Hi Bruce -
No worries. I'm one of those guys that stops to usher snakes and turtles off the road....
Cheers -
Rob
Last edited by Rob Lee; 10-21-2021 at 5:35 PM.
We're cranking up production as quickly as we can....two CNC lathes, two CNC grinders, a Vertical Mill, two Horizontal mills with a pallet pool, and a CNC router all ordered/installed in the past 12 months.
Today - had a meeting about configuring our first robotic arm cell ...
We're done yet...
Cheers -
Rob
Go Rob, go!! 😊
I placed two "all products in stock" orders because of this thread.
My L-N order got here yesterday. The scissors are fantastic, I got two pairs. Clauss brand, it says made in Italy on one pair. Jeez Louise. The little pair that I am keeping would be "pointy-pointy" in Registered Nursing parlance. I am going to use them in my outdoor kitchen for opening vacuum packed meats, but these would be fabulous bandage scissors were my employer willing to pay this much for bandage scissors. They aren't going to spend this much for bandage scissors, but the 8" cloth shears are going to one of the active seamstresses on my Christmas list this year.
And I got the brush, the dusting brush. I have looked at it a few times. It is under workbenches/ bench accessories. The bad news is the description says "made of Chinese boar bristles", though I can say I ordered it before the side discussion. The good news is it works. With this brush I was able to get around the tote and into the inside corner where the frog meets the body on all my planes (#3 up to #8) and brush all the dust out of that area on every plane. I don't know what the animal friendly answer is, but this is a handy tool.
I expect to be able to echo the "higher standard of customer service" for Lee Valley shortly based on the tracking numbers in my email. Leupold, the optics people, is my current high water mark, but Leupold is about to be second place I think.
It has been lovely to place a couple online orders and have shipment notification emails within 24 hours. Whether or not Rob or Tom needed the money, this has been money well spent for me. Thank you OP.
I would think gift cards (always on my Christmas list) are also positive for their business since they get the cash upfront and don’t have to deliver goods until ordered later.
There is a very fine line between “hobby” and “mental illness.” - Dave Barry
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
I’m not an accountant, but my understanding is they cannot count gift card sales as revenue per se until it is ultimately used, but the cash is there and available for use.
There is a very fine line between “hobby” and “mental illness.” - Dave Barry
Hi -
Gift card sales do not count as "sales" - they are carried on the books indefinitely as a future liability. They certainly can help with cash on hand though - and reduce the line of credit due the bank at this time of year. So - the net benefit to us is the interest savings on the same amount borrowed at an applicable finance rate.
As most of you know - we don't have sales. Our discounted card is our way of letting customers book the "sale" they want in advance. Of course, the benefit to us is the future sale - but at reduced margin.
Our policy is also to refund gift cards in cash - whenever you want. We refund what you paid for it - so the discounted cards are NOT refunded at face value - but at the value you paid for it.
If you lose a gift card you have purchased - we can re-issue them - we track the liability at the individual purchaser level, and will replace any lost card at any time.
Cheers -
Rob
@Mark Rainey - My 1/128" digital caliper is likewise in the drawer. My 1/64" one lasted longer but, went in the drawer too. I work in imperial and have a few imperial dial calipers around the shop that read in 64ths. They work better for me. Not necessarily true for you.
Where I agree that my small purchase will not keep Rob afloat, this thread did remind me to buy the things I had setting in my cart
Last edited by glenn bradley; 11-03-2021 at 9:42 AM.
"A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".
– Samuel Butler
Your practices are outstanding, Rob. Gift Cards are an interesting “product”. I have a small business - far smaller than yours - and we do count gift cards as sales, however, we deduct the avg margin COGs and keep that on the books. So our liability is just the product cost. In our case, the gift card is only redeemable for product. I find your refund policy very generous!
Rob, do you have an ETA on when your Preston-style beading tool will be back in stock?
TIA