Shipping

About the Business Cards that come in orders

This entry is part 133 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

Back in March we started including business cards in the packages we ship out. It was my Wife’s idea (I think, might have been Heather’s idea originally). There’s a discount code on the back but it only works once for each person, we continue sending them with each order so you’ll have a nice and easy way to explain to people that ask what is up with Keto Chow. Here’s a comment I got on an order this morning:

Please include a bunch of cards so I can hand em’ out to my friends and coworkers whom are interested in the “shake” that has allowed me to loose 45lbs.

THAT is why we put the cards in there =)

By |2016-10-13T07:27:37-06:00June 21st, 2016|Keto Chow, Site or Store Stuff|Comments Off on About the Business Cards that come in orders
Read More

Day 066 – 100 days of Keto (Chow)

This entry is part 54 of 81 in the series 100 days of keto
  • Weight: 204.7
  • Blood ketones: 0.3 mmol/L

Now that’s what I’m talking about: whoosh! Back down to where I was on Friday. Further giving credence to the notion that it was all water weight and likely the result of inadvertent carbohydrate consumption. Going to keep this trend going.

The FexEx boxes came yesterday so I’ve re-enabled that as an option for shipping, they also delivered a pack of the “10kg” and “25kg” international flat rate boxes. Looks like I could fit 2 months in the 10kg and like 3-4 months worth in the 25kg. I haven’t checked the pricing yet but it’s an option for anyone that wants it.

By |2016-03-09T07:36:58-07:00March 9th, 2016|Keto Chow, 100 days of keto|3 Comments
Read More

Quick note on zip code verification failure and AUTH charges

I get this question frequently enough I’m going to post this so I can have a convenient place to copy and paste from.

The credit card verification I use is pretty strict (as of November 2015 I haven’t EVER had a charge back or fraudulent transaction). Your billing address has to EXACTLY match what your credit card company has on file (if in doubt, pull up your card statement and see where they think you live). If it fails to verify you might still see an “Authorize” transaction on your card, this is from Stripe (the guys I use) saying

“hey dude, does this person have enough money to cover the charge? cool, by the way here is their address, does it match what you have? No? OK, never mind”.

If it does match then it does what’s termed a “Capture” transaction – this is where your card gets for realsies actually charged.

So the good news is: you don’t get charged for the AUTH transactions but they DO usually temporarily count towards your credit limit. After a few days, depending on the bank, the pending charges will drop off your account and all will be right with the world. Now if you need to you can usually call the bank and get them to release an AUTH early.

By |2016-10-13T07:27:59-06:00November 2nd, 2015|Site or Store Stuff|Comments Off on Quick note on zip code verification failure and AUTH charges
Read More

Single day packs are coming

Some time ago I asked for feedback on the viability of doing 3-meal single day packs of Keto Chow. Then I went on a couple vacations but now I’m back and ready to go. I sourced the bags back in May and have had them for quite a while but I just didn’t have the time to figure out the logistics of packaging them and whatnot. This last weekend I finally got that done. I have initial runs of Rich Chocolate and Chocolate Mint already to go and I’ll be getting the rest of the flavors done soon. Once I have some inventory I’ll launch it though that probably won’t be until Wednesday or Thursday.

One of the big questions I had was how much could I ship in the priority mail boxes I’m using. With my test run I was able to answer that:

  • I can fit one into a small first class envelope that I currently use for samples.
  • I can fit two in a small flat rate box.
  • I can fit 7 into the padded flat rate envelopes I’m using to ship the week bags currently.
  • I can fit 14 into a medium flat rate box.
  • I cannot 28 into a large flat rate box, this sucks because that’s how I typically ship the “Build a Month*” with 4 of the week packages, the most I could fit was 27.
  • I can only fit 23 into a Regional Rate B box (useful for closer destinations like California), which sucks since a B will also hold 4 weeks of the larger bags:

2015-07-25 21.37.57The only real big question I have yet to figure out is the multi-vitamin situation. In the future I expect that I’ll replace the individual meal samples with these 1-day packs (I’m still toying with pricing but depending on the flavor it’s about 24% less than buying 3 of the samples) so People will be using them to try out the flavors. If you’re just doing a sample then the vitamin really isn’t vital and putting 1-3 vitamins in a shipment doesn’t sound hard but it gets messy pretty quickly. It’s not a money thing but simply logistics. My initial thought is to include the pills in the upcoming “Build a week” package and probably include the full bag with the seven vitamins if 5 or more days get ordered. Order 1-4 and you wouldn’t get the vitamins. But this is still up in the air right now.

Oh, and for the record: the week packs aren’t going away.

 

By |2016-10-13T07:28:05-06:00July 27th, 2015|Soylent, Ketogenic, Keto Chow, Site or Store Stuff|6 Comments
Read More

Back from vacation, getting out the backlog

This entry is part 79 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

We got home from our vacation Saturday evening (the kids didn’t even notice it was “free Slurpee day”) and we had a few hours after unpacking to get some orders out. The week before we left I built up inventory in anticipation of a lot of orders and that’s what I came back to =). I didn’t have enough on hand to fill all of the ones that came in while I was on vacation (In particular, I’m like 10 short on Strawberry and I won’t have more of that until Tuesday) but 75 out of 95 isn’t bad! I filled up the night drop boxes of the 2 post offices nearest me so the packages would be going out first thing today. I’m anticipating I’ll have the backlog completely gone by Tuesday when I get a new shipment of protein powder in.

By |2015-07-13T09:20:32-06:00July 13th, 2015|Soylent, Keto Chow|Comments Off on Back from vacation, getting out the backlog
Read More

“Build a Month*” now available

This entry is part 65 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

(* not actually a month, it’s 4 weeks or 28 days @ 3 meals a day) Dunno why I’m even bothering to announce this, people are already ordering it =)

One of the issues I’ve had with the subscriptions is there wasn’t a way to allow different flavors in the same subscription order. You could do 2, 3 or 4+ if you wanted but you couldn’t have Chocolate, Banana, Mint and Strawberry all together at the same time (saving significantly on shipping). I figured out how to use the “Bundled Products” module today to made a new option that puts 4 weeks together and gives you a discount (currently 5%) which actually makes it less expensive than getting 4 weeks in a monthly subscription.

The one big problem is that you can’t have variable (different flavor) subscriptions in a bundle so it’s a one-off thing. Order a month and when it starts to get low order again (with different flavors!).

Anyhow, take a peek if you like.

By |2015-05-27T10:42:34-06:00May 27th, 2015|Site or Store Stuff, Soylent, Ketogenic, Keto Chow|Comments Off on “Build a Month*” now available
Read More

Upcoming Closure June 27 through July 13 – shipments will be delayed

I’m going to be spending time with the family starting June 27 and ending July 13. During this time I’m not going to be shipping out any orders but I will ship out any that came in as soon as I’m available. I expect there’s going to be a backlog, especially of weekly subscription orders so I’m going to apologize in advance. If you do want to temporarily suspend (or even cancel) your subscription during this window I completely understand. You can do this at https://www.thebairs.net/my-account/ – If you do have a weekly subscription and don’t suspend it then you’ll get a double or maybe even triple shipment after July 13th.

Anyhow, just wanted to give everyone advanced warning so you can plan accordingly. If you’re subsisting entirely on Keto Chow, stock up =)

By |2015-06-26T06:30:51-06:00May 26th, 2015|Keto Chow, Site or Store Stuff|2 Comments
Read More

Feedback wanted: Individual Days of Keto Chow?

This entry is part 63 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

I often get questions about if I can provide multiple flavors in one week. The way I used to mix this simply wasn’t a possibility since I would measure out each week individually and dump the mixture into a bag. My response has been “if you can afford it, get multiple flavors and pull from all of them at the same time” which represents a large capital outlay. In the last month or so I picked up some mixing equipment that allows me to mix an entire 10lb bag of protein powder (5.8 weeks worth) at a time along with all the required minerals and whatnot. Among other things this allows for far greater precision in what people get in each bag: you’re getting exactly 1050 grams of powder now whereas before it could vary a few grams.

Anyhow, It occurred to me tonight that if people want multiple flavors, well I could actually accommodate that given my new methodology. It would require smaller 1-day, 1-flavor bags. There would be MOAR work involved in packaging and labeling so it would cost more to buy 7 individual days compared to a week. Probably $12 or $15 per day, depending on the flavor. It might also affect shipping costs since seven 1-day packages will likely be a bit larger in volume than a 1 week package.

I was looking at these white pouches or these brown pouches and I think they would fit a days worth. So Internets, what do you think? Would yous all be interested in the 1-day pouches or should I just stick with week packs and 1-meal samples?

If you have a couple moments, please fill out this anonymous survey (link removed).

By |2015-07-28T08:35:04-06:00May 22nd, 2015|Soylent, Ketogenic, Keto Chow|2 Comments
Read More

Peanut butter, labels and bags

This entry is part 47 of 139 in the series Ketogenic Soylent

As I planned to do yesterday, I tried mixing the PB2 powdered peanut butter into my Keto Chow powder all at once while I was mixing a week instead of adding 12g into each individual meal. Worked out great! It simplified making the meals (only had to weigh once, instead of twice) and when mixed up fully there were less clumps (almost none) of peanut butter, comes out pretty smooth in fact. I like it.

I’ve thought about offering it as an option for the Rich Chocolate (it was also good in the Strawberry but I’m weird) but I’m still trying to work out the implications of adding it and the feasibility and costs. This is further complicated by the next bit of news:

Getting rid of the Ghetto

I’ve always been super open (regarding making powdered foods/soylent) about who I am, what I’m offering and all the information I can throw out there. I have been using standard gallon size freezer bags to package People Chow and then Keto Chow. They were inexpensive, sturdy, easy to get more of if I ran out but the biggest feature that kept me using them was: efficiency of space. Because the bags are pliable and compact, I can fit 4 weeks of Keto Chow into a single USPS Medium Flat Rate box, two in a Regional Rate A and one in a flat rate padded envelope. It means I can ship stuff at a far lower cost to the customer and I consider that a huge win. But I’ll see criticism about the presentation often enough that I’m going to do something about it. Last night I bought a label printer and a bunch of 4×8 stock and whipped up a label for Keto Chow:

New Labels

Hey hey, that’s much better already! From here on out, all packages I’m shipping will have these labels on them. But I’m going to take it a bit further: also last night I used the five foil bags I bought last week and packaged up some Keto Chow in it:

Foil Bags H

Foil Bags V

I didn’t have a heat sealer yet so this first group got ironed shut =). The sealed part is tear-off and there’s a zipper closure as well. They’re 5 mil thick (really beefy) and look real nice. My wife thinks I should put the label vertical but I think folding over the top half wouldn’t work as well. Incidentally, anybody have a source for a 2 quart or 3 quart bag? These hold a gallon and are 40% too large, hence the folded over top part. These bags to look MOAR better-er but present some logistical problems: first and foremost they take up more room. I was barely able to squeeze three into a medium flat rate box (that holds 4 of the other packages), couldn’t even fit one in a Regional A box and barely fit one into a padded flat rate envelope. This morning I noticed that I might have better luck with the “tall and skinny” versions of these boxes so I ordered a bunch (though the USPS is terribly slow getting me boxes) and I’ll try them out. I also ordered more of the foil bags and grabbed a heat sealer. Hopefully sometime next week I’ll be doing another round of tests. Ideally I’ll be able to keep the shipping costs the same but I’m not going to hold my breath, doubly so if I decide to do a peanut butter flavor which adds another 15% to the volume of the powder.

By |2016-10-13T07:28:16-06:00March 19th, 2015|Ketogenic, Keto Chow, Soylent|4 Comments
Read More
Toggle Sliding Bar Area