David Fields

To find how much you can start saving to reduce your cost, start asking every time you order something what their price breaks are. You may find that you can take advantage of some. We have found very, very few distributors, manufacturers who don't have tiered pricing. And the better customer you are based on $ you order from them, the more likely they are to make special pricing just for you. Or at least that's what we have found. One mfg rep we deal with gave us true deal that was half what everyone else was selling for - delivered. When I realized it, I asked why we were getting such a great deal. He said that he was giving us pricing "too good to be true" to keep us as customers and fix it so that we would never consider other suppliers. He was right. Normally, we do a lot of research on raw materials pricing, but with this company we don't. And we have pulled away from other suppliers to give them the business. Freight companies operate this way.

Wow. way to go. Wholesale pricing on the status jar for $12. I wish we could get more, but we can't. You must be in an area where everyone has lots of money. Retail for the 8 ounce status at $17.99-26.00. Wow. Oh, and I relooked at my previous posts. We sell the 8 ounce status retail for $9.95, not $5.95; that is the retail for us for the smaller status, 3 ounce I believe. We can only keep our costs down because we buy in bulk. 2-3 pallets at a time, pallets loads of wax. 25-100 pounds of FO.

Our cost for the status jar is $3.20k and for the smaller jar $2.40. We sell retail for $12.95 and $5.95 respectively and wholesale (status only) for $7.00. So, yes, we do make money on them.

Should have read your post better. For us the difference in cost between the two is $ .80. We sell the 8 ounce retail for $5.95 and the 12 ounce for $12.95. We sell about the same number of the two, maybe a few more of the 8 ounce (again retail). We only an 80 cent difference in cost there is not a margin for wholesaling the 8 ounce.,

We sell both retail, but only the 12 ounce wholesale. We sell the 12 ounce for $7.00 wholesale.

OK. I differ from you on one point. It's net profit before taxes that counts. Yes, your profit margin helps, but bottom line, what are you putting in your pocket? Your are obviously content with your profit before taxes and your workload, so, don't change anything. At a point, however, you may want to take your business to the next level and then the next. To do this you need to think about hiring help, improving your margins so that there is room for a wholesale price, a brick and mortar of your own, a website to sell you goods. All of these takes lots and lots of work but can be rewarding financially. But again, if you are content and don't have any thoughts about growing, don't change.

We use Shopify. Very easy to build your site and works well for us.

We operate similar to Old Glory. We have a UPS account that we use for shipments under 150 pounds. We box the cases into larger boxes around 40-50 pounds. Everything over 150 pounds we use freight. We have a particular shipper we use. UPS freight is high. To get a good rate you have to have a contract with a shipper. The rates decrease with usage. In one way I like freight because we only have to load cases onto a skid and shrink wrap it. But then is the part I don't care for. Unless the customer has a profile that we use, we have to ask lots of questions: do you need a liftgate, is the delivery point trailer accessible, will there be someone there to accept, is the delivery point residential or business. etc. Because the freight company asks the same questions. It changes the price. It's a hassle. For most of our higher volume customers we have a card on file; we add the shipping charges and charge the account. Our customers know we add shipping and don't normally question it. New customers are a PITA about the charges, and we have to detail all of the charges and options for them. Oh, we have the freight company pick up skid. Also, for website customers and smaller wholesale customers we use USPS.HTH

We stack one high. Remind me and I will take a picture (after Christmas) and post for you.

Ok, What we do after several years of adjusting to needs. First, I assume the space is heated and cooled so that is not an issue? If not, you can't keep much stock on hand. We like you try to keep a large stock on hand so we can get orders out quickly. We have half of one warehouse devoted to storage. One side has shelves where singles jars and other products are stored. The other side is for full boxes of products. We have I guess 200 or so wholesale account; some order cases at a time. Others, including our website mailorders, order smaller than case-lots. This works for us. We also inventory the storage area every morning after pulling the orders we got from the previous day. That gives us a good idea about what we should pour/make that day. HTH

that's pretty much the way we test. although, we don't use votives but jars to see the effects of the burn with different jars and scents levels.

Several years ago a couple came in and offered to buy our business. They asked all the right questions which let us know they were sincere. They had recently sold a successful business and wanted to reinvest to avoid tax implications. They make us an offer which seemed great at the time (we had never thought about selling). We researched our tax implications from getting a chunk of cash and found that after applying capital gains tax, the Obama health-care tax to our personal 1040 we would lose half. Which meant that we would receive after the smoke cleared what we earn in a little over a year. No deal. They understood but could not come up with more. The later bought an archery shop. We have had other people come in and offer to buy us out. But, this was the only one with a cash offer. Everyone else wanted to give us little to no $ up front; they all wanted for us to carry a note. We talked about all of this to a rich friend who said that serious offers require a five year ROI with the buyer not being hands-on involved in the day to day operations. So, that means take your net profit before taxes, pay someone to run it, and what is left of your net will pay off the five year ROI. Intersting. Huh?

Old Glory. For waxes I use AAA and Lonestar. Availability of a consistent volume of wax is a biggee for us. These two work well for us. Especially AAA. They have a number of freight companies they have contracts with. R&L Freight is awesome. You don't have to pay for a liftgate. They generally deliver the next day to us (College Station or Giddings, another warehouse we have). So we tend to order from them if they have the glassware or wax we need in stock. We use a number of waxes and blend our own; if we let AAA know in time they will have them on-hand for us. Great people.

Belinda, we are in College Station. Cleveland is just around the corner. Old Glory. Other than the three you mentioned, I am not aware of other candle supply companies. Small ones come and go. Those three are the only ones I know of who have been around long enough to be keepers.

We are in southeast Texas and have used them for years (8 or 9) I think. They are located in north Dallas next to their parent company Nevitt Fragrances (where we get some of our scents). No problems with them. Anything specific pm me.

To my knowledge there are two types of insurance that we chandlers can get. Product liability insurance which is hard to get and expensive. The insurance underwriter has to verify your mfg techniques and get samples for testing before they will insure your products. Then there is general liability insurance which is much cheaper and easier to obtain. It covers things like trips and falls at shows. This is the insurance almost all of us have. We got insurance I guess fifteen years ago (and paid more then than we pay now!!! It pays to shop around). Anyway, it is a concern of ours but not a big one of being sued. First, they have to prove fault. Hard to do if you make a good product. Second, it is very rare to even hear of a fire as a result of a wax product. I don't even remember the last one. I think it's a function of ours times. Lawyers and the liberal media have us all bouncing like dogs to the dinner bell. A long time ago we bought some land and built on it. We never put up a fence. Too expensive for what it would do. Others in our area put up a fence (comparable in price to the cost of the land) and then put up a cheap home. They couldn't afford more because of the fence. We saw this time after time. I guess what I am saying is don't fret insurance too much. If it scares you everytime you sell a wax product that you might get sued, get insurance, lots of it. If it is not a major concern wait. You only have to have insurance when you open a store or to add an additional insured clause for a new wholesale customer that requires it. Last, from my experience, general liability insurance premiums are base on your yearly sales. Got to independent insurance companies for quotes. Don't just buy from the first one. We did that years ago and found that we were paying three times quotes from other underwriters. HTH

We have over 200 wholesale accounts, and this question comes up A LOT. Here's what we tell folks, and it works for us. We tell them that exclusivity depends on the size of the town/city, the dollar amount the customer orders on average per month, the location of the store in the city. Plus, exclusivity can be temporary if conditions change. We don't accept another account in the same city if sales are really good ($1000 or more on average per month) and the sales stay that way. We will accept another account if the customer's sales are in the 100-200/month range. We tell the old customer why. We would rather have two accounts in a city averaging $100-200/month rather than one. We keep the turn-downs on file and contact them if the current account drops in sales for a couple of months. Finally, we explain to everyone where this a question/problem that they can carry our products or not, their choice. We don't have a voice in their business decisions. We are all trying to maximize profits. That seems to mollify everyone. HTH

no, we blend two for tarts/melts. we blend everything. I don't believe we use straight anything.

We have been using Square for two years and love it! Never used the little square thingy that plugs into your phone. We use Square Register Stand at the store and the Square Iphone app for wholesale orders. We use Shopify for our website orders (only because we don't know how to connect to Square yet). Love all of the reports and quick deposits. Got to order the new Square Register Stand this week to be ready in October. But, go with Square. They are great.

We blend our own wax. We have six different waxes to blend from. Tried preblended and did not like it. To me, it's the lazy way (no offense intended please). We prefer to know exactly how our products will turn out. Which also means lots of testing.

Don't walk. RUN!

Boy, do we identify with you. Because of the personal visits and phone calls we have switched credit card companies six or eight times over the years; and always regretted it. They all lied. And like the previous poster changed fees and conditions. We switched to Square Register a year or so ago and have never looked back. They have changed nothing except for the better. We love the reposts we can get. Love them. We researched and found that the credit card industry is an unregulated industry, meaning they can do whatever they want. So, don't trust anything they say. Only trust what is in writing, which can change daily. Damn Democrats!@

Has anyone used Drake wax warmers? Specifically the ones that are magnetized (you can put cute magnet items on them)? We ordered a bunch, and although they are cute, they don't melt the wax; customers have been bringing them back. We tried several and found the same thing. We contacted the company (a showroom in Dallas Market Center) and were told that no one has ever complained before and it must be our wax. We explained that our wax melts just fine in their other warmers as well as Candle Warmers, Ambiescents, and Langley (we carry those). The owner won't let us do anything about them. So, I am hoping someone else has had the same problem. Drake is no longer going to carry candles, wax melts or warmers; said the competition is too fierce. Anyone?

Just my opinion. But there are way too many damn lawyers in this country. They get everyone to thinking about liability, and before you know it, every company has pages and pages of disclosures and waivers you must agree to before they will deal with you. We recently had a company approach us to sell to them; but first, we had to sign a 28 page document exempting them from all liability. If you make a product that is faulty and causes damage, you are liable. Period. Regardless of having an LLC. I am old, and it used to be that your word was your bond. Sorry to see the direction our county has headed. Recently we were in Great Britain. While boarding a river boat, a US citizen tripped and fell and smashed his face. The tour guide asked him politely to please get up and move on because there were lots of other people trying to board. He told me he was surprised about this. He said in the states the boat people would have had people all over him, taking pictures and witness statements and insisting he go to the emergency room. A Brit listening in laughed and said that's America; he said lawyers don't rule Britain yet. He also advised us not to jaywalk in London because the jaywalker was at fault if he got hit with no liability to a vehicle driver. We found out that he was probably right when a bus appeared to try to run us done when we jaywalked.

We have never used water-jacketed melters but have used direct heat melters for going on twenty years. We have six ranging 50-65 pound melters and couldn't do without them. They have different waxes in them and are never shut off. Yes, you can scorch the wax if you set the thermostat too high; we set ours about 20 degrees above the wax melting point. One of our melters is close to twenty years old. I cannot imagine using anything else. So, just our point of view.