JCF Store

[Steve]

Re: JCF Store

heres what the T shirts look like http://ca.f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/...01.jpg&.view=t http://ca.f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/...02.jpg&.view=t http://ca.f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/...03.jpg&.view=t //Steve

[lerxstcat]

Re: JCF Store

Originally posted by Chuckracer:
So suddenly all this talk about buying printing presses and such...jeesh!
Howsa about a mug...or a hat...or a friggen sticker?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Mugs, hats and stickers are available; cool t-shirts are not. Like I said, most apparently aren't interested in mugs, hats and stickers, hence slow sales.

We don't need to buy presses either; there's a good t-shirt shop in most every city in the land, guys! You pick the simplest logo, make the shirt black. Call every t-shirt shop in town, or 10 if it's a big city, and take the cheapest quote, or the best quality; you choose. Now take orders; postal money order only (it's cash basically, return all others.
If you can't find a post office and pay 90 cents for a money order and 34 cents for a stamp, you don't get a freakin' shirt!) Get enough orders for 100 shirts, make a pressing. You already know the sizes you need because they're pre-ordered; no excess stock. Orders of up to 100 are usually done within a week if a shop is competitive.

The cafepress thing was a cool idea, except that it doesn't offer what most want and it basically offers TOO many options. Pick one simple design and go with that. Bear in mind too that with the sales vs. profit picture you have now, Cafepress charges a lot for convenience. Too much, with a limited market of 1500, for the JCF to generate enough profits to do anything substantial with, and they can't even offer us the convenience of opting for black shirts.

BTW, got my shipping confirmation from the Jackson Store on the 2 T-shirts I ordered about 24 hours ago? They've shipped, and I was emailed a link to UPS tracking; I should have 'em on Friday.
[img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] THAT's service, baybee! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[ August 19, 2003, 04:25 AM: Message edited by: lerxstcat ]

[Hamner1]

Re: JCF Store

Well I'll be the first to say I am a deadbeat. When I first saw the store back when it was presented, I thought it was cool, took a look around, and saw some neat stuff, but did not get anything. I will look again, maybe I will pull the trigger this time.

I think the black t-shirt idea is a sound one. Go to any rock concert and most of the t-shirts are black. Me personnally, I sweat horribly so I avoid light colors as much as possible.

Kevin's right in that you will not please everyone. Me, I hate t-shirts with pockets, Newc stated he likes and wants pockets on his t-shirts. So what to do?

I don't think the admins should take on extra responsibility (for free) that will demand more time from them. Maybe they could somehow recieve compensation for their work if they do the footwork for the black t-shirts. Add it into the price (maybe $2 dollars/shirt). I know this is a touchy subject, but possibly a member of the JCF could offer their services?

[lerxstcat]

Re: JCF Store

I'm all for compensating whoever does it for their time; I figure I built that into my estimate, but $2 more per shirt wouldn't be a deal-breaker, I don't think.

I like pocket Ts too, but face it: this market is like the concert T market demographically, and have you EVER seen a
band's Ts with pockets? Newc is saying what he'd like to have, but that doesn't mean he hasn't bought some concert Ts over the course of the years, and I don't think the JCF shirts he DID buy had pockets, - did they Newc?

My point is, the group is too small to offer a bunch of options, because each logo is a separate setup fee, and 5 logos means 5 different price breakpoints. Pick the simplest logo that can be rendered in white or red, for a 1-color logo on a black shirt, like sevser has, or like the Jackson shirts I ordered for that matter. Figure your costs by taking preorders as I elaborated on in my previous post, then order a run of 100 or 200, whatever you get orders for. Let everyone know you need at least 100 to order a run, and tell 'em they have 30 days to put up or shut up. The XXL fatasses like me pay $2 more just like at Wal-Mart, and we'd have more than 100% NET profit, as oposed to 17% GROSS profit on the Cafepress sales to date! This could easily be done under the formula and limits I've outlined. With 1500 members, I'm sure 1 out of 15 would go in on the first series to have a JCF shirt in our beloved black, even if they have to settle for no pocket and a plain letter logo instead of a Rhoads graphic -
Remember KISS, Sully? Keep It Simple Sully! (Slight reword out of respect!)

Now once 100 of us have A JCF shirt, you know the other guys are gonna want one just 'cause they don't already have it and other JCFers do - just like our GAS has grown since we joined here. After your first run of 100, your printer will let you order 5 or 10 at a time since he already has the setup stuff, so you can order in smaller increments. Eventually
maybe we CAN afford to add more and fancier logos, or maybe not. Demand will tell.

For Pete's sake, friggin' METAL SLUDGE is capable of doing this! Are we willing to admit that those guys are smarter and more resourceful than the JCF? Not dissing them, just saying, we have a brain trust here, too!

And if elected governor, I'll.... oops, I
moved and couldn't run... nevermind that last part! [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]