Shipping Quandary...

There are decisions to make in every aspect of life and business, and it is all too easy to make them lightly... But it can also be a never ending abyss once you delve in. One problem we have pondered on and off has to do with the best way to package our products for shipping. 
There are many things to consider here: cost for the customer; protection of the products; cost to the environment; ease of use... As always, we believe we should reduce, re-use, and recycle as much as possible.

Shipping adds a lot to the cost of a product, especially small and inexpensive, but relatively heavy, item like bars of soap. You can raise the price of the soap to absorb some of this, but that requires price changes at least annually to match the variable cost of shipping. 
We want the package to arrive in good shape, with nothing damaged, smeared, or otherwise different than when we packed it. This means it has to be well padded, fairly snug so it doesn't shift around in transit, and that the packing materials are clean.
To keep the packaging costs down we want the packing material to be light in weight. The lightest packing materials are those styrofoam packing peanuts, bubble wrap and bags of air. However, these are all products that will end up in a landfill, slowly, if ever, breaking down. Not to mention plastic is a petroleum derivative. Not the most environmentally friendly stuff.
OK, so there is crumpled or shredded paper. Crumpled paper compresses, so there is limited use for it. If there is much gap between the soap and the box the weight of the paper it takes to secure the soap can raise the shipping cost considerably. It doesn't help that for all the shippers one ounce over a pound equals 2 pounds, as far as postage goes. 

And then there is the problem of acquiring (and disposing of) the packing materials. The price we pay is part of the price the customer must pay in the end. Clean shredded plain paper is hard to come by here, it's tough to find inexpensive rolls of newsprint anymore, and used newspaper has a problem with ink coming off onto the labels of the soap. 

This also has to take into consideration the cost on the environment. We certainly don't want to encourage the production of more plastic or styrofoam, neither do we want it to end up in a landfill. When we have plain, recycled paper, and in orders where it's weight doesn't add appreciably to the postage, we know it can be re-used, recycled, or will break down into organic matter when tossed in the landfill.

We have looked at different specific eco-friendly packaging materials but, with the small spaces we have to fill and other requirements, they often didn't work for our particular purpose. That doesn't mean they won't work for you - for examples, see: PrairieEcopak™ , EnviroPAK custom molded packaging, and GlobeGuard™ (who also have wonderful recycled cardboard boxes). We use the kraft paper Sizzle Pak shown as fill in gift baskets.
UPDATE: A new resource - EcoEnclose which carries and assortment of eco-friendly packaging for breakable items.


Lightweight, effective, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly. It seems like it should be simple...
But is it better to get new paper with the energy cost of its manufacturing process, or re-use packing peanuts that almost never break down and can be used over and over, keeping them in circulation and out of the landfill - at least for now?
And many people hate the packing peanuts, yet already feel that shipping costs are high and don't want to pay more for the weight incurred by using paper or cardboard. As I said - its a quandary.
 
We have toiled with these issues for years, always done the best we can, and are please we may have finally come up with the best possible solution for us. Introducing Geami packaging! This lightweight, expanded kraft paper and tissue packing material amazingly doesn't seem to compress and fits in the small spaces we need to fill.


So here is what we are doing:
1) Reused or Recycled cardboard boxes, including the US Postal Service's "Cradle to Grave"*certified boxes. All re-usable or recyclable & biodegradable.
2) 100% Post consumer waste (PCW) invoices, labels and shipping labels. All recyclable & biodegradable.
3) Re-used poly-styrene packing peanuts/bubble wrap, etc (rather than throwing in the landfill what comes to us in other packages).
4) Environmentally friendly Geami packaging. All re-usable, recyclable, or biodegradable..


All this puts us just one step closer to having a completely sustainable business from start to finish.
* from Wikipedia:  

Cradle-to-grave is the full Life Cycle Assessment from manufacture ('cradle') to use phase and disposal phase ('grave'). For example, trees produce paper, which can be recycled into low-energy production cellulose (fiberised paper) insulation, then used as an energy-saving device in the ceiling of a home for 40 years, saving 2,000 times the fossil-fuel energy used in its production. After 40 years the cellulose fibers are replaced and the old fibers are disposed of, possibly incinerated. All inputs and outputs are considered for all the phases of the life cycle.

Get your natural & organic soaps sent to you in eco-friendly packaging from the greenest soapmakers on Earth! Simmons Natural Bodycare.

Over the meadow and through the woods...

Well, we had a delectable and fun Thanksgiving Holiday. A small one after last year's reunion (see the photo on our blog "Belonging"). Our son is traveling, but both daughter's families were here along with a few friends.

It really is a trek to get here... to Grandmother's house, as it is. Where we live is very rural and the highway is the kind of winding road that separates those who must have fresh air and the front seat from the rest of us. Actually, I belong to the fresh air group myself. I never saw the road to my own Grandmother's house in Pennsylvania. My parents drugged me with Dramamine before they let me near a car, and I slept en route to everywhere we went. Fortunately, none of our clan needs medication to make the journey.

I find it interesting that one of the things that always impresses everyone about our holiday meals is that I save the ends of bread all year to make stuffing. Is this so odd? Once they start to dry out (or before they mold) I will take bread and tear it into small pieces and spread it out in a shallow bowl to dry. Once dry I put it in a gallon jar to save for stuffing. It makes for interesting and very good sage stuffing - I have mostly whole wheat bread with sunflower seeds and cracked grains in it, but also white sourdough, rye bread, whatever comes through the house. It is such a favorite that I need two full gallons of dried bread to make enough! It can be made vegetarian or not and is good all year. Here is the recipe:

Simmonsville Sage Stuffing
(Measurements are approximate)
4 cups dried bread cubes or pieces, all kinds
1 c. chopped onion
6 cloved diced garlic
1 c. chopped celery
1 c. chopped mushrooms
Bell's Seasoning
salt
Pepper
Paprika
Chopped parsley
1 egg, beaten in 1 c. water or stock.
1/4 c. butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Saute onions in oil and butter until soft, add garlic and other vegetables and saute until mushrooms are soft and celery still slightly crunchy.
Place bread in large bowl. Add cooked vegetables. Put a little water in the pan, swirl and add to bread mix. Season to taste with salt and pepper and up to 1 tablespoon of the Bell's Seasoning.
Toss it all together, then add the egg liquid and a liberal amount of sweet paprika. Toss again and correct the seasoning as needed.
If stuffing a bird remember to do it loosely to leave room for expansion. As a bird-less side dish, place stuffing in covered casserole, dot with butter, cover and bake until heated through - about 1/2 hour at 350 degrees.
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So, with Thanksgiving behind us we are left with a very small window ahead for getting all the Christmas/Hanukkah orders out. How this season gets compressed!
For us, part of the difficulty lies with our wonderful, but remote, location. One pays the price for being far from urban centers. In our case, for one thing, it slows delivery time.

During regular order flow we ship 2 times weekly, Monday and Thursday. That way all orders go out within 1-3 business days. Once we start in the morning the race is on to get the UPS orders ready before the driver gets here - between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Then we can take a break, as the Postal Service pick up is on their way back to town around 3:30 p.m. (we would never make their morning schedule of 9:30 a.m.).
If we receive an order after the orders are shipped, it will go out the next shipment day. When order volume is up, we ship more days per week to make sure all the orders get out within the same week (excepting orders received after pick up on Fridays). We are shipping every day this time of year.

So, while ground shipping and Priority Mail generally take a "normal" amount of time, due to our remote rural location 3-day generally takes 4 days. What happens is, when the driver gets back to the main office in town after driving his 120 - 230 mile route, the express plane has already left, delaying the package by 1 day.
This is why we do not offer overnite (which is impossible from here) or 2-day, except in very special circumstances, which is a lot more expensive considering it cannot be that fast anyway.

When a customer lets us know it is imperative a package arrive by 'X' date, we do everything we can (and they are willing to pay for) to get it there on that date. But we always recommend that you order up to 2 weeks ahead to guarantee early delivery, as for a gift.

So, with this in mind should you want to bestow a gift of our special Soaps or lovely Gifts this Holiday Season, here is our Holiday Shipping Schedule.

Last possible dates to place orders for on time delivery of Christmas Gifts:

UPS Ground
East Coast, Alaska, Hawaii, Military & Territories: order by Dec. 14 to ship on Dec.15
Rocky Mountain States to Midwest: order by Dec. 16 to ship Dec. 17
Western States: Order by Dec. 17 to ship on Dec. 18
UPS 3 Day Select
From anywhere: Order by 10 a.m. Dec. 18 to ship Dec. 19
U.S. Priority mail
Order from anywhere by 10 a.m. Dec. 18 to ship on Dec.20