Our prices are going up about 17% starting Monday, March 20, 2023. Any orders not placed by then will come with a fun new price!
Ain’t Nobody Got Time to read this blog, so we made a cliff notes version, then longer explanations as you scroll down!
After a nice long bubble bath with our Profit and Loss statements from the last couple of years and our Outlook on our goals for 2023, we have decided we desperately, finally, need to adjust our pricing. Simply put, our operating, COGS, and labor costs are growing at a rate expected to outpace our income, and we need to finally make some adjustments.
Inflation has gone up 17 cents per dollar across the board since 2019, on rent, office supplies, shipping, utilities, etc.
I need you to understand the following three points:
Costs We Have Happily Eaten The Last 3 Years
We have earned this increase by ALREADY implementing these changes in the last three years:
- We have had to keep more supply on the shelves to ensure we can get last-minute orders done since we can’t depend on overnight shipping any longer.
- Our ink and vinyl costs have gone up substantially, and instead of switching to knock-off inks by third parties, we have kept the high-quality decoration materials we have tested and proven are the BEST choice for your garments.
- Our completion rate is as high as 99.9% as of 2022!
- Out of 3372 orders in 2022, we only have 13 refunds (and half were Karens we were just trying to get out of the store)
- We HATE our competitors who wait till the DAY an order is due to call their clients to say they can’t get it done. That’s super effed in the b. We would never do that unless all the S’s have hit the fan.
- We do not drop orders, and if something catastrophic happens, we source them out (no one else does this).
- We have to pay more for that when it happens, on average one week a year due to a machine breaking.
- But that makes it so we can definitely promise that we will get it done.
- We have been refining our Recruitment, Training, and Accountability programs for more experience in Operations and Production, leading to less turnover and more familiar faces.
- It costs 27% more per production hour for us since labor costs have gone up, and we have focused on trying to find production people with experience instead of training from scratch (better for clients).
- We have refined our training program and accountability over the last three years, so our “Whoopsie” Rate went from 5% in 2019 to 2% in Q1 of 2023, and that’s before hiring a Production Manager with experience.
- We have a history of LOWERING costs when we see it’s possible, with us lowering costs twice over the last two years on garments and bulk orders.
- Despite supply issues, we found price dips or found cheaper items that printed better and adjusted our prices in November 2021 and October 2022 to reflect these changes, instead of pocketing that money.
- We also recently convinced the powers that be that we SHOULD NOT BE CHARGING SALES TAX on our decoration services. The vast majority of that expense is for labor, not COGS, so we have recently removed that 8.38% added cost, SAVING YOU MONEY. That’s like half the cost of the price increase right there!
- All the cool kids are doing it!
- We watched our competitors (online and in Vegas) raise their prices the last two years, and we held out as long as we could, hoping the market would correct, but these prices are more in line with what our competitors are doing. And they ain’t as fast or as charming!
Upcoming Improvements That Will Excite And Delight
- Upgraded our Point of Sale system that is being discontinued after 16 years in use. Bad news: Quickbooks hates small business owners, and we are being forced to integrate our decade and a half of data into a new system. Good news: We will get more features!
- Faster location of previous artwork
- Easier online payments
- More accurate historical data
- Better reporting for us to be able to make more changes to help make you happier!
- Upgrade our designer and print production software:
- Order reprints online in under 5 minutes
- Faster print times
- More accurate prints (less whoopsies)
- Better looking design that’s completed faster
- Accurate proofing that’s lighting fast!
So, in summary, we are using this money to pay for all the things we have already been doing out of pocket, and to help give us the capital we need for the improvements we HAVE to make this year to make your ordering the most exciting and friction-less experience possible.
We want to thank our loyal fans who have been our customers all these years. Your feedback has validated the changes we have already made, and what’s inspiring us to be the best little T-Shirt Ninja Fairies we can be!
We hope you will agree and be just as delighted about all of this value we are adding to your purchases.
If you wish to reach out with any questions, comments, ridicules, yo mama jokes, or a good pun, please ask for me directly.
With all the Sincerity & The Warmest Regards,
Angie Morelli | Proprietor of Customistic & T-Shirt Ninja Fairy Yoda