sockmonkey

I wish I had your patience. I would have been on the phone with the Attorney General's office complaining of contractor fraud/theft. Why should you have to wait 10 days for your windows. He's had 2 - 1/2 months, I think they should install them tomorrow. How did this man pay for his candles? With cash (part of your $7,000 no doubt)? I hope he didn't write a check! I don't mean to rain on your parade. I'm glad it made you're happy. Hearing stuff about businesses taking advantage of people just makes my blood boil.

It means they want $150 to help pay for their event. I don't mean any disrespect, perhaps they are being very selective with who they are inviting to participate, and they truly love your products, but they're also putting this event on to raise money for themselves or some charity. If $150 is a lot of money for you, and you want a spot downstairs, by all means ask to be downstairs. Better yet, demand it. If they say yes, fantastic. If they say no, well, I kind of get the impression that you already think being upstairs might be a mistake. Do you think it would be wiser to place a $150 ad, or 2 $75 ads in a newspaper for your products, which potentially several thousands could see, vs. 1100 people (not even allowing for the people who will never make it upstairs) over a 3 day period? Is there anything else going on at the same time, or other nearby businesses that could draw more people in? A three day event that only brings in 1100 people and costs $150 doesn't sound like a real good investment. What kind of promotion is being done for it, and will you specifially be included in it? Don't be shy about asking for things, you're running a business and you're in it to make money.

I've melted it in the microwave, then added color and fragrance. I've also melted it in a "soap" crock from Life of the Party I got on sale at JoAnn Fabrics. It's much easier and neater to use the microwave.

Have you checked out wholesalesuppliesplus.com? They're in Ohio, still pretty far away, but I've found their shipping to be reasonable (I'm in Indiana) and ship lightning fast. I just ordered from them on Tuesday and got it this morning. Another place is craftlobby.com. They have a lot of b&b stuff, and some decent prices. They're located in TN. I haven't bought from them too much because they really rip me off on shipping, so what I save on prices is canceled out by the high shipping. Perhaps shipping will be more reasonable in your area. I forgot a few... camdengrey.com (FL) floridasoapsupplies.com (FL, obviously) bayousome.com (LA. I don't think that have that much in the way of soap supplies, but they do have a nice and reasonably priced selection of bottles and jars. They also have good shipping rates)

If this isn't requirement under the contract you signed with her, then you are under no obligation to contribute toward it. What she could do is place the ad and include all the vendors who contributed except for you; but I say no big whoop...as long as anyone sees the ad and is going to the store, they will still see your booth--so you basically got benefits anyway. Sweet. FYI, in addition to my store, I also rent space in an antique mall. I pay a straight rent of $100 per month. No commission, no working there. I've never been asked to donate for advertising, and the lady that owns the place rents billboards and regularly advertises in antique publications.

How about calling them "patty wax"...a play on the old nic nack patty... I think it's kind of cute and descriptive.

I wonder if they smelled something--they probably wanted to know because it could be flammable. Regarding the UPS man and the packing questions, he probably thought he could scare you into buying a different box or more bubblewrap and peanuts. Him asking if it would withstand a 70 lb box being dropped on it deserved a reply that you're not an engineer, but that it's securely packaged in such a manner that if it's handled in a professional way, and not drop kicked by a team of baboons, that you are confident that it should reach it's destination in perfect condition.

I think adding a couple of silk trees would be nice. I've found them for as low as $13.99 on sale. They're obviously not nice and full like the ones that cost $200, but for your purposes, I think they would do the job. I've found them at Old Time Pottery ($13.99) and Value City ($17.99). I would be careful about hanging fabric all over the place. It might wind up drawing attention to the curtains instead of detracting from it.

Oh, it's real alright, but whether the bidder actually winds up paying could be another story. I peek at ebay every now and then and look at what Yankees are going for. Around Christmastime I saw a 22 oz candle--I think it was called Ribbon Candy or Christmas Candy, I don't remember which, go for $102 (not including shipping). That was for a supposedly "rare" candle. After Christmas I was in the Yankee retail store and saw them on clearance for $10.50! I wonder if the people who buy them for $100 + will ever burn them.

Oh, I knew that was gonna come up.

I've about had it with them. I get terrible customer service from them, and with everyone selling them, there really isn't a much of a reason for me to continue to carry them. I even saw them on QVC! A customer of mine told me she couldn't buy them from me because her church group sells them for fundraisers! They are still big sellers for me, but as I said before, sales are way down this year. I wish I could decide on something else to replace them. Any ideas?

It seems like they could certainly wrap things in plastic bags anyway to try and keep it from seeping all over everything.

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I'm so mad. I see that Penney's is selling Yankee candles. I swear, I need to dump them. How is a small gift shop supposed to sell them now? I heard that Costco sells them too.

I'm good at renaming anyone else's stuff, but draw a blank with my own! I hope they work for you!

Yankee Candle was selling candle jewelry for their pillar candles. It kind of looked like necklaces draped around a pillar. They used to show them at yankeecandle.com

I would find it hard to believe that UPS or the USPS would find a used box to repackage someone's stuff in--especially a cocoa butter box...how convenient. I ordered soap from Sunfeather Soaps on a few occasions and was embarrased when the UPS man delivered them. In once instance, the soaps came in a giant frozen hashbrown box. That man must have thought, damn, she sure likes hashbrowns. The worst part was what they used for filler--nasty, shredded bits of Shell station credit card receipts and computer paper! It was soooo dusty and fibers went everywhere. I called them to complain and the lady who answered the phone said that the owner believes in recycling, so they go to a local university and get all of their trash, basically and shred it. I wonder if those students, and people who signed credit card receipts had any idea their shredded signatures and social security numbers were used to pack my soaps. A criminal mind--with a lot of spare time could have easily pieced the shreds together and had a field day getting a new identity. I personally view companies that use "recycled" boxes as cheap (espcially the hashbrown box--come on, where do you think they got that). I don't think I'm saving money on their product because of it. I think they're just making more off of me because of it.

I sell Yankees in my store. Last year was the first year I carried them, and I invested around $10,000 in them. This year, my sales are very sluggish. I know most of my sales come in the fall, but what I've spent so far this year does not even come close to what I spent at the same time last year. There are sooooo many candle companies out there all competing for the same dollar. I'm not even counting flea markets and handcrafted candles. Yankee's the big daddy of them all, but with last fall's price increase, I think some people are deciding to switch to other brands. A 12% increase may sound like something good, but I wonder what kind of increase they had the year before.

Lily of the Valley = Wedding Veil Watermelon = Summer Serenade Tropical Cooler = Sunshine Mist Eucalyptus Spearmint = Revitalize Margaritaville = Girls' Night Out Dreamsicle = Orange Dream Coconut = Noix de Coco (French for Coconut) Hazelnut = Avellana (Spanish for Hazelnut)