Chivaz Handles for free, but now we charge for shipping
Do you that for a year Chivaz had free shipping? Probably not, because most of the people in the real world haven’t ever bought a pair of Chivaz. It’s ok, I don’t take it personally.
A few months ago, I decided that Chivaz would start to charge for shipping. The shipping we charge simply covers the cost of postage. If you want faster shipping, you pay a little bit more.
Do you notice that there is no “handling” to go along with the shipping. In fact, I never understood the cost of “handling” before I started running Chivaz.
But man, I sure do understand the cost of handling now. Want to follow me on this packaging quest?
HOW CHIVAZ SHIPS AN ORDER:
Step 1: I get the order - Alert on my phone- I am super stoked. It is like getting a text from a girl you have a crush on, magical every time.
Step 2: From my computer, I log into Shopify (my ecommerce software) and go to orders –>print packaging slips (its actually a few more steps, but that is boring)–>print out the packaging slip (hope that I chose the right tray so that it doesn’t print on a label)
Step 3: Log into ShippingEasy (my postage software) and 10 clicks later I hit print label (hope that I chose the right tray so that it prints on a label)
Step 4: Walk to my garage –>avoid all kinds of bikes and bike parts around the garage and go to the printer –>smile when everything printed properly
Step 5: Take out an envelope that already has Chivaz stickers in it (this was a step that usually took a long time, but I prepared (with the help of my mother in law) a boatload of these at one time so that I could avoid this long step at this very moment
Step 6: Put more stickers in the envelope, especially if it is going to a skateboarder, because skaters actually use their stickers
Step 7: Write a personal note on the envelope. Most business books would recommend doing something like this because it simply doesn’t scale and it is time consuming. Screw it. This is what we do differently. You people take the time to buy Chivaz socks and I really appreciate it. Seriously. The least I can do is take 1-2 minutes to write a thank you note. My parents taught me to always write a thank you note. I still feel guilty if I don’t.
Step 8: Stick the label on the envelope
Step 9: Gather the socks from the boxes, double check that they are the right size, admire the handwritten numbers and style on the back, put the socks in the envelope
Step 10: Seal the envelope
Step 11: Drive it to the post office
So anyway. Back to the shipping costs…
Chivaz charges for shipping because we have some loans to pay off. I don’t mind sending people a free pair every now and then, but when all we were doing was sending free pairs and paying for shipping, we were losing a lot of money.
So now we charge for shipping, so even people that get a free pair have to pony up a couple dollars to get them shipped to them.
Yah, it is a bummer, I wish shipping was free everywhere, but my postage bills were getting out of control and my debts were not going away. Maybe one day when Chivaz is making millions, I will get back to sending out socks for free.
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