Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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Some thoughts on shirts.

As I slowly package the still-pending shirt orders (about half have been mailed out or hand-delivered, with about half remaining), I find myself inundated with email from people asking if I have any extras. Which, naturally, has me pondering what I've learned from this batch, and what to do differently if I print another run. I've come to the following five conclusions.

1. Order = Pay.
This took so long because we had to chase down every person who said they wanted a shirt and get them to pay for it. If we do it again, we say "place your order, pay your total, and you'll get your shirt when we hit the minimum order threshold or run out of time, whichever comes later." Pros, no chasing people. Cons, some people may demand refunds if things take too long.

2. Make it clear that the choices offered are the only ones.
We also had issues with a few people going "I want shirt style A, but this color from shirt style B." This, well, wasn't possible, because the shirts didn't exist, but we didn't catch that until Deborah was in the final review of the list. So if we do this again, we need to be very clear on the "what you can get is what's on that specific page" issue.

3. Set a maximum threshold.
This was a super-large order, which also slowed things down a lot. So there needs to be a "no fewer than X, but no more than Y" point.

4. Up the price for 3XL and up.
I hate this. I tried so hard not to reach this conclusion. But...it costs more to print a shirt that's between 3XL and 6XL, and we had a lot of those. I was never expecting to make money on this, and I figured, "well, if someone who orders a S is paying the same as someone who orders a 5XL, it all comes out in the wash." And it did, as far as printing costs was concerned. What I didn't do was calculate for mailing costs. It's about three dollars more to ship a larger shirt, especially if that shirt is not being mailed alone. If I want to be able to afford to print the shirts, and mail the shirts, I need to charge more for the larger ones. I'm so sorry. It's purely financial, and it annoys me deeply.

5. Print more extras.
This time, I ordered three extra shirts, and Amy, who is smart, ordered eight for her bookstore. Amy has been doing a brisk business selling shirts to filkers who missed the original order, and is a happy little clam. I still don't know which shirts are mine, because I'm in the shipping process. More extras would mean a happier answer to "do you have one you can sell me?" inquires.

...of course, all this is academic until I finish mailing. Still, that's where I'm at right now, and sometimes it's nice to think aloud.
Tags: busy busy busy, contemplation
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I LOVE my Wicked Girls shirts, Seanan. Thank you for having these made. I'm wearing my black one today, and I always feel more capable and competent when wearing any of the three I bought, no joke.
It's about three dollars more to ship a larger shirt, especially if that shirt is not being mailed alone.

Holy balls, that is effing ridiculous. And it makes me so MAD. And I say that not as a disgruntled fatty (though I am frequently that as well) but as someone who regularly has to mail stuff off only to be faced with the absolutely ridiculous nonsense of the USPS. I should not get three different shipping cost on three packages the same size, shape, and weight, with the same amount of insurance, going to the same postal zone; or three different prices for one package from three different tellers and the USPS website. It makes calculating shipping for my larger items damn near impossible, and it's distressing.

I get that they're struggling, and that scares me because my bff works for them and would be screwed if she lost her job, but . . . ye gods. I only ship through them because the people at the UPS place look at me as though I were a syphilitic flatworm for no reason that I have ever been able to discern. (There is no resemblance.) At least the people at the post office I go to are super, super nice.
I totally love and adore my post office staff. They're crazy tolerant of me and my tendency to come in with thirty packages at a time, half going to international locations. But shipping has been about 40% more expensive than anticipated because of the larger shirts, and I just can't afford to eat that kind of cost for a second batch. :( Which sucks, both because I think it's totally unfair, and because I understand human nature well enough to know that this is going to trigger some asshole calling me the fat police and claiming I hate anyone who needs a larger size. And then I will cry.

Feh.

tikiera

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

tikiera

5 years ago

amberfox

5 years ago

tikiera

5 years ago

Deleted comment

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

filkferengi

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

filkferengi

5 years ago

keristor

5 years ago

thedragonweaver

5 years ago

I wore my shirt into work the day after I got it. Doc review project. Massive, massive, massive--700+ attorneys on four job sites nationwide, my site had 150 people, we were working 11 hour days, and we did this for 8 days straight. Thankfully the dress code was "please don't show up in anything offensive. Please actually wear clothes."

So I needed a little boost, because I was in day 8 and FRIED FRIED FRIED.

The head of the project on our end, a wonderful guy, ran up to me, grabbed me by my shoulders, read the shirt, and yelled "I LOVE THIS SHIRT!"

And everytime I saw him the rest of the day he giggled and patted me on the head (I was wearing a hat that he also loved) and said "I love that shirt. I really love that shirt."

It made the day go significantly easier.
This = joy. :)

Thank you.

aliciaaudrey

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

This is an insane amount of work, and I thank you dearly for undertaking it. It says love like very little else would.
I try.
And here I thought, number 1. would be totally and utterly crystal clear to everyone ... *sigh*
Sorry you had to chase folks.
I am not getting into the "larger sizes cost more to ship" rant ... not not not. I feel your pain about having to do this.
I makes sense, and for anything BUT clothing, I don't get twitchy. Heavy things weigh more. But with clothes, there's all this social baggage that goes along with it, and I hate feeling like I'm charging people for being heavy, or for wanting nightshirts.

amberfox

5 years ago

aliciaaudrey

5 years ago

kyrielle

5 years ago

tiferet

5 years ago

#1 and #2 are key (and ideally, it simply shouldn't be possible to break from the choices offered; obviously not possible if you're doing order-by-lj rather than, say, a webform).

#4 is distressing, but realistic. I'm afraid someone -will- Be Stupid, but the fact is that your prices have to reflect the underlying economic realities, and those are based not (in this case) on society being fat-haters, but on the unfortunate fact that it takes more energy to move heavier things than to move lighter things (and you pass the savings on to us).

One of the most bemusing things about your fanac, to me, is how much of it involves packing up and mailing things (but they're cool things, so...)
The only other solution I see to the 'larger shirts cost more to ship conundrum' is to raise the production/shipping cost of everyone's shirt to whatever the mean shipping cost works out to and distribute it across all the purchasers, which leaves the playing field level, and means that everyone is helping everyone else get what they want.

mneme

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

Argh. As someone who wears a 5 or 6XL, I understand why they have to charge more, but it's STILL really freaking annoying.

And as someone who lives in Canada and ordered a 5 or 6XL, I thought $20 seemed kinda crazy low. Once my next paycheque hits, I'm going to send you an extra bit by paypal. :)
You are very kind.
Is there a link anywhere so us latecomers can at least see what we missed out on?
I don't have one on me, but if you look through my journal tags (I believe under "people make things"), you can find them.

pbrim

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

You love your fans so much it makes me squeak.

Do you want those who can to chip in for postage? We don't want your kitties to get mad at us!
If you want to? I'm certainly not going to solicit.
I love my shirt so very much! It's purple, and I even like the sleeves more than I thought I would! The color is perfect, and I've already worn it like three times, granted mostly to work where they just tilt their heads and look at me all puzzled and after attempting to explain it once, I just tell them it's a positive thing and not to think about it too hard.

It kind of sucks working with normal people sometimes.
Yeah, I haven't worn mine outside of fandom yet, because I'm dreading someone asking me if I'm saving myself for marriage or something.

sirriamnis

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

Thank you, by the way, for dealing with all of this. Thank you, as well, for expediting my order. I received it a few days before heading out of the country and was able to gift the birthday recipient with hers the night before we left. She immediately stuffed it into her suitcase and wore it with glee while we were in Italy.
YAY!

This makes me happy.
I wore my purple shirt last week for Spirit Day, which I thought was the perfect Axis of Awesome.
AWESOME.
As someone who wears a larger size, I would have no problem with an extra charge. I normally have to pay a couple bucks more.
Thank you.

peachtess

October 28 2011, 17:37:56 UTC 5 years ago Edited:  October 28 2011, 17:39:07 UTC

Thank you for all your hard work with the t-shirts. Thank you as well to your minions helping.

On the topic of charging more for 3x and up I understand. It makes me sad but its not your fault and I know that you will be reasonable while ensuring you don't end up paying out of pocket for us to get shirts.

Please let me know if you need me to send a little more for my shirt given this unexpected extra cost.
It's honestly okay. A few very kind people have chipped in for postage overages, and that's helped a lot. :)

Deleted comment

If you want to, I won't object. My PayPal is delirium@xocolatl.com.
As a larger size myself, I do understand your having to up the price, given the higher price from the manufacturer and the postage, since you can't subsidize us all. That sucks, but is not your fault. Hope no one gives you guff about it.

While you didn't mail mine, would it help if I kicked a few more dollars your way to cover the higher shirt prices?
If you want to, I won't object. My PayPal is delirium@xocolatl.com.

And thank you. I so appreciate your understanding.

anderyn

5 years ago

seanan_mcguire

5 years ago

I also want to chime in as someone who loves the shirt she got. I'll probably get another if you do a second run.
They really just came out amazing.
We'll be at Kate's on Saturday, if that will help the hand delivery.
Well, that didn't work...ah, sleep and injuries.

bisky

5 years ago

Ooooh, so I may have it in time for Yuletide? Awesome!
I'm working on it!
This post is bringing back memories of the learning curve we experienced when westarted selling t-shirts at cons. I do not envy you this process.

So - to cheer you up - another Halloween Pumpkitten!

funny pictures - IZ PLUMPKIN
see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!
This makes the world BETTER.
Thank you for *offering* this t-shirt idea to us.
You didn't have to, and I know we appreciate it.
Hope nobody's being actually jerky about it.
Nobody has been yet, and I am very, very grateful.
Side note: I love reading all the stories of people wearing their shirts cool places and how excited they are and how great it makes them feel to wear your wicked girl shirts. Maybe you should invite people to a flickr group or something to show off their shirts in a cool place for those of us that have an exhibitionist streak.

Actual note: Having not received my first order yet I still feel confident in saying that if you offered a second chance to order I would probably order a second shirt and possibly a nightshirt as well. Is there a reasonable option to offer these shirts somewhere that would be less work personally for you because from the reaction I am hearing on here you are going to get way more orders than you can reasonably handle again.
Thank you, honey.
I had D talk to a full time t-shirt vendor on his route about their mailing tricks. They suggest getting un-padded tyvek envelopes - purchased in quantity, they are cheaper and you don't pay for mailer weight. Also, apparently they almost never ship multiple shirts in a single envelope - if package weights can be dropped to under 13 ounces by spiltting it into 2 envelopes, then you should. The shirts that you sent to me, for example, would have been $2.05 for the small, and $2.90 for the 3XL, for a total of $4.95, as opposed to $5.12 to ship them both together, because then it is more than 13 ounces has to be shipped parcel post or priority. 2 smalls in one envelope slides just under the line for first class and would cost $3.24. I suspect 2 mediums would be cheaper to ship in two drops.
If I could afford to have someone detail-oriented do the packing for me, that would be a viable option. Unfortunately, when I have to do it myself? The labor is really the slow-down. Split every multi-shirt order into multiple envelopes, and suddenly, people are still receiving shirts in July.
If you decide print another order, I may order another...I love the way the shirt looks, but I'm afraid I chose incorrectly as far as style and size go. I'll be watching for news!
Oh, noes!
I was telling my husband about the shirts just yesterday. We saw an 8-year-old in a shirt that said "Self-rescuing princess."

Whatever additional batch you do, you might raise shipping costs a little for all shirts to accomodate the larger ones. Up to you, of course. If you do another batch of Wicked Girls, I'd love to hear about it (and put paypal money where my mouth is).
The main issue is predicting. I honestly could not/would not have predicted the number of 3XL and over shirts in this order. So if I raise everyone's costs by a dollar, maybe it doesn't balance; if I raise everyone's costs by three, maybe I charge too much.

It's difficult. :(
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