And this all happens from the comfort of your own home. Talk about Netflix absolutely hitting gold on a business model. What’s super great for consumers is how affordable a monthly subscription to Netflix is. They’ve priced their product so perfectly that people can’t help but talk about how cheap it is rather than how much of an inconvenience it is on their wallet. (Of course, people fail to include their monthly internet bill in the conversation when talking about Netflix despite that being 3 to 4 times as much.)

What’s quite telling is how this subscription model has taken over in other industries, too. People want the convenience of not leaving their home and not paying that much. And auto renewal payments just make the cycle even more simple, which is all the average consumer wants.

I’d say within a few years we can even start to expect things like craft beer subscriptions where something new comes to your house every month, giving you a wide array of options to try out and see what you like. This is just the nature of our society in this time.