Hi there, I kind of can’t believe I'm writing this but, remember how I spent all summer inside a warehouse, attempting to set up a new shipping system? This shipping system was intended to automate some of our processes so I could have a little more freedom in my days to hike mountains and float in pools. I’ve been hesitant to hire very many in house assistants because it immediately dominates my time as I manage and ensure that there is enough work queued up in the right way to ensure efficiency and a really great work environment. When people decide to work with me, I take it very seriously and work extra hard to make sure their work environment is a combination of fun to be in, learning new skills and becoming really good at the things we make. I’ve more often than not, compromised my own ability to have time outside of work because of this tendency. Also, the pandemic life I led, scrambling to save a bunch of full time salaries, including my own, has left a kind of ptsd that I am still sorting through. This move across the country was designed, by me, to give a little more freedom in my days by building the systems that others could do for me, without me having to be physically present at all times. This attempt to automate some of our shipping processes has been, quite possibly, the biggest business failure I have taken on in at least 8 years. It has consumed three months of time with a company who promised big, then underdelivered, provided zero onboarding, leaving me to scramble to learn and implement entirely new ways of operating and as a result, made a process that always worked for us, completely broken, unnecessarily complicated and extremely time consuming. I no longer have the ability to personally see how our orders are going out, to hand wrap them, to know when they will arrive, who is getting what at what time and it has been made very clear that this type of process is much better suited for a company who sells x widget that they buy from x supplier and ship out via x service, delivering packages that look a lot like Amazon☹️
The company I chose to work with, specifically markets themselves to small businesses who make things to help assist with shipping. And, oh my god it is just simply not the case. It does not work for the type of business I have built and has created such an unnecessary kind of complication that I have spent more time literally working in circles. Tasks that typically take 10-15 minutes, now take an hour or more. It is costing me 5 times more than if I had hired, trained and managed this inside our small workspace in busy Capitol Hill. SO, that is what I am going back to. I’m cutting my losses, hiring a shipping assistant and hoping we can eek out enough training before our holiday rush begins…
So, help me clear that warehouse out! I just listed a bunch of items on big sale. They’re all first quality bags and they’re all final sale and the opportunity is only there for the next few hours you lucky ducks. I’ll be spending my weekend relocating what’s left, driving a UHaul around Seattle and bribing my daughter to help me with pizza and dance parties. I do not want to carry more boxes of things to another location so I’m asking all of you to help me move out by buying bags now and we’ll ship them off before I climb into a box truck tomorrow morning and move it all back to our shop, where it will live, happily ever after and never change again ever.
If you think I am exhausted by this constant ping pong, you are correct. I am literally typing this in the parking lot of our warehouse as I scramble to pull a few orders that were not supposed to ship until next week but were packed and shipped anyway so, wish me luck, buy some bags and if you’re local and want to work in a place that I promise is not actually a giant game of bananagrams, then look for the job posting link on our websitelater next week because I want to work with only great people who are good at their jobs, not looking to take advantage of me and want to be in a really great space, making really great things, with really great people, wearing really big rings. Hahaha that was a Drake reference. But, either way, you’ve got just a few hours while I assemble some shelving in our studio shop that is also going to host our opening party for our new storefront onFriday, September 30th, from 4-8pm. Come! Wear your Moop bags! Or big rings! Or whatever you want! We’re working on building out the space now and it is either going to be me sitting in a construction zone in a lawn chair, shooting cans of LaCroix, with a slingshot made of waxed canvas, or it will be me and the three other people I know, inside a tiny beautiful storefront, up a long staircase, in a busy workshop, with bags and things to go inside them. And maybe free koozies that I’ve made in my spare time to give away to every sparkly person who stops by.
xoxoxo
Wendy & co.
Get on that sale here.
It ends at 2:00PM PST!!
