The corn cob pipe I had could not have been very high quality. My wife got it for me as a gift, but I don't recall where it came from. I'm guessing Iowa in a small town shop she and her mom visited. The outside of the pipe had some kind of coating but it was not a smooth surface. It felt like holding on to an old corn cob. I'm pretty sure the bowl had a liner of some sort, but I doubt that it was anything like Meerschaum. The idea was to start out with small short burns to create a crust in the inner walls of the bowl. Then, and only then did they recommend a full pipe worth of tobacco. Well, the ideal crust never did form. It certainly was burnt and I got quite a few smokes out of it before the hole appeared. This pipe also had one of those Medico filters and an orange/yellow plastic stem.
I never joined the ARRL because if I recall correctly they wanted some cash for me to do that. I used to get some sort of bulletins from them but was never an official member. It would not surprise me one bit if the ARRL was highly political in operation. Groups like that exist only due to donations or membership fees. Thus the patrons with the largest gifts would tend to get more support than the rest of the club members. I was basically a loner all my life but particularly avoided group memberships just because I know they are nothing but a bunch of Good Ol' Boys playing their political games. I would think your dad with his business connections would have some clout, but apparently he was not an ARRL patron.
Some of the stories you shared here do indeed involve a lot of detailed work that only a person with a passion would enjoy. I've met people like that and they are all to be admired for their quality of work. One of the things I admire about you is that you also have creativity and ingenuity running through your veins. I know what you mean by having a need for perfection in your work. I also know it is impossible for anybody to help me achieve it. But, unlike you, there have been times when I knew I met my match. I just abandon the whole project at that point and let somebody else take responsibility for it.
Windows 12
Re: Windows 12
You know, that sounds just like a Missouri Meerschaum corncob pipe, the more decorative one, but they did smoke well until the bottom burned out. If it felt rough, it really was the decorative one. The better ones almost don't look like a corncob, but they are.
The repeater clubs I belonged to in latter years really pushed the ARRL and they were club members.
If we paid for membership through the club, it was only like 10 bucks a year, but I never did.
In fact, about 1/3 of us BOOed whoever brought up the ARRL, and I took the time to talk to a few them privately.
Now back when I was an ARRL member, before the repeater club days. I won several of their awards.
When I requested new copies of them after the flood at my house, they couldn't find where I earned but a couple of them.
I assume this was because I was not a paying member for many years before that date.
My dad didn't know diddly squat about radios, not even an AM radio, I had to show him how to lock in the stations he liked on his car radio, back when you pulled the button out, set the station, and pushed the button back in again.
Almost all the folks I talked to that didn't like the ARRL, had their specific reasons, but most of the time it was because they failed to do something they had paid membership dues to get. Like copies of their awards, like I couldn't get.
I can attribute a lot of my thinking outside-the-box to having spent my Tuesdays taking tours through other businesses to see how they did things. You do learn a lot by seeing how other people, especially companies who started from scratch, do things in their own way. So when you are working on a project in one field, how things are done in a totally unrelated field, seem like it would work better for you in your current project. But the big thing for me was learning what the problems were with several of the designs, and how to make them work better, and without those problems. Plus, part of that comes from being raised on a horticultural farm. And living with, if it ain't the way grandpa did it, we don't do it. But WHY, would get you knocked on your ass instead of getting an answer.
That being said, my dad did love all the amenities I added to our flower shop, almost all of which I hand-made myself. Saved time, saved the extra work that was associated with the old way they did it, but not off the beaten path enough for dad to complain.
But while he was out with his heart attack, I made a lot of changes that made all the employee's happy, didn't work them so hard, or for so many hours during holidays, even though we took twice as many orders as we ever had.
Yep, dad did complain and changed things back when he returned, but kept a few of my changes after he saw the record sales and lower payroll, hi hi.
The repeater clubs I belonged to in latter years really pushed the ARRL and they were club members.
If we paid for membership through the club, it was only like 10 bucks a year, but I never did.
In fact, about 1/3 of us BOOed whoever brought up the ARRL, and I took the time to talk to a few them privately.
Now back when I was an ARRL member, before the repeater club days. I won several of their awards.
When I requested new copies of them after the flood at my house, they couldn't find where I earned but a couple of them.
I assume this was because I was not a paying member for many years before that date.
My dad didn't know diddly squat about radios, not even an AM radio, I had to show him how to lock in the stations he liked on his car radio, back when you pulled the button out, set the station, and pushed the button back in again.
Almost all the folks I talked to that didn't like the ARRL, had their specific reasons, but most of the time it was because they failed to do something they had paid membership dues to get. Like copies of their awards, like I couldn't get.
I can attribute a lot of my thinking outside-the-box to having spent my Tuesdays taking tours through other businesses to see how they did things. You do learn a lot by seeing how other people, especially companies who started from scratch, do things in their own way. So when you are working on a project in one field, how things are done in a totally unrelated field, seem like it would work better for you in your current project. But the big thing for me was learning what the problems were with several of the designs, and how to make them work better, and without those problems. Plus, part of that comes from being raised on a horticultural farm. And living with, if it ain't the way grandpa did it, we don't do it. But WHY, would get you knocked on your ass instead of getting an answer.
That being said, my dad did love all the amenities I added to our flower shop, almost all of which I hand-made myself. Saved time, saved the extra work that was associated with the old way they did it, but not off the beaten path enough for dad to complain.
But while he was out with his heart attack, I made a lot of changes that made all the employee's happy, didn't work them so hard, or for so many hours during holidays, even though we took twice as many orders as we ever had.
Yep, dad did complain and changed things back when he returned, but kept a few of my changes after he saw the record sales and lower payroll, hi hi.
Re: Windows 12
It's a little eerie how Missouri might have cropped up in my past without me paying much attention to it. That "Missouri" corn cob pipe would be one example. My mother-in-law was a member of a Lutheran church, one associated with the Missouri synod.
The best people in their fields have a lot of exposure to what it is they specialize in. You described many of the professions in which you engaged during your lifetime, but there seems to be a common thread through all of them. That would be a talent for mechanical engineering. Those tours of manufacturing plants you enjoyed on Tuesdays were the equivalent of classes. Apparently you learned a little bit of something from each tour. It didn't have to apply to the work you were currently doing. You were intent on acquiring knowledge that might be useful at some later date. I would say it all was driven by a healthy curiosity of how things work, which in your case had practical benefits. A college degree would have given you theoretical knowledge, but you were not a design engineer. You were more or less a trouble shooter extraordinaire.
All that explains why we get along as well as we do. We are both problem solvers at heart, but, of course, with different specialties. Motorola did exceptionally well as a family run business up to a point. When the business world around them evolved into something more competitive the emphasis changed and the Big M didn't do so well. That's why the original family run operation no longer is in the cell phone business. It's dog eat dog out there and not very friendly. When I left the grandson of the founder was running the company. He didn't do it like grandpa, and he paid the price. I can't help thinking old man Galvin is snickering in his grave over that one.
The best people in their fields have a lot of exposure to what it is they specialize in. You described many of the professions in which you engaged during your lifetime, but there seems to be a common thread through all of them. That would be a talent for mechanical engineering. Those tours of manufacturing plants you enjoyed on Tuesdays were the equivalent of classes. Apparently you learned a little bit of something from each tour. It didn't have to apply to the work you were currently doing. You were intent on acquiring knowledge that might be useful at some later date. I would say it all was driven by a healthy curiosity of how things work, which in your case had practical benefits. A college degree would have given you theoretical knowledge, but you were not a design engineer. You were more or less a trouble shooter extraordinaire.
All that explains why we get along as well as we do. We are both problem solvers at heart, but, of course, with different specialties. Motorola did exceptionally well as a family run business up to a point. When the business world around them evolved into something more competitive the emphasis changed and the Big M didn't do so well. That's why the original family run operation no longer is in the cell phone business. It's dog eat dog out there and not very friendly. When I left the grandson of the founder was running the company. He didn't do it like grandpa, and he paid the price. I can't help thinking old man Galvin is snickering in his grave over that one.
Re: Windows 12
I would never have been able to invent the fiber optic light/water meter for my hydroculture system, had I not studied how injection molding and extrusion machines operated. Then of course I had to study the properties of plastics to find which one might do the job I was after to create my meter.
The hard part was finding a plastic extrusion company who would let me keep one of their machines tied up for a whole day, doing what seemed totally ridiculous to them. Extruding an overheated material and cycling it back through the machine for hours before turning down the temp and extruding the rods as they should be done.
In essence, what I was doing, was getting the molecules in the plastic to line up, so they would act like red line glass. Not perfectly, but enough to make my product work. I achieved that goal and got a Patent for my light/water meter device.
I also had to study optics and other things to make this item do what I wanted it to, at a super low price, in bulk that is.
There is a story I've heard many times, but don't know the origin.
An assembly line company hired several engineers to study on ways to improve the production.
Each engineer came up with a design that would replace all of their equipment with some new fandangled equipment.
The owner of the company kept an eye on the engineers to see what they were designing.
But was set back by one of the engineers who had not even made the first sketch of anything new yet.
He spent his days sitting on stools out in the factory and just watched the employees work.
He studied each of their movements and jotted down notes in great detail in his notebook.
The day of reckoning finally came, and he still had not made a single drawing.
The first engineer came up with a project that would cost around 5 million dollars to implement, and cause the factory to be shut down for 6 months.
The next three engineers project each cost around 2 to 3 million dollars, and only shut down the factory for 3 months.
The fifth engineer raised his hand when he was not called on to make his presentation.
The owner said, why should I waste my time on you, you haven't come up with anything new or improved.
The engineer said, I don't need to, you already have a state of the art factory, it just needs to be run more efficiently.
My plan will cost you nothing to implement, will not shut down the factory for even a day, and will double your production.
The owner was skeptical, but said I will listen to your idea, which a muffled chuckle.
The engineer said, when you close down on Friday night, all I want you to do is reassign your line employees in this manner.
Place all the right handed workers on the left side of the system, and all the left handed workers on the right side of the system, and speed up the traveling time for the conveyors by three seconds, which is a third faster, then after the next weekend speed it up by 2 more seconds, and your output will be doubled.
The owner decided to take this engineers advice and give it a try, still uncertain it would work.
By the end of the second week, their output was double, and none of the workers were as tired as they usually were at the end of the day. Many now said they enjoyed working there, much easier now than ever before.
The hard part was finding a plastic extrusion company who would let me keep one of their machines tied up for a whole day, doing what seemed totally ridiculous to them. Extruding an overheated material and cycling it back through the machine for hours before turning down the temp and extruding the rods as they should be done.
In essence, what I was doing, was getting the molecules in the plastic to line up, so they would act like red line glass. Not perfectly, but enough to make my product work. I achieved that goal and got a Patent for my light/water meter device.
I also had to study optics and other things to make this item do what I wanted it to, at a super low price, in bulk that is.
There is a story I've heard many times, but don't know the origin.
An assembly line company hired several engineers to study on ways to improve the production.
Each engineer came up with a design that would replace all of their equipment with some new fandangled equipment.
The owner of the company kept an eye on the engineers to see what they were designing.
But was set back by one of the engineers who had not even made the first sketch of anything new yet.
He spent his days sitting on stools out in the factory and just watched the employees work.
He studied each of their movements and jotted down notes in great detail in his notebook.
The day of reckoning finally came, and he still had not made a single drawing.
The first engineer came up with a project that would cost around 5 million dollars to implement, and cause the factory to be shut down for 6 months.
The next three engineers project each cost around 2 to 3 million dollars, and only shut down the factory for 3 months.
The fifth engineer raised his hand when he was not called on to make his presentation.
The owner said, why should I waste my time on you, you haven't come up with anything new or improved.
The engineer said, I don't need to, you already have a state of the art factory, it just needs to be run more efficiently.
My plan will cost you nothing to implement, will not shut down the factory for even a day, and will double your production.
The owner was skeptical, but said I will listen to your idea, which a muffled chuckle.
The engineer said, when you close down on Friday night, all I want you to do is reassign your line employees in this manner.
Place all the right handed workers on the left side of the system, and all the left handed workers on the right side of the system, and speed up the traveling time for the conveyors by three seconds, which is a third faster, then after the next weekend speed it up by 2 more seconds, and your output will be doubled.
The owner decided to take this engineers advice and give it a try, still uncertain it would work.
By the end of the second week, their output was double, and none of the workers were as tired as they usually were at the end of the day. Many now said they enjoyed working there, much easier now than ever before.
Re: Windows 12
When I worked at Motorola there were Industrial Engineers who did time/motion studies for every new process. They knew how long it would take to reach over to the test panel and flip a switch on, which was not the same amount of time as flipping it off, if you can believe that. They also knew the costs involved with flipping switches, and every other motion you could perform on a production line. Thus they could come up with cost reductions and tell you to the .001 of a cent how much you are saving. These industrial engineers set the standards against which everybody was measured. It didn't matter if the standards were practical, it was the math and the dollars behind it that made a difference. On certain occasions those engineers did make useful suggestions regarding the production process. I don't know if anyone actually measured the theoretical increase in productivity after the engineers did their studies, but the bottom line in the department budget did reflect the change in costs.
From what I understood at the time a fresh out of college engineer in Japan could only be hired as a production line operator. They had to study the process for a couple years before they earned a position as an engineer in an office actually designing something. That idea was laughed at by every company and college graduate in this country. Then again, I have to wonder what those laughing engineers are doing today. All those jobs they would not take are now being performed off shore, a lot of them in Japan. Seems as if the engineering offshore was better in ways that mattered.
That light/water meter you invented was obviously the result of a lot of trial and error. It's wonderful that you had the fortitude to go that route. Your story is a great example of hands on experience paying off big. I think you were successful because you had the time to put into your own business interests. Most engineers I worked with were on a schedule. Projects had to be completed by a certain date under a certain cost, or else. LOL
From what I understood at the time a fresh out of college engineer in Japan could only be hired as a production line operator. They had to study the process for a couple years before they earned a position as an engineer in an office actually designing something. That idea was laughed at by every company and college graduate in this country. Then again, I have to wonder what those laughing engineers are doing today. All those jobs they would not take are now being performed off shore, a lot of them in Japan. Seems as if the engineering offshore was better in ways that mattered.
That light/water meter you invented was obviously the result of a lot of trial and error. It's wonderful that you had the fortitude to go that route. Your story is a great example of hands on experience paying off big. I think you were successful because you had the time to put into your own business interests. Most engineers I worked with were on a schedule. Projects had to be completed by a certain date under a certain cost, or else. LOL
Re: Windows 12
I wish you could see all the improvement I made at our florist over the years. Most of them were actually very simple small changes. A few of them required designing and building something myself and installing it on a Sunday when we were closed.
But each thing I did, I did so it didn't take an employee as long to complete a task. Especially tasks they didn't like doing, hi hi.
In my own businesses, I started very small on a shoestring budget. Time was not really important, as long as I could get the work out in a timely fashion. Some of those businesses required I invent something new to make it possible.
But my longest running business, over 25 years, was my AZ-NO3 product for reef aquaria. I sold that business last month, so the product is still available worldwide. In fact, the guy I sold it to paid me my normal price for the product, even though he made it, for an order I gave him on a shipment to Hong Kong. That was very nice of him, because he didn't have to do it!
When I first started that business, after inventing the product which took a few years to do, and then a few more years in testing under uncontrolled circumstances, meaning by the public, hi hi.
I used stainless steel pots on the kitchen stove to get it up to temp, and a 5 gallon bucket for packaging in bottles, using only a small aquarium pump and rigid plastic tube bent like J. I would fill the bottle to overflowing, then tilt it 30 degrees to dump some out so it had the required airspace in the bottle. Then they went into a sink of water to wash them off, then to a counter to dry so I could add the labels later.
As the business grew, I built a bottle filling rack using 6 modified wine bottle fillers. They were not perfect, but did the trick.
Later on I built one that used 12 wine bottle fillers, but as I needed to replace them, the style I was using was no longer made, and the new style needed much modification to work.
For a short time, I used an electronic scale that weighted the bottle as it was filling, and shut-off the solenoid at a preset weight. This worked great for about two years, and the solenoid seemed to only last about 3 months, so I was forever replacing it.
From a canning place I managed to buy and old steam-kettle and steam-boiler that sat outside when in use. This meant I could do 30 gallons at once, but I normally only made around 15 to 20 gallons at a time. It worked great for about five years for the heating part of the process. And although I bought the whole shebang for like a grand, just a replacement boiler was over 2 grand so that ended using that. I did sell the steam kettle itself for around 800 bucks, and I got well over 200 bucks usage out of the system.
About four years ago, I bought two digital bottle filling machines, this way I had a backup should one go bad on me. They did the job faster than I could cap and set down a bottle, so this really speeded up production.
I was up to where I was using two blending buckets, and one packaging bucket. So by the time the packaging bucket was empty, the next blending bucket was ready to be transferred over to the packaging bucket.
I still worked on the kitchen counter, but no longer needed to use the stove. I had purchased a 165 degree instant hot water device for commercial use and this fed the initial stainless steel bucket used for the pre-blending heated stage. Since I already added 140 degree hot water to the blending buckets and an ingredient there, it was cooled down to around 100 degrees when I added from the metal bucket, and this only brought it back up to 140 which was great. When the blending process was done, temp was back down to under 100 when I moved it over to the bottling from bucket.
After bottles were filled and capped they went onto the island counter, and from there to the breakfast counter where I did the labeling, and to the kitchen table where they 12 pack cartons were placed into the shipping cases. Then the shipping cases were stacked by the back door waiting for me to put the UPS labels on them.
There was a lot of the process I didn't mention, such as the labels on the cartons and what all goes into a carton, and the label on the cases, and the shipping label, etc. Lots of paperwork I prepared in my office ahead of time for each order.
Then, when I was done, everything had to be taken down, cleaned, and packed away for storage until I got the next order.
But each thing I did, I did so it didn't take an employee as long to complete a task. Especially tasks they didn't like doing, hi hi.
In my own businesses, I started very small on a shoestring budget. Time was not really important, as long as I could get the work out in a timely fashion. Some of those businesses required I invent something new to make it possible.
But my longest running business, over 25 years, was my AZ-NO3 product for reef aquaria. I sold that business last month, so the product is still available worldwide. In fact, the guy I sold it to paid me my normal price for the product, even though he made it, for an order I gave him on a shipment to Hong Kong. That was very nice of him, because he didn't have to do it!
When I first started that business, after inventing the product which took a few years to do, and then a few more years in testing under uncontrolled circumstances, meaning by the public, hi hi.
I used stainless steel pots on the kitchen stove to get it up to temp, and a 5 gallon bucket for packaging in bottles, using only a small aquarium pump and rigid plastic tube bent like J. I would fill the bottle to overflowing, then tilt it 30 degrees to dump some out so it had the required airspace in the bottle. Then they went into a sink of water to wash them off, then to a counter to dry so I could add the labels later.
As the business grew, I built a bottle filling rack using 6 modified wine bottle fillers. They were not perfect, but did the trick.
Later on I built one that used 12 wine bottle fillers, but as I needed to replace them, the style I was using was no longer made, and the new style needed much modification to work.
For a short time, I used an electronic scale that weighted the bottle as it was filling, and shut-off the solenoid at a preset weight. This worked great for about two years, and the solenoid seemed to only last about 3 months, so I was forever replacing it.
From a canning place I managed to buy and old steam-kettle and steam-boiler that sat outside when in use. This meant I could do 30 gallons at once, but I normally only made around 15 to 20 gallons at a time. It worked great for about five years for the heating part of the process. And although I bought the whole shebang for like a grand, just a replacement boiler was over 2 grand so that ended using that. I did sell the steam kettle itself for around 800 bucks, and I got well over 200 bucks usage out of the system.
About four years ago, I bought two digital bottle filling machines, this way I had a backup should one go bad on me. They did the job faster than I could cap and set down a bottle, so this really speeded up production.
I was up to where I was using two blending buckets, and one packaging bucket. So by the time the packaging bucket was empty, the next blending bucket was ready to be transferred over to the packaging bucket.
I still worked on the kitchen counter, but no longer needed to use the stove. I had purchased a 165 degree instant hot water device for commercial use and this fed the initial stainless steel bucket used for the pre-blending heated stage. Since I already added 140 degree hot water to the blending buckets and an ingredient there, it was cooled down to around 100 degrees when I added from the metal bucket, and this only brought it back up to 140 which was great. When the blending process was done, temp was back down to under 100 when I moved it over to the bottling from bucket.
After bottles were filled and capped they went onto the island counter, and from there to the breakfast counter where I did the labeling, and to the kitchen table where they 12 pack cartons were placed into the shipping cases. Then the shipping cases were stacked by the back door waiting for me to put the UPS labels on them.
There was a lot of the process I didn't mention, such as the labels on the cartons and what all goes into a carton, and the label on the cases, and the shipping label, etc. Lots of paperwork I prepared in my office ahead of time for each order.
Then, when I was done, everything had to be taken down, cleaned, and packed away for storage until I got the next order.
Re: Windows 12
All I can say about the AZ-NO3 operation is that you made it what is was. The details you describe are amazing as must be the myriad of steps you did not describe. You had my admiration ever since you first described it all to me many moons ago. I believe this post is the first you mentioned that you planned to sell the business, or actually did already. I read it with mixed feelings because I know it's something you put a lot of effort into for many years. You kept it going longer than most of your other business ventures if my reckoning is correct. But, then, you are at a point in your life where most people retire. You made your mark in the world and now the attention should be directed toward your own personal needs. I understand why you may not be partying now that you are officially out of work, but the last time you mentioned it the business was not bringing in that much profit, if any at all. There is no need to abandon your attention to details and striving for perfection. That all can be done on a personal level as well as a business level. I know that I felt lost and adrift when I separated from the big M, and you probably will experience something similar. About all I can say is you will will not be idle for very long. Nature abhors a vacuum.
Re: Windows 12
Hi Yogi, my health had declined to the point, that getting the last order I did out, took me nearly a week to recover.
I almost passed out a couple of times, even with my oxygen on two notches higher than normal.
Almost any physical thing I do, literally knocks my O2 levels down below 86 and I start gasping for air.
But worse than that, I'm a CO2 retainer, so to keep the CO2 down, I have to do pursed lip breathing, which is very tiring.
Imagine trying to blow up about 100 balloons for a party in under 2 hours, and when you have low lung function, it is also harder and even more tiring.
Yes, sales were dropping, but that had more to do with the sole Distributor I gave exclusive sales rights to.
They were in the process of winding down for the past couple of years, stopped doing overseas orders first.
Then as more and more reef aquarium stores closed down, they quit promoting the product.
The company they sold out to, although they loved my product, they wouldn't work under my terms.
I was ready to discontinue it completely when I got a new Distributor with many clients, and who is heavy on advertising.
He jumped on the bandwagon and had the most beautiful labels printed up and sent to me. I did three orders for him.
That last order is what made me realize I couldn't do it anymore. So I mentioned to him about making it in-house.
After much discussion, he decided to give it a go. So I basically disclosed how it is made, what equipment was needed, but didn't give him two of the ingredients trade secrets. He did all the mathwork and decided he could take it over from me and make it profitable once again. After all, he was making a nice profit on what he had paid me to make for him, and by making it himself for less than half price, he would make a booming profit. He also upped the retail sale price by just under 10 bucks, since many of the industry items had climbed by that much over the past year.
Now although HE is who made and packaged the Hong Kong order, he paid me the same as if I made it and he paid my regular price. Now that was something he didn't have to do. His logic was, I sent the bottles and caps, cartons and cases, and all the equipment I had, including the bottle filling machines, and the home-brew label adding box called a Banjo.
I felt that was more than fair, especially after he just paid me for the business, and paid for all the legal paperwork to be completed, signed sealed and delivered.
I know sales will be slow at first, but I'm sure they will pick up for him.
But the point really is, the product I invented will remain on the market and not be discontinued.
That alone is very pleasing to me!
I spend from 8 am until 9 pm in my office. A couple of days from 9 am until 8:30 pm on the days the frau works night shift.
But I don't get a dinner break either on those days, because we don't eat then until around 9 pm.
That sounds like a long time in my office. But you have to realize also, sitting still I don't burn up so much O2.
At night while sleeping, I'm on O2 at 2 lpm all night long from an oxygen concentrator.
I have to swap over to a tank at 4 lpm while I'm getting dressed, then swap to a portable to walk to the kitchen.
Then I stay on 4 lpm until I'm up around 95, at which time I'm off O2 while I eat breakfast.
I'm often down to 90 by the time I finished eating, and connect again to a tank until I'm back up to 95.
Then I swap back over to the portable at 4 lpm to walk uphill to my office, get bird seed for the outside birds and feed them.
Once I'm in my office, I turn off the portable and sit in my chair, turn on a tank to 3 lpm until I'm back up to 95, then I turn it all the way down to 1 lpm while I'm doing a few things at my desk before I get to doing just keyboard work. Then I can usually disconnect or I bought a new regulator that goes down to 0.5 lpm, which I may leave it at that for about an hour. By then I'm usually holding at 95 without O2. But the past month or so, I often hold at 94, which started out at 96 about 6 months ago.
I just bought myself an oxygen concentrator, the same make and model I'm renting and who charges me 556 bucks a month to Medicare for. I got a heck of a deal on it, tested it, but don't have it hooked up yet. I probably won't use it much at first, but actually have it as an emergency backup should the rental one stop working. The one I bought only has 18,000 hours on it, and the rental is over 36,000 hours, without a compressor overhaul, which is supposed to be done at 25,000 hours. So it may clonk out on me at any moment. But I'm sure if it does, they will bring me another one PDQ!
I almost passed out a couple of times, even with my oxygen on two notches higher than normal.
Almost any physical thing I do, literally knocks my O2 levels down below 86 and I start gasping for air.
But worse than that, I'm a CO2 retainer, so to keep the CO2 down, I have to do pursed lip breathing, which is very tiring.
Imagine trying to blow up about 100 balloons for a party in under 2 hours, and when you have low lung function, it is also harder and even more tiring.
Yes, sales were dropping, but that had more to do with the sole Distributor I gave exclusive sales rights to.
They were in the process of winding down for the past couple of years, stopped doing overseas orders first.
Then as more and more reef aquarium stores closed down, they quit promoting the product.
The company they sold out to, although they loved my product, they wouldn't work under my terms.
I was ready to discontinue it completely when I got a new Distributor with many clients, and who is heavy on advertising.
He jumped on the bandwagon and had the most beautiful labels printed up and sent to me. I did three orders for him.
That last order is what made me realize I couldn't do it anymore. So I mentioned to him about making it in-house.
After much discussion, he decided to give it a go. So I basically disclosed how it is made, what equipment was needed, but didn't give him two of the ingredients trade secrets. He did all the mathwork and decided he could take it over from me and make it profitable once again. After all, he was making a nice profit on what he had paid me to make for him, and by making it himself for less than half price, he would make a booming profit. He also upped the retail sale price by just under 10 bucks, since many of the industry items had climbed by that much over the past year.
Now although HE is who made and packaged the Hong Kong order, he paid me the same as if I made it and he paid my regular price. Now that was something he didn't have to do. His logic was, I sent the bottles and caps, cartons and cases, and all the equipment I had, including the bottle filling machines, and the home-brew label adding box called a Banjo.
I felt that was more than fair, especially after he just paid me for the business, and paid for all the legal paperwork to be completed, signed sealed and delivered.
I know sales will be slow at first, but I'm sure they will pick up for him.
But the point really is, the product I invented will remain on the market and not be discontinued.
That alone is very pleasing to me!
I spend from 8 am until 9 pm in my office. A couple of days from 9 am until 8:30 pm on the days the frau works night shift.
But I don't get a dinner break either on those days, because we don't eat then until around 9 pm.
That sounds like a long time in my office. But you have to realize also, sitting still I don't burn up so much O2.
At night while sleeping, I'm on O2 at 2 lpm all night long from an oxygen concentrator.
I have to swap over to a tank at 4 lpm while I'm getting dressed, then swap to a portable to walk to the kitchen.
Then I stay on 4 lpm until I'm up around 95, at which time I'm off O2 while I eat breakfast.
I'm often down to 90 by the time I finished eating, and connect again to a tank until I'm back up to 95.
Then I swap back over to the portable at 4 lpm to walk uphill to my office, get bird seed for the outside birds and feed them.
Once I'm in my office, I turn off the portable and sit in my chair, turn on a tank to 3 lpm until I'm back up to 95, then I turn it all the way down to 1 lpm while I'm doing a few things at my desk before I get to doing just keyboard work. Then I can usually disconnect or I bought a new regulator that goes down to 0.5 lpm, which I may leave it at that for about an hour. By then I'm usually holding at 95 without O2. But the past month or so, I often hold at 94, which started out at 96 about 6 months ago.
I just bought myself an oxygen concentrator, the same make and model I'm renting and who charges me 556 bucks a month to Medicare for. I got a heck of a deal on it, tested it, but don't have it hooked up yet. I probably won't use it much at first, but actually have it as an emergency backup should the rental one stop working. The one I bought only has 18,000 hours on it, and the rental is over 36,000 hours, without a compressor overhaul, which is supposed to be done at 25,000 hours. So it may clonk out on me at any moment. But I'm sure if it does, they will bring me another one PDQ!
Re: Windows 12
Went to see the doctor today, or rather the Nurse Practitioner who shares the office. One of the things she checked was my O2 level which registered at 97%. She and I were happy with that number, but it did occur to me for a moment how you need to struggle to get even close to it. The oximeter she used also took a pulse reading. This is the first time in recent memory that I've seen the pulse displayed along with the oxygen reading. I thought it was kind of cool. I'm experiencing some weird pains for no good reason and a CT scan will be done to see what they can see. Possible hernia was the first guess which sounds a bit odd in that I haven't lifted any tree trunks off the ground since 2016. I don't recall anything I could have done to bring on a hernia other than lifting bags of fertilizer the first few years we lived here. Anyway, if something exciting or exotic shows up, be prepared for me to moan about it.
I think you did a good thing to sell your business and it seems as if you found the right buyer too. However, I don't know how he can reproduce your original product without knowing of the secret ingredients. Apparently what he has and knows is good enough because I know you would not steer anyone wrong. From what I can tell in your writings you have already left a few legacies that will survive your time here on earth. I don't know if people will appreciate the other landmarks you created, but I have a feeling aquaianistas of the future will be using your invention for a long long time. Good show!
I think you did a good thing to sell your business and it seems as if you found the right buyer too. However, I don't know how he can reproduce your original product without knowing of the secret ingredients. Apparently what he has and knows is good enough because I know you would not steer anyone wrong. From what I can tell in your writings you have already left a few legacies that will survive your time here on earth. I don't know if people will appreciate the other landmarks you created, but I have a feeling aquaianistas of the future will be using your invention for a long long time. Good show!
Re: Windows 12
Back when I was around 12 to 14 years old, my doctor asked if I had a hernia while he was poking on my stomach right next to my navel. He told my mom that I would probably have a hernia in the next few months to a year. That was over 60 years ago, and I've still never had one. I think what he was a little fatty deposit to the right of my navel, and it has always been there.
I have two pulse/oximeters. The very first one I bought was around 150 bucks, medical grade. It started giving odd readings and I picked one up for around 15 bucks, not medical grade, but just as accurate, trouble is, it eats batteries fast. So I bought another one for 49 dollars that was medical grade. The batteries in it last four to five times longer than the cheap john, but they both give the exact same readings. If you decide to buy one, stick with Santa Medical, they currently have one for only 29 bucks, and it appears to be the same as the 49 dollar one I bought. I guess with Covid, more folks are buying them, which caused the price to drop.
The only problem I have with the fingertip models is due to a slow working heart, my hands are always cold, and they don't work well on cold hands. But if I wash my hands under hot water, or hold them in front of a heater and wring them a few times, then the fingertip models work A-OK for me.
The Pulmonologist doctor I go to had one he clips to my ear to get a reading. I checked what he has on-line and they cost like 899 bucks and up, hi hi. He also has an instant reading fingertip model that works with cold fingers, it too is like 159 dollars.
Oh, I gave him the trade secrets on how to make the ingredients himself, and where to buy the products to make them with.
But it doesn't matter too much, I gave him like a lifetime supply of one of the special ingredients. The only way I could get that ingredient was to buy a whole pound of it. A pound don't sound like much, but when you only use approx 25 grams in a gallon of distilled water to make a batch. And you only use around 10cc per 5 gallon batch of product, that gallon lasts for years, hi hi.
There is another ingredient I was paying around 129 bucks a gallon for, and it had a short shelf life, so basically I had to buy a gallon each time I got an order. After I changed to a different lab, the guy would sell me a pint for 30 bucks. Then about the time they were getting ready to close down, to move to another city, one of the lab techs told me how I could make it for zero cost to me, and it was easy. I could make it fresh when I knew I had an order coming in, because it took 3 days for it to be ready to use. You can't keep it though, because it goes bad within a week. But since it costs nothing to make, who cares.
For your age, 97 is a good O2 reading! Well within normal!
I hope all of your tests at the doctor come back clean and green, with no problems or out of range things.
The thing about people, we just can't shut down and reboot to keep humming along, hi hi.
I have two pulse/oximeters. The very first one I bought was around 150 bucks, medical grade. It started giving odd readings and I picked one up for around 15 bucks, not medical grade, but just as accurate, trouble is, it eats batteries fast. So I bought another one for 49 dollars that was medical grade. The batteries in it last four to five times longer than the cheap john, but they both give the exact same readings. If you decide to buy one, stick with Santa Medical, they currently have one for only 29 bucks, and it appears to be the same as the 49 dollar one I bought. I guess with Covid, more folks are buying them, which caused the price to drop.
The only problem I have with the fingertip models is due to a slow working heart, my hands are always cold, and they don't work well on cold hands. But if I wash my hands under hot water, or hold them in front of a heater and wring them a few times, then the fingertip models work A-OK for me.
The Pulmonologist doctor I go to had one he clips to my ear to get a reading. I checked what he has on-line and they cost like 899 bucks and up, hi hi. He also has an instant reading fingertip model that works with cold fingers, it too is like 159 dollars.
Oh, I gave him the trade secrets on how to make the ingredients himself, and where to buy the products to make them with.
But it doesn't matter too much, I gave him like a lifetime supply of one of the special ingredients. The only way I could get that ingredient was to buy a whole pound of it. A pound don't sound like much, but when you only use approx 25 grams in a gallon of distilled water to make a batch. And you only use around 10cc per 5 gallon batch of product, that gallon lasts for years, hi hi.
There is another ingredient I was paying around 129 bucks a gallon for, and it had a short shelf life, so basically I had to buy a gallon each time I got an order. After I changed to a different lab, the guy would sell me a pint for 30 bucks. Then about the time they were getting ready to close down, to move to another city, one of the lab techs told me how I could make it for zero cost to me, and it was easy. I could make it fresh when I knew I had an order coming in, because it took 3 days for it to be ready to use. You can't keep it though, because it goes bad within a week. But since it costs nothing to make, who cares.
For your age, 97 is a good O2 reading! Well within normal!
I hope all of your tests at the doctor come back clean and green, with no problems or out of range things.
The thing about people, we just can't shut down and reboot to keep humming along, hi hi.
Re: Windows 12
I've thought about that very thing myself. However, with computers and most other electronic devices the reboot trick only fixes about 95% of the problems. You and I are at the age where we would fit into that remaining 5% demographic.The thing about people, we just can't shut down and reboot to keep humming along, hi hi.
I thank you sincerely for the good wishes but tests coming back clean would be a slight problem because something is not right in my old body and we don't know what it is at this moment. Of course I don't look forward to any medical problems, but it would be nice to know for certain if I should be worried or not.
The Oximeter that reads off the ear lobes is my kind of device. The price of it is something only a successful pulmonologist could afford, and that is only because he can write it off as a business expense. The meter I saw yesterday impressed me because the pulse reading was a single line bar graph that displayed along side the per cent of oxygen. I've had those finger type oximeters used on me as far back as I can remember. Also, as far back as I can remember I have always wondered how they can tell with any accuracy what the saturation of oxygen in my blood is by clamping my finger in a vice. When you tell me cold fingers have an adverse affect on the reading, I am scratching my head even more. I would guess that you would know when your O2 level is low, but you might need a meter to see when you are at a safe level. If I recall correctly from back when I was taking mom to a pulmonologist, anything above 85% will keep you alive. Anything above 94% is desirable, however.
Re: Windows 12
I sure hope they find what is ailing you and can fix it easily, and without drawing and quartering you in the process!
Below 89% can start causing organ failures, a little at a time.
Sitting still at my desk, not doing anything physical other than using my stationary mouse, I hover around 95%, but if I start typing, then I drop to 94% and sometimes as low as 92%, but let me get up and walk 10 feet and I'm down to 89 to 90.
To walk down to the house, which is downhill, I need my O2 tank set at 3 lpm, but to walk back up to my office from the house, I have to set it up to 4 lpm. Even then, I'm sometimes down to 89 by the time I get up here. But I hit the bigger O2 tank the minute I sit down until I'm up to 96% then I turn it off.
I bought a used oxygen concentrator for up here, but they don't put out all that much, since they are designed for continuous use. The leased one down at the house I wear all night long, at 3 lpm barely keeps me at 94 throughout the night. And the one up here, will hold me at 94 to 95 while sitting here working, but then I maintain 94 to 95 while seated anyhow.
My last visit to the pulmonologist showed my lung capacity had dropped from 55% all the way down to 22%. That was one heck of a drop. It has been over six months since I went, and hope my regular doc can find one closer to me.
Below 89% can start causing organ failures, a little at a time.
Sitting still at my desk, not doing anything physical other than using my stationary mouse, I hover around 95%, but if I start typing, then I drop to 94% and sometimes as low as 92%, but let me get up and walk 10 feet and I'm down to 89 to 90.
To walk down to the house, which is downhill, I need my O2 tank set at 3 lpm, but to walk back up to my office from the house, I have to set it up to 4 lpm. Even then, I'm sometimes down to 89 by the time I get up here. But I hit the bigger O2 tank the minute I sit down until I'm up to 96% then I turn it off.
I bought a used oxygen concentrator for up here, but they don't put out all that much, since they are designed for continuous use. The leased one down at the house I wear all night long, at 3 lpm barely keeps me at 94 throughout the night. And the one up here, will hold me at 94 to 95 while sitting here working, but then I maintain 94 to 95 while seated anyhow.
My last visit to the pulmonologist showed my lung capacity had dropped from 55% all the way down to 22%. That was one heck of a drop. It has been over six months since I went, and hope my regular doc can find one closer to me.
Re: Windows 12
I could be wrong but I would guess it's harder to keep the oxygen levels in the safe zone during the night while asleep. Your breathing and pulse slow down naturally at those times and thus the O2 intake has to be less than when you are sitting upright. I find it very interesting that the saturation would change with as little activity as using a mouse. Then again, your lungs are functioning at less than 1/4th capacity.
Keeping up with the work force has been a major problem during the pandemic. Add to that the fact that a lot of ideas about working in the office and remotely have changed. Many people quit their jobs who would not have done so before the work at home scenario was forced upon them. I always thought this mass quitting of jobs was mostly in the trades and manufacturing. It turns out the medical field is going nuts too. A lot of healthcare people are also moving on to greener pastures and some change professions due to battle fatigue. For you and me that presents a shortage of doctors, particularly the specialists. We have had several changes in our medical team in the past few years and I can safely say change is not always a good thing. Small population centers with only marginal healthcare facilities are really being hit hard. There actually may not be any pulmonologists within easy driving distance where you live. We need to drive 20 miles to get to the closest one here. Fortunately there is an immediate care unit from the hospital in Chesterfield located here in O'Fallon. The selection of doctors is limited but most common ailments can be handled there. Anything major is a long trip down the road.
Keeping up with the work force has been a major problem during the pandemic. Add to that the fact that a lot of ideas about working in the office and remotely have changed. Many people quit their jobs who would not have done so before the work at home scenario was forced upon them. I always thought this mass quitting of jobs was mostly in the trades and manufacturing. It turns out the medical field is going nuts too. A lot of healthcare people are also moving on to greener pastures and some change professions due to battle fatigue. For you and me that presents a shortage of doctors, particularly the specialists. We have had several changes in our medical team in the past few years and I can safely say change is not always a good thing. Small population centers with only marginal healthcare facilities are really being hit hard. There actually may not be any pulmonologists within easy driving distance where you live. We need to drive 20 miles to get to the closest one here. Fortunately there is an immediate care unit from the hospital in Chesterfield located here in O'Fallon. The selection of doctors is limited but most common ailments can be handled there. Anything major is a long trip down the road.
Last edited by yogi on 20 Mar 2022, 17:06, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Windows 12
My brother has been sending me the funds necessary to buy a couple of the meds my doctors wanted me to take, of which I could not afford them, so skipped them for a long time. I know that can't make my lungs better, but they can slow down the progression of the disease a little bit. So I would say they seem to be helping in that regard.
I had the same doctor, after I moved down here, for 15 years. He decided to quit being a doctor about 4 years ago, long before Covid came along. He had a few reasons, some of which were valid.
Some of the older doctors who were still working long after they should have retired, decided to up and call it quits after Covid came along.
One of my doctors I had from childhood, smoked like a stoker furnace, hi hi. And when all the smoking bans were set in place, he called it quits then too. He was like 79 when he did retire, and still lived to be like 98 or higher.
In fact: Almost all the doctors in the 1950's to mid 1970's smoked. They normally didn't in a patients room, unless the patients were smokers themselves, and even then it was rare, unless they were going to be in the room for a long time.
My Dentist is who got me to try Benson and Hedges Deluxe Ready Rubbed cigarettes. They were about twice the price of a normal pack of cigarettes back then, which wasn't much, 60 cents instead of 35 cents a pack, hi hi.
We have a friend who owns a small restaurant, and one who does not price gouge his customers. Always low prices on everything. During Covid he did have to up his prices by 1/3 due to limited seating and slow patronage.
My wife stopped in there the other day while out shopping, and said he dropped his prices back down to only about 10% above the old normal price. When everyone else was normally getting 2 bucks and over for a glass of soda, his was still 75 cents a glass with free refills too. Debi said he now has soda set at an even one dollar, but only because they raised his price from 28 cents to 49 cents a glass. The Buffet we eat at sometimes, a soda there is $2.50 now, no free refills either.
I had the same doctor, after I moved down here, for 15 years. He decided to quit being a doctor about 4 years ago, long before Covid came along. He had a few reasons, some of which were valid.
Some of the older doctors who were still working long after they should have retired, decided to up and call it quits after Covid came along.
One of my doctors I had from childhood, smoked like a stoker furnace, hi hi. And when all the smoking bans were set in place, he called it quits then too. He was like 79 when he did retire, and still lived to be like 98 or higher.
In fact: Almost all the doctors in the 1950's to mid 1970's smoked. They normally didn't in a patients room, unless the patients were smokers themselves, and even then it was rare, unless they were going to be in the room for a long time.
My Dentist is who got me to try Benson and Hedges Deluxe Ready Rubbed cigarettes. They were about twice the price of a normal pack of cigarettes back then, which wasn't much, 60 cents instead of 35 cents a pack, hi hi.
We have a friend who owns a small restaurant, and one who does not price gouge his customers. Always low prices on everything. During Covid he did have to up his prices by 1/3 due to limited seating and slow patronage.
My wife stopped in there the other day while out shopping, and said he dropped his prices back down to only about 10% above the old normal price. When everyone else was normally getting 2 bucks and over for a glass of soda, his was still 75 cents a glass with free refills too. Debi said he now has soda set at an even one dollar, but only because they raised his price from 28 cents to 49 cents a glass. The Buffet we eat at sometimes, a soda there is $2.50 now, no free refills either.
Re: Windows 12
I don't recall ever seeing one of my doctors smoke, but I realize too that it is highly unlikely that they all did not. When I was a kid it was a courtesy not to smoke among those folks who are not accustomed to it. Now and days it's known to be a health issue. I'd say ever since the time I married the medical world has changed it's POV about smoking. They now strongly recommend against it. One thing I can say is that I've never been badgered about it when I did puff on cigars and pipes. I got a frown from the nurse a time or two, but no lectures. LOL So, it seems there never was an agreement on just how dangerous smoking can be. But, as I pointed out in the past just about all the people I know with pulmonary diseases are/were smokers. I suppose it's the same argument I see about vaccines these days. Nobody agrees on how safe or effective they are, but the overwhelming majority of fatalities associated with Covid are unvaccinated people.
Back in Illinois I can't recall any doctors of mine leaving the profession while I was their patient. Down here for six years and it happened three times already. It could just be random luck on my part, or perhaps the thinking about health care isn't the same in Missouri as it is in Illinois. And, I have no idea what the people in Tennessee are thinking.
Food service is a business like any other. The costs of doing business are pretty well known and the price for goods and services are a matter of what the market will bear. Once in a while you will find a place such as the one you mention where food is cheap. That, strange as it might seem, is not the norm. How high the cost of a steak dinner can go is pretty much determined by the cousine. You can get the same steak at a mom and pop shop that you would get at a Michelin starred restaurant, but the cost of the meat isn't what determines the quality of the meal. I am not so naive not to think some folks are out to gouge their customers of every cent they can get. I do believe that is rare. Customers are not stupid. You can gouge them once or twice, but word gets around pretty quick. Be it good words or bad words, the grapevine is very effective when it comes to businesses.
Back in Illinois I can't recall any doctors of mine leaving the profession while I was their patient. Down here for six years and it happened three times already. It could just be random luck on my part, or perhaps the thinking about health care isn't the same in Missouri as it is in Illinois. And, I have no idea what the people in Tennessee are thinking.
Food service is a business like any other. The costs of doing business are pretty well known and the price for goods and services are a matter of what the market will bear. Once in a while you will find a place such as the one you mention where food is cheap. That, strange as it might seem, is not the norm. How high the cost of a steak dinner can go is pretty much determined by the cousine. You can get the same steak at a mom and pop shop that you would get at a Michelin starred restaurant, but the cost of the meat isn't what determines the quality of the meal. I am not so naive not to think some folks are out to gouge their customers of every cent they can get. I do believe that is rare. Customers are not stupid. You can gouge them once or twice, but word gets around pretty quick. Be it good words or bad words, the grapevine is very effective when it comes to businesses.
Re: Windows 12
Most of the doctors did not smoke while they were seeing patients, but they did in their offices or in the doctors smoking lounge in nearly every hospital at that time.
St. John's Hospital, even after smoking was no longer allowed, did have a third floor smoking area in the Psych ward. It was still there and in use in 1999. I don't know if they still had a smoking area for doctors and nurses by then though.
I do know many of the Nurses who could no longer smoke, just switched to drugs, probably a lot of doctors too.
I had a fiancee who never smoked a day in her life, nobody smoked in her house or car, and she was a stay at home mom.
She died at a young age from Black Lung Disease. It wasn't hard to figure out how she got it. She never had less than a dozen candles burning in her house on any given day, and on holidays 50 or more.
Her walls and ceiling were like they were coated in wax, not to mention the furniture and other things in there.
My doctor who quit, did so for personal reasons. But a few others down here who quit did so because of too much government intervention and crazy laws the poly-TICK-ians keep coming up with.
There was an article in one of our local papers once by a doctor who quit the profession.
His reason was, his practice was going broke. And he went on for two columns explaining why and how.
I used to own two restaurants, after working at a couple to learn the ropes.
At that time, an open face roast beef sandwich, with a side of potatoes and green beans, our product cost was 50 cents. This is excluding the electric, gas, water, broken dishes, washing dishes, and kitchen labor of course. We also paid our wait staff the same as we paid our prep-cooks, which virtually no other restaurant did.
That dinner plate cost a customer 5 bucks. After all the bills were paid, including labor, the actual net profit for the company was only 15 to 30 cents.
For restaurants that paid wait staff minimum wait staff wages, their profit after expenses was more like $1.50 to $3.00 on the same meal.
We paid 21 cents a glass for soda and charged 75 cents to the customer.
All the rest of the restaurants at that time charged $1.00 to $1.50 for a glass of soda.
Knowing the actual product cost is no reflection on what should be charged for a meal. There are tons of other things involved that cost more than the actual product cost of the meal. Add in gas, water, and electric used to make that meal, and you'll see combined they are more than double the product cost for the food. The next bigger item is labor.
The cost of labor alone can kill you if you are not serving enough meals to cover the bills and labor.
This is why most restaurants have 3 or 4 step shifts. They have to or go broke fast.
We bought the best roast beef we could buy, and it was a lot more expensive than the fast food joints buy.
Even way back in the days of the flower shop, 1970's to 1980's when I was manager. It cost over 150 bucks an hour in labor alone just to unlock the front door and be open for walk-in customers.
I had a designer working for us who came to me and asked how we could afford to pay her.
She knew roughly what we paid for the container, the stuffing, the screen, and flowers she was putting in the container.
She also knew how long it took for her to make an arrangement, fill out the card, wrap it up for delivery, and put the delivery information on it. She was keeping track on her own, because some day she hoped to open her own flower shop.
She couldn't see how we possibly made enough money from her work to pay her salary and keeps the lights on, plus the added cost of delivery. She also figured we had a cost involved with ordering materials, getting them delivered, and placing them in storage, plus pulling a case out of storage and stocking the shelves they pulled the vases from.
For once in my life, I had an employee who understood business, and most of the costs involved.
Because of this, she always made sure she was busy doing something helpful.
At the time she talked to me, she had only calculated what arrangements she worked on all day. So she excluded the more expensive items other designers were putting together and close to double her speed, because they were easier and more showy, while what she worked on had to always look near perfect, they were harder to design. Her speed did pick up over the next year, so she really was earning her keep, and also working on the more expensive and faster things to make.
But she was right about one thing, it was costing us more that we were making on her early work, and on the things we had her designing at the time. But then she progressed to the faster more expensive items to make.
She came to me again a year later and said she now feels like she is finally contributing to the company.
I told her, you always were. Making those hard to design delicate items, is what keeps customers coming back for more.
And some day they will find it necessary to buy the expensive things, and even though we are cheaper than everyone else, those items are where we make our bread and butter.
On a good note: Right before we closed down in 1984, she did open her own small flower and gift shop, and she did exceeding well at it too. She also got into all kinds of things we never got into, such as balloon baskets, gift baskets, and even fruit baskets. She also had an extensive gift department after a couple of years. She was happy!
St. John's Hospital, even after smoking was no longer allowed, did have a third floor smoking area in the Psych ward. It was still there and in use in 1999. I don't know if they still had a smoking area for doctors and nurses by then though.
I do know many of the Nurses who could no longer smoke, just switched to drugs, probably a lot of doctors too.
I had a fiancee who never smoked a day in her life, nobody smoked in her house or car, and she was a stay at home mom.
She died at a young age from Black Lung Disease. It wasn't hard to figure out how she got it. She never had less than a dozen candles burning in her house on any given day, and on holidays 50 or more.
Her walls and ceiling were like they were coated in wax, not to mention the furniture and other things in there.
My doctor who quit, did so for personal reasons. But a few others down here who quit did so because of too much government intervention and crazy laws the poly-TICK-ians keep coming up with.
There was an article in one of our local papers once by a doctor who quit the profession.
His reason was, his practice was going broke. And he went on for two columns explaining why and how.
I used to own two restaurants, after working at a couple to learn the ropes.
At that time, an open face roast beef sandwich, with a side of potatoes and green beans, our product cost was 50 cents. This is excluding the electric, gas, water, broken dishes, washing dishes, and kitchen labor of course. We also paid our wait staff the same as we paid our prep-cooks, which virtually no other restaurant did.
That dinner plate cost a customer 5 bucks. After all the bills were paid, including labor, the actual net profit for the company was only 15 to 30 cents.
For restaurants that paid wait staff minimum wait staff wages, their profit after expenses was more like $1.50 to $3.00 on the same meal.
We paid 21 cents a glass for soda and charged 75 cents to the customer.
All the rest of the restaurants at that time charged $1.00 to $1.50 for a glass of soda.
Knowing the actual product cost is no reflection on what should be charged for a meal. There are tons of other things involved that cost more than the actual product cost of the meal. Add in gas, water, and electric used to make that meal, and you'll see combined they are more than double the product cost for the food. The next bigger item is labor.
The cost of labor alone can kill you if you are not serving enough meals to cover the bills and labor.
This is why most restaurants have 3 or 4 step shifts. They have to or go broke fast.
We bought the best roast beef we could buy, and it was a lot more expensive than the fast food joints buy.
Even way back in the days of the flower shop, 1970's to 1980's when I was manager. It cost over 150 bucks an hour in labor alone just to unlock the front door and be open for walk-in customers.
I had a designer working for us who came to me and asked how we could afford to pay her.
She knew roughly what we paid for the container, the stuffing, the screen, and flowers she was putting in the container.
She also knew how long it took for her to make an arrangement, fill out the card, wrap it up for delivery, and put the delivery information on it. She was keeping track on her own, because some day she hoped to open her own flower shop.
She couldn't see how we possibly made enough money from her work to pay her salary and keeps the lights on, plus the added cost of delivery. She also figured we had a cost involved with ordering materials, getting them delivered, and placing them in storage, plus pulling a case out of storage and stocking the shelves they pulled the vases from.
For once in my life, I had an employee who understood business, and most of the costs involved.
Because of this, she always made sure she was busy doing something helpful.
At the time she talked to me, she had only calculated what arrangements she worked on all day. So she excluded the more expensive items other designers were putting together and close to double her speed, because they were easier and more showy, while what she worked on had to always look near perfect, they were harder to design. Her speed did pick up over the next year, so she really was earning her keep, and also working on the more expensive and faster things to make.
But she was right about one thing, it was costing us more that we were making on her early work, and on the things we had her designing at the time. But then she progressed to the faster more expensive items to make.
She came to me again a year later and said she now feels like she is finally contributing to the company.
I told her, you always were. Making those hard to design delicate items, is what keeps customers coming back for more.
And some day they will find it necessary to buy the expensive things, and even though we are cheaper than everyone else, those items are where we make our bread and butter.
On a good note: Right before we closed down in 1984, she did open her own small flower and gift shop, and she did exceeding well at it too. She also got into all kinds of things we never got into, such as balloon baskets, gift baskets, and even fruit baskets. She also had an extensive gift department after a couple of years. She was happy!
Re: Windows 12
Running a business is complicated which is the main reason I never attempted it. I am fairly familiar with the costs involved from an economic point of view, but hands on operation is beyond my skill set. I'm pretty confident that I can learn to operate a business that I had an interest in. I'm good at doing complicated things. The glitch would be to sustain an income on which I could live. Doubt that I could ever get to that point before I went bankrupt. Besides having a lot of practical skills you seem to have a good sense of what it takes to make a business profitable. I think because you have such an intimate understanding you can afford to operate at a lower margin than your competitors. You get al those folks to buy because of your concept of a fair deal and do not get involved with impulse buying. You're missing a lot of short term profit that way, but you have a steady stream of customers. That steady stream is the saving grace.
One day a long long time ago my son-in-law and I went to what seemed to be a mom and pop fast food joint. The SIL was actually looking into the prospects of starting his own business, and not necessarily a deli shop like this one. He was just curious about how businesses operate and make a profit. He got into a conversation with one of the clerks and the topic drifted into what it costs to do things. It didn't take long before some irate dude came lunging at us out of the back room. He was ranting and raving about us stealing company secrets and told us unceremoniously to leave immediately. My SIL tried to explain that he was only interested in how businesses were run, but this guy was absolutely paranoid about potential competition. Well, he never did go into business for himself, but my SIL is pulling in a six digit income running companies for people who value his talents. I am certain the irate business operator we ran into had trouble and probably went bankrupt. He was absolutely obsessed for a reason that we never did determine.
Thinking it over I'm kind of glad I ended my career with a desk job working for somebody else.
One day a long long time ago my son-in-law and I went to what seemed to be a mom and pop fast food joint. The SIL was actually looking into the prospects of starting his own business, and not necessarily a deli shop like this one. He was just curious about how businesses operate and make a profit. He got into a conversation with one of the clerks and the topic drifted into what it costs to do things. It didn't take long before some irate dude came lunging at us out of the back room. He was ranting and raving about us stealing company secrets and told us unceremoniously to leave immediately. My SIL tried to explain that he was only interested in how businesses were run, but this guy was absolutely paranoid about potential competition. Well, he never did go into business for himself, but my SIL is pulling in a six digit income running companies for people who value his talents. I am certain the irate business operator we ran into had trouble and probably went bankrupt. He was absolutely obsessed for a reason that we never did determine.
Thinking it over I'm kind of glad I ended my career with a desk job working for somebody else.
Re: Windows 12
If you only knew how many short-term small businesses I started, which turned out not to be sustainable for one reason or another. On the bright side though, I did recover my start-up costs from about 90% of them, and other made up the shortfall.
But you are right, most were not something you could earn a living at, at least not by themselves.
But if you have 4 or 5 all making a little, it does add up to enough to cover your bills and some extra for food and shelter, hi hi.
It helps a lot if you already have a day job for your essentials, and then add a small business you can do in an hour or two in the evening. I've helped many folks pick something they enjoyed as a hobby. I would ask them, for your hobby, what is it you would like to see for use in your hobby that nobody makes? Now some of the things were beyond their reach to make, but for the majority, with a little help, they learned how they could both make and market the item. A few were lucky enough to have sales take off, at least long enough for them to sell to a larger manufacturer and make a few extra grand for themselves.
I had Michael's Craft Stores buy the exclusive to something I made. They had them made in China for about 1/4th of what it costs me to make them. They carried and sold the product for well over 5 years before I didn't see it on their shelf racks anymore. They paid me 8 grand for the item. They could have just started making it themselves and there would be nothing I could do about it. But at the time, they were buying up a lot of small suppliers so had money to burn I guess.
Most of the small businesses I started were not really time consuming, except for the Saw and Sabre Shop (tool sharpening business). I think the most expensive of my early businesses to start was my Hot Foil Stamping (gold stamping) business.
But I had a ready client before I got involved in it. And I had control of the client so to speak.
But the machine itself, the heated print heads, and the special feed systems were what cost a pretty penny, which is why I made a couple of them on my own using copper pipe and sundry items to create the four sizes of ribbon feeders.
My first two orders for my intended usage, covered the cost of the machine, the next two covered the cost of the heated print heads, and the foil feed system. Then I set about getting more clients for the same product I planned on making. These were all done using cold type set from a California Case.
Then when I got a client wanting award ribbons, I had to buy custom make dies to print those. It took about 6 orders before I recouped the cost of those dies. I also had to buy specially made pins so folks could pin them on. Then later around my 8th order or so, I started using pre-made rosettes for some of the higher class award ribbons.
It wasn't long before I started doing custom ribbon orders for schools, churches, etc.
And churches is how I ended up printing on Bibles and later briefcases.
Somehow I ended up printing on napkins for weddings, and before long, I had the necessary cold type fonts to do almost anything thrown at me. Heck, I even had a small toy company that made some toy cases with raised letters in plastic molded items and they had me print the letter faces in gold at first, then white and other colors. I had to buy special heated silicone pads in order to do this, but the order was worth it.
Now I only did the gold stamping jobs at night after work, and after dinner, usually after the kids were in bed too.
But doing this is why I had to hire an employee to run the Saw and Sabre Shop. Which I later sold to him, when I started up a machine shop. On this deal I bought all the equipment from a machine shop that was moving to new quarters and was buying all new equipment for their new shop. I knew very little about that business, so hired a retired machinist who was familiar with all the equipment and what he could do with it. He taught me a little bit, but he basically ran the whole show. I could not complain about how much money he was bringing in. So paid him a little more every month until he was making a third more than he did working as a union machinist. He alone more than quadrupled what I had paid for the equipment, so, other than the lease on the building and utility costs, which were basically my only expenses, I was getting around 3 grand a month. Actually 4 grand, but about 800 of that went back into cutting tool replacements. Something I really didn't have to worry about much, because he took care of keeping the tools sharpened until they were wore down to stubs, then he would only order what he needed.
I was hoping he would take it over from me, but he became ill, and I could not find a buyer, so moved about half of the machines to my house, and sold the other half. I also sold the rest I stored at my house at a later date, but not for much. My wife wanted them out of her living room, hi hi. Now the woodworking shop I had guys move to my basement. The same with the Saw and Sabre shop equipment.
Whatever was in my house when I called the auctioneer all got sold at auction for pennies on the dollar.
But you are right, most were not something you could earn a living at, at least not by themselves.
But if you have 4 or 5 all making a little, it does add up to enough to cover your bills and some extra for food and shelter, hi hi.
It helps a lot if you already have a day job for your essentials, and then add a small business you can do in an hour or two in the evening. I've helped many folks pick something they enjoyed as a hobby. I would ask them, for your hobby, what is it you would like to see for use in your hobby that nobody makes? Now some of the things were beyond their reach to make, but for the majority, with a little help, they learned how they could both make and market the item. A few were lucky enough to have sales take off, at least long enough for them to sell to a larger manufacturer and make a few extra grand for themselves.
I had Michael's Craft Stores buy the exclusive to something I made. They had them made in China for about 1/4th of what it costs me to make them. They carried and sold the product for well over 5 years before I didn't see it on their shelf racks anymore. They paid me 8 grand for the item. They could have just started making it themselves and there would be nothing I could do about it. But at the time, they were buying up a lot of small suppliers so had money to burn I guess.
Most of the small businesses I started were not really time consuming, except for the Saw and Sabre Shop (tool sharpening business). I think the most expensive of my early businesses to start was my Hot Foil Stamping (gold stamping) business.
But I had a ready client before I got involved in it. And I had control of the client so to speak.
But the machine itself, the heated print heads, and the special feed systems were what cost a pretty penny, which is why I made a couple of them on my own using copper pipe and sundry items to create the four sizes of ribbon feeders.
My first two orders for my intended usage, covered the cost of the machine, the next two covered the cost of the heated print heads, and the foil feed system. Then I set about getting more clients for the same product I planned on making. These were all done using cold type set from a California Case.
Then when I got a client wanting award ribbons, I had to buy custom make dies to print those. It took about 6 orders before I recouped the cost of those dies. I also had to buy specially made pins so folks could pin them on. Then later around my 8th order or so, I started using pre-made rosettes for some of the higher class award ribbons.
It wasn't long before I started doing custom ribbon orders for schools, churches, etc.
And churches is how I ended up printing on Bibles and later briefcases.
Somehow I ended up printing on napkins for weddings, and before long, I had the necessary cold type fonts to do almost anything thrown at me. Heck, I even had a small toy company that made some toy cases with raised letters in plastic molded items and they had me print the letter faces in gold at first, then white and other colors. I had to buy special heated silicone pads in order to do this, but the order was worth it.
Now I only did the gold stamping jobs at night after work, and after dinner, usually after the kids were in bed too.
But doing this is why I had to hire an employee to run the Saw and Sabre Shop. Which I later sold to him, when I started up a machine shop. On this deal I bought all the equipment from a machine shop that was moving to new quarters and was buying all new equipment for their new shop. I knew very little about that business, so hired a retired machinist who was familiar with all the equipment and what he could do with it. He taught me a little bit, but he basically ran the whole show. I could not complain about how much money he was bringing in. So paid him a little more every month until he was making a third more than he did working as a union machinist. He alone more than quadrupled what I had paid for the equipment, so, other than the lease on the building and utility costs, which were basically my only expenses, I was getting around 3 grand a month. Actually 4 grand, but about 800 of that went back into cutting tool replacements. Something I really didn't have to worry about much, because he took care of keeping the tools sharpened until they were wore down to stubs, then he would only order what he needed.
I was hoping he would take it over from me, but he became ill, and I could not find a buyer, so moved about half of the machines to my house, and sold the other half. I also sold the rest I stored at my house at a later date, but not for much. My wife wanted them out of her living room, hi hi. Now the woodworking shop I had guys move to my basement. The same with the Saw and Sabre shop equipment.
Whatever was in my house when I called the auctioneer all got sold at auction for pennies on the dollar.
Re: Windows 12
Thinking back on it, I could say that I was in business for myself when I ran a paper route as a teenager. I bought papers from a distributor and paid him once a week. My customers subscribed to have me deliver the paper and I ended up with about a penny for each one I delivered. Quite a few of my customers would give me a tip in addition to the subscription price which is how I made enough money to keep me interested. Part of my job, however, was to get new subscribers. I was expected to go door to door and talk people into signing up. After a couple years of me producing no new subscriptions they sent out a professional to canvass my route. I got quite a few new subscribers but only for a short time; thirteen weeks I think. After that trial period just about all of them quit. This is a good example of why I didn't favor running my own business. I was a terrible sales person. Delivery and collections was my thing, but that doesn't generate new business.
My family didn't have a business background like yours so that I never was exposed to those skills. But, I think it went beyond that. I simply was not a reach out to the public kind of guy. Working behind the scenes and out of sight was fine for me. Anything that required personal intervention to make it happen, usually didn't happen. That's not how successful businesses operate. LOL Your Hot Foil Stamping business succeeded as much as it did because you went out and brought in the business. I certainly could find a place to buy the machines, but it would be difficult for me to generate orders on my own. I think it has to do with self-confidence. You knew you could do it because you were brought up in that kind of environment. I didn't know and never wanted to find out.
My family didn't have a business background like yours so that I never was exposed to those skills. But, I think it went beyond that. I simply was not a reach out to the public kind of guy. Working behind the scenes and out of sight was fine for me. Anything that required personal intervention to make it happen, usually didn't happen. That's not how successful businesses operate. LOL Your Hot Foil Stamping business succeeded as much as it did because you went out and brought in the business. I certainly could find a place to buy the machines, but it would be difficult for me to generate orders on my own. I think it has to do with self-confidence. You knew you could do it because you were brought up in that kind of environment. I didn't know and never wanted to find out.
Re: Windows 12
I'm a horrible salesman myself. Tried many things too, such as the Silver King vacuum cleaner we couldn't call a vacuum cleaner, but it was one of the best out there, and much cheaper to use than a Filter Queen. Sold Gyromatic Safety Control devices for cars, did fairly good until they closed down operations. Also sold Grolier Encyclopedia's door to door.
I worked best by making something and having other folks sell it for me, hi hi.
I almost got a multi-level sales organization going, selling a paste cleaning product in gallon large mouth plastic jugs.
I didn't intend for it to be multi-level, but I needed a lot of salesmen to make it worth my while.
So I came up with a plan, a salesman could bring in another salesman and they would get 5% of that salesman's sales.
I think you see the problem I started. If that second salesman brought in another salesman, they to expected 5% of their sales. And if it kept up like this, there would not be enough money to pay everyone if the line grew any deeper, hi hi.
I also did not want it to become an illegal pyramid either. So had to revamp how it worked really fast.
Only a new salesman would now get 5% of the sale, the person who brought them in would only get 3%, and if the chain was three levels deep, then the original only got 1%. Even this was a whole lot of accounting and record keeping to take care of.
As far as direct sales go, all sales made to a customer earned them 20% right away.
This worked out well for a couple of years. Then I made another change, because I didn't want recruiting to pay anything, else it would become a pyramid scheme.
I also didn't like having to deal with each downline salesman to make sure each was paid properly.
So, before it got too far out of hand for me. I made the decision that a salesman who brought in someone else, they were their boss so to speak, and they had to sell the product to that person. And I based the whole pricing scheme on volume sales too.
This worked out well, and the best way I knew to handle it. At least until a new law was passed that we could not charge salesmen for the product up front, because it might cause stockpiling of merchandise by a salesman to get a lower price, when they were not selling all of what they were buying.
To alleviate that problem, they could not buy product without proving they were selling that much.
It was around this time that the company I had making the product for me, so I didn't have to anymore, wanted to take over completely, and offered me 10 grand, but paid in 2 grand steps every quarter over the next year and a half, with no upfront payment. Turns out they did very well making and selling the product, mainly because they had enough folks from what I started to make it worth their while. I did end up getting paid all that was owed to me, and then they sold it out to yet another company who had many cleaning products, and who was giving Amway a run for their money at the same time, hi hi.
To be 100% honest on how I got into the gold stamping business.
Our flower shop used ribbons with gold stamping on them on funeral flower arrangements and casket sprays. And we used one heck of a lot of them too. We were buying them from a division of the Lion Ribbon Company.
Many small florists still used the little individual glue on letters, they didn't stick well and could come off, so every letter also had to have a staple to make sure it didn't come off.
Another company came up with clear stick on's using the whole words like Dear on one sticker, and Aunt for e.g. on another sticker. Even so, it still took time to pick out the words and peel the backing and stick them on. We even used a few of these ourselves after Lion Ribbon switched to screen printing. The gold looked more like dull gold paint. Horrible looking!
I already had a tiny foil printing machine I used to make business cards, but there was no way it could do ribbons, it took a big machine to print a ribbon that said something like Dear Great-Grandfather.
So I bought the biggest multi-purpose manual hot foil stamping machine, which could have the automatic piston added to it. But I liked the control of the manual machine. It was called their Big Bench model, and I had the oversized width plate added to it. What was nice about this machine was it didn't have a fixed head height, you could wind it up so it could print on the edge side of a briefcase or suitcase for that matter.
At this time I only bought their largest heated print head. And two nice script fonts to get started.
Then after the florist bought a couple of orders, I had the most popularly used names made in a magnesium printing block. These were not cheap to have made, but they would last forever, and were much faster to set up.
Over the next year, I had all the printing blocks made for every ribbon we ever used.
Naturally, we knew almost all of the larger florists in and around the area.
So I began selling them the full-rolls of printed ribbons of the most popular names used, and also had a white box made with an egg crate inside the box, so I could sell the not used as often names with only ten on a roll and put a different one in each cell of the box. Inside the lid was which name were in which cell, and they went over really well.
The boxes were made such that each cell could hold up to 25 named ribbons, but they had to be wound tighter, which you know ribbon, once curled or rolled up, it tends to want to stay that way. So the larger rolls didn't work out so well.
I did come up with another way of packaging that used really long boxes and hollow boxes to wrap the ribbons around.
Once I did that, sales went up quite well for that product.
It wasn't hard to sell to other florists who were at one time buying from Lion Ribbon also. They were used to the gold stamped ribbons and hated the silkscreened, so jumped at getting the ribbons for around 1/3 less than Lion charged.
I should say I printed on size 40 ribbon for that purpose, but had calls for printing on some size 16 and size 9 ribbons too.
Once I had made the necessary attachments for my machine to print on the smaller ribbons, I also bought a smaller heated print head. What prompted me to do this was Giuliani Carnival Supply's ribbon maker shut down. They called me and I sent them a couple of sample ribbons using the script cold type. But they wanted the letters vertical in block letters, with smaller letters with the word Place widthwise across the bottom. So I ordered the font cases I needed to do the ribbons for them, and sent them some more samples. They were pleased with the gold stamping, but wanted a thicker ribbon. Ordered those in the colors for award ribbons and ended up getting a monster sized order from Giuliani. With the profits from that order I had new plates made that were simply beautiful. I used those on the next order for them and they were even more pleased than before. And after I bought a whole run of the special pins required, about 100 pounds worth, they decided they wanted Rosettes on some of their orders. Plus they asked if I could do some special orders for them. When they sent to me a printed page of exactly what they wanted, I had to go out and buy like 15 more sets of fonts of various sizes.
But once I had them, I placed a small ad in the local newspaper, and picked up some nice customers from that. One was Fred Astaire Dance Studio, who wanted ribbons saying Guest, Instructor, Student, Advanced, and Master. That too was a fairly large order, because after they saw them, they sent some to the home office who ordered a full-set for each of their dance studios.
So, technically, I never really had to do any selling per se.
Around the five year mark of selling these, I had a competitor appear, not in my state, but he had super low prices.
This was OK with me, because we were in the process of closing down the flower shop, and I was moving to Creve Coeur.
I kept the machine and all the font cases and printing plates, so had a few orders come in over the next three years. Then they faded away to nil. I may have got one small order for a wedding or something after I began printing on napkins or whatever the person wanted. Then the start-up toy company let me print the tops of the plastic covers that went on the item they were selling as the top of the machine. That too required some special equipment to do, but not expensive.
At least I didn't ruin a single one of those plastic covers and got them all looking just as they should.
I had perhaps two more special orders from Giuliani, but no more award ribbon orders. Then my machine sat idle.
I worked best by making something and having other folks sell it for me, hi hi.
I almost got a multi-level sales organization going, selling a paste cleaning product in gallon large mouth plastic jugs.
I didn't intend for it to be multi-level, but I needed a lot of salesmen to make it worth my while.
So I came up with a plan, a salesman could bring in another salesman and they would get 5% of that salesman's sales.
I think you see the problem I started. If that second salesman brought in another salesman, they to expected 5% of their sales. And if it kept up like this, there would not be enough money to pay everyone if the line grew any deeper, hi hi.
I also did not want it to become an illegal pyramid either. So had to revamp how it worked really fast.
Only a new salesman would now get 5% of the sale, the person who brought them in would only get 3%, and if the chain was three levels deep, then the original only got 1%. Even this was a whole lot of accounting and record keeping to take care of.
As far as direct sales go, all sales made to a customer earned them 20% right away.
This worked out well for a couple of years. Then I made another change, because I didn't want recruiting to pay anything, else it would become a pyramid scheme.
I also didn't like having to deal with each downline salesman to make sure each was paid properly.
So, before it got too far out of hand for me. I made the decision that a salesman who brought in someone else, they were their boss so to speak, and they had to sell the product to that person. And I based the whole pricing scheme on volume sales too.
This worked out well, and the best way I knew to handle it. At least until a new law was passed that we could not charge salesmen for the product up front, because it might cause stockpiling of merchandise by a salesman to get a lower price, when they were not selling all of what they were buying.
To alleviate that problem, they could not buy product without proving they were selling that much.
It was around this time that the company I had making the product for me, so I didn't have to anymore, wanted to take over completely, and offered me 10 grand, but paid in 2 grand steps every quarter over the next year and a half, with no upfront payment. Turns out they did very well making and selling the product, mainly because they had enough folks from what I started to make it worth their while. I did end up getting paid all that was owed to me, and then they sold it out to yet another company who had many cleaning products, and who was giving Amway a run for their money at the same time, hi hi.
To be 100% honest on how I got into the gold stamping business.
Our flower shop used ribbons with gold stamping on them on funeral flower arrangements and casket sprays. And we used one heck of a lot of them too. We were buying them from a division of the Lion Ribbon Company.
Many small florists still used the little individual glue on letters, they didn't stick well and could come off, so every letter also had to have a staple to make sure it didn't come off.
Another company came up with clear stick on's using the whole words like Dear on one sticker, and Aunt for e.g. on another sticker. Even so, it still took time to pick out the words and peel the backing and stick them on. We even used a few of these ourselves after Lion Ribbon switched to screen printing. The gold looked more like dull gold paint. Horrible looking!
I already had a tiny foil printing machine I used to make business cards, but there was no way it could do ribbons, it took a big machine to print a ribbon that said something like Dear Great-Grandfather.
So I bought the biggest multi-purpose manual hot foil stamping machine, which could have the automatic piston added to it. But I liked the control of the manual machine. It was called their Big Bench model, and I had the oversized width plate added to it. What was nice about this machine was it didn't have a fixed head height, you could wind it up so it could print on the edge side of a briefcase or suitcase for that matter.
At this time I only bought their largest heated print head. And two nice script fonts to get started.
Then after the florist bought a couple of orders, I had the most popularly used names made in a magnesium printing block. These were not cheap to have made, but they would last forever, and were much faster to set up.
Over the next year, I had all the printing blocks made for every ribbon we ever used.
Naturally, we knew almost all of the larger florists in and around the area.
So I began selling them the full-rolls of printed ribbons of the most popular names used, and also had a white box made with an egg crate inside the box, so I could sell the not used as often names with only ten on a roll and put a different one in each cell of the box. Inside the lid was which name were in which cell, and they went over really well.
The boxes were made such that each cell could hold up to 25 named ribbons, but they had to be wound tighter, which you know ribbon, once curled or rolled up, it tends to want to stay that way. So the larger rolls didn't work out so well.
I did come up with another way of packaging that used really long boxes and hollow boxes to wrap the ribbons around.
Once I did that, sales went up quite well for that product.
It wasn't hard to sell to other florists who were at one time buying from Lion Ribbon also. They were used to the gold stamped ribbons and hated the silkscreened, so jumped at getting the ribbons for around 1/3 less than Lion charged.
I should say I printed on size 40 ribbon for that purpose, but had calls for printing on some size 16 and size 9 ribbons too.
Once I had made the necessary attachments for my machine to print on the smaller ribbons, I also bought a smaller heated print head. What prompted me to do this was Giuliani Carnival Supply's ribbon maker shut down. They called me and I sent them a couple of sample ribbons using the script cold type. But they wanted the letters vertical in block letters, with smaller letters with the word Place widthwise across the bottom. So I ordered the font cases I needed to do the ribbons for them, and sent them some more samples. They were pleased with the gold stamping, but wanted a thicker ribbon. Ordered those in the colors for award ribbons and ended up getting a monster sized order from Giuliani. With the profits from that order I had new plates made that were simply beautiful. I used those on the next order for them and they were even more pleased than before. And after I bought a whole run of the special pins required, about 100 pounds worth, they decided they wanted Rosettes on some of their orders. Plus they asked if I could do some special orders for them. When they sent to me a printed page of exactly what they wanted, I had to go out and buy like 15 more sets of fonts of various sizes.
But once I had them, I placed a small ad in the local newspaper, and picked up some nice customers from that. One was Fred Astaire Dance Studio, who wanted ribbons saying Guest, Instructor, Student, Advanced, and Master. That too was a fairly large order, because after they saw them, they sent some to the home office who ordered a full-set for each of their dance studios.
So, technically, I never really had to do any selling per se.
Around the five year mark of selling these, I had a competitor appear, not in my state, but he had super low prices.
This was OK with me, because we were in the process of closing down the flower shop, and I was moving to Creve Coeur.
I kept the machine and all the font cases and printing plates, so had a few orders come in over the next three years. Then they faded away to nil. I may have got one small order for a wedding or something after I began printing on napkins or whatever the person wanted. Then the start-up toy company let me print the tops of the plastic covers that went on the item they were selling as the top of the machine. That too required some special equipment to do, but not expensive.
At least I didn't ruin a single one of those plastic covers and got them all looking just as they should.
I had perhaps two more special orders from Giuliani, but no more award ribbon orders. Then my machine sat idle.