Meh...
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It's amazing that in a thread of support for a vendor, you still have people pop in and post their "I don't like her products"
I imagine massengill is looking for online representatives.
Pathetic.
it's not a tribute to MB but more a discussion of her business closing down.
To be fair, I don't think MB is a B&B vendor.
Plus, it's not a tribute to MB but more a discussion of her business closing down.
It's amazing that in a thread of support for a vendor, you still have people pop in and post their "I don't like her products"
I imagine massengill is looking for online representatives.
Pathetic.
Ok, guys, let's move on.
It's amazing that in a thread of support for a vendor, you still have people pop in and post their "I don't like her products"
I imagine massengill is looking for online representatives.
Pathetic.
Well...
Last night I emailed her and told her that she needs a business, not a hobby. Then I told her that perhaps she should raise prices enough to make a profit. Finally, I said she should have a line on the order site for "EMBP" at $5 per puck of soap. She didn't seem to want to raise prices.
This morning I ordered a puck of Old Barbershop shaving soap, but still couldn't find the EMBP.
BTW, EMBP stands for "Extra Mama Bear Profit". If you like her products, then this should make sense.
Not trying to open fresh wounds, but it seems tha some of the real meat of this discussion has been lost in the last few pages. She's not seeing this as a stop-gap measure until the next lull. She's fighting for the settlement from her fire, so if she can make it until the end of the year and get her settlement, I'm sure she'll be fine. I've been a MB customer for a few years now and this is the first time I've heard of problems like this. Her explanation of the root cause of her troubles seem to make perfect sense. I've known people that have had trouble getting an insurance settlement and it's usually very similar to this, where they have a lot of problems making ends meet while replacing everything that was lost.
I think she just has too many products. I regularly place orders with soap making supply web sites and the most expensive items are the fragrance and essential oils. Those little 2 to 10$ bottles add up real quickly. Her soaps are very strongly scented so I could imagine that a large portion of her profits go into purchasing more scents. She might be perfectly fine if she concentrated her efforts on a dozen best sellers. She still would be able to bring back a few once and a while as "special editions". Melt and pour also costs more than making your own product. As it is now, I've been offering my soaps for a few months here, and I cant say I'm making a huge profit. All the profit for now goes into buying more supplies. So far I've been able to slowly, very slowly keep more scents constantly in stock. To be honest, I don't think I will ever be able to quit my day job making soap, but i'm still happy soaping on evenings and weekends. Granted I haven't been at it for as long as she has, and I don't have the same level of reputation she has here. I really hope she gets back on her feet. Regardless what we may think of her soap (I own some and like it) or her business, she seems like a good person that deserves better.Sorry, but at $10 a soap, she is charging plenty, especially given the soaps are not triple milled.
So many other artisan's are making fantastic soaps (which are not just glycerin based) and are charging less and [IME] perform better and last longer than MB.
To me, it doesn't make sense that just because a business is failing, the customer willingly pays more in order to keep the business afloat.
What about if MB was making a profit, would there be a "CMP" (claim my profit) option on her website so the customer gets rewarded when times are good?
She could give it another go and try to become more efficient, look for cheaper suppliers (even though from the wholesale rates I have seen, soap making supplies are hardly that expensive when we consider the cost of making each soap) etc etc.
Lots of businesses do well and lots also fail. If MB is failing, it's not up to the customer to make her profitable, it is up to her solely. If she can't do it, then close the business down and move on.