Christmas Orders!

[woodpens]

Is anybody tired of filling Christmas orders yet?
I always take vacation two weeks before Christmas so I can get caught up on orders. They should be slowing down now, but they haven't yet. I am happy to get the orders, but my arms, stomach and legs are covered with the results of wrestling with poison ivy almost 2 weeks ago. That is some BAD stuff! I am ready for a break. We have received over $600 in orders in the last 24 hours from our website. I figure whatever doesn't ship Monday isn't going to make it for Christmas. I feel sorry for the people at the post office and UPS. I am very fortunate that my wife has taken over the office duties for me. She has been working non-stop lately getting the orders processed and shipped. I don't know what I would do without her.
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

[wpenm]

I am starting to get tired. This has been the biggest year my wife and I have had. We just shipped out 10 Barons, 20 Slimlines, 16 key rings and 51 Cigar Pens. I have to get 50 more slimlines ready to ship by next Tuesday. And the orders keep coming in.

 

[Bev Polmanteer]

HOW ON EARTH DO YOU GET ALL THOSE ORDERS?

 

[melogic]

I know what you mean about Christmas orders. We delivered 20 pens and a desk set to a client last weekend; 12 pens to a fellow co-worker; 12 pen and pencil sets with 12 necklace magnifying glasses to another person; 8 pens to another co-worker; 4 pens to another lady that ordered over the internet; and a number of bottle stoppers to a friend in our carving club. Now my wife says the shop is closed until February. I am so thankful for each and every order.

 

[Gary Max]

I finally got caught up today----if anyone else calls they are buying from stock or they are doing without.
Oh that doesn't count the order for April I took today----now that's weird.

 

[penhead]

I can tell you I am getting tired of making Christmas ornaments..!...not that I don't apprecite all the orders, but variety is the spice of life...'course, the lady who ordered another dozen ornaments (by next Christmas) kinda made my day [][]

 

[GregD]

1 more set to go and I'll be caught up!

 

[btboone]

I've been real busy with rings. I've had a few $2500 days. No pens sold lately though.

 

[PenWorks]

I will be finished this weekend [] I'm with Gary, They are buying off the rack from here on out. Had a $900.00 day at the store on Thursday, one guy accounted for 700 of it []

 

[mick]

I'm a half dozen pens away from being through. Just delivered a big wedding order last night and have two orders to mail out tonight. After that the above mentioned 6 and I'll be through...sure I will ....yeah thats the story [^]

 

[woodwish]

I've sold a few pens through a variety of sources but in general terms I have gone from cheap slimlines to more expensive pens, mostly from influence on this forum. I selling fewer but making more $$$. But my biggest sellers have been kaleidoscopes through a local high-end gift shop. I thought during the summer I made enough to last for years but we are down to the bottom of the stack. When I hear people talk about there just isn't any money out there for hand-made stuff I wonder what they are selling, this has been our best year by far. I'm ready for January to have some time to just play in the shop instead of filling orders.

 

[woodpens]

Well, I called it quits a little after 1 am. I have just 2 more ordered pens to make. I still have a handful of friends and family pens to make, but there is plenty of time for those, assuming the website orders taper off as they should. I think I hear my bed calling... []

 

[Woodnknots]

Originally posted by woodpens
<br /> I am happy to get the orders, but my arms, stomach and legs are covered with the results of wrestling with poison ivy almost 2 weeks ago. That is some BAD stuff! []

Go to the pharmacy and get ZANFEL. It costs about $40 a tube, but WELL WORTH IT! I am very allergic to poison ivy, and I got into some sumac when I was hunting in michigan. I usually just use ivarest, etc... and tough it out. I had heard of the zenfel stuff before, but couldn't see spending the money just to see if it worked. Well, I bought some, and IT WORKS!! It literally starts taking away the itch in 30 seconds. In hours, the rash starts to go away!! You can use it at any stage of breakout. Even 2 weeks after, if you still have a rash, this will take care of it. It works by washing away the Urishol molecules that have bonded with your skin. Since the ivy rash is an allergic reaction to the urishol, once you get rid of all of it from the skin, the rash starts to dissappear!!

 

[Daniel]

Originally posted by Bev Polmanteer
<br />HOW ON EARTH DO YOU GET ALL THOSE ORDERS?

Bev, Jim is known as the master of the web when it comes to pens. I actually bugged him during this busy time to give my site a going over.
He did a thourough job which I really appreciate. got a good report as well. now if I could just get him to promote it for me I could take some of these nagging orders off his hands.
I have not been overwhlemed this season but then I havn't done anything to promote my site either. Hope to have time to remedy this next year. most sales I could have gotten from my site I would have had to pass to others anyway. it's been a rough end to the year and I saw that coming.
I've had over 11,000 hits on my home page. 10,000 of them came from this group. Even I don't need Jim to tell me whats wrong with that. ah well I hope the site gives others some good ideas what to do when they make there own.

finding good shows is an even better way to move pens. just as hard as promoting a web site in my opinion, less time consuming.

simplest answer, convince Jim to put your pens on his web site
begging and pleading may be a good choice on that strategy.

One tip just for you Jim, in return for your web site advice. Give up on that Poison ivy pen man. you'll never recover the cost of the calamine lotion.

 

[woodpens]

Originally posted by Bev Polmanteer
<br />HOW ON EARTH DO YOU GET ALL THOSE ORDERS?

I don't know about Garry, but my orders are virtually all through my website. I have promoted my site in many ways since I opened it in 1997. I now show up as #1 on Google when you search for wood pens or wooden pens. I need to work on additional keywords, but those have helped my sales a lot.

 

[woodpens]

Originally posted by Daniel
One tip just for you Jim, in return for your web site advice. Give up on that Poison ivy pen man. you'll never recover the cost of the calamine lotion.

That would be one mean joke to give somebody a poison ivy pen. []
I have used Tech-Nu, Calamine, Calagel, Caladryl, distilled vinegar and oatmeal. Finally, I went to the doctor and got some steroids. It is now clearing up at last. []

 

[Gary Max]

And there are those of us who do not have web sites. All my pens sales are from word of mouth or just handing out cards.
This it has been doctors and lawyers-----I am sure that I do not sell any where near as many pens as Jim-- but I sell enough to help my family get through the winter.

 

[Ron Mc]

Thank goodness. I believe I may be done with last weeks orders. What a Holiday rush. Next year I may post on my site that all Holiday orders have to be placed by December 5th to stop the last minute shoppers. 26 Jr. Statesman's, 1 Emperor, 19 Cigars, 7 Sierras, 8 Barons, and 2 Europeans. 80% from website and rest from sales rep.
Now I need to get some Christmas shopping done!