31–40 of 386 posts
> Then, 3 weeks into the process, with the orders still coming, Marcus pointedly asked him about why they were ordering so much more than the 6,000 bags they had originally predicted. The food broker laughed and said “I wondered why you’ve been so upset and concerned. When they said ‘units’, that was cases. They’re right on target so far.” You can imagine how we felt in that moment, realizing that the person we hired…
This doesn't really make a lot of sense. How can bags be mistaken for cases when negotiating a deal? The price would be different by an order of magnitude. Why would orders trickle in like this if the product isn't getting shipped from the distributor and sold? Maybe I'm overly cynical and wary of things on the internet but somethings not adding up here.
> Then, 3 weeks into the process, with the orders still coming, Marcus pointedly asked him about why they were ordering so much more than the 6,000 bags they had originally predicted. The food broker laughed and said “I wondered why you’ve been so upset and concerned. When they said ‘units’, that was cases. They’re right on target so far.” You can imagine how we felt in that moment, realizing that the person we hired…
> people don't use the right words and terms Your examples are people "being helpful" by "figuring it out for you" when they don't understand all the specifics. Yes, that's an annoying problem any specialist deals with. The article is about something that should have had clarity in a contract. It's the kind if situation that should involve lawyers.
One thing that irks me about dealing with big businesses, that the post touches on, is payment terms. If I buy an item, I pay for it immediately (or if it’s large enough, a creditor pays for me). Big companies pay with IOUs that say they’ll give you cash later, say 30-90 days from now or after criterion X is fulfilled. They do not care if you’re a small company with poor liquidity. I think it’s absolutely abusive beh…
I remember in a corporate finance class in college, we did a lot of calculations comparing prepayment to net 30, net 90 terms, etc. The game is to maximize cash flow, though in the end, it doesn't make a lot of difference except in very thin margin businesses. But the general wisdom is to always try to take maximum advantage. I always felt that it is a silly strategy considering that it strains your suppliers, provid…
When I was homeless, I found a job with a "call center". Our training consisted of teaching us the cover story and how to handle reactions to it. We began with a joke involving alcohol. Then if they didn't hang up we launched into the pitch: "We just lost our lease on our warehouse, and we've got to move all these pens. You can get them imprinted with your name and phone number for a bargain. What do you say?" I quit…
The numbers in this story don't exactly line up, in a way that tells a fun and clearly stressful story: (The cases have 6 bags each.)
The intro to the blog post mentions 34k bags of coffee actually made. The initial order was thought to be 6k bags of coffee, but was actually 6k cases = 36k bags of coffee. So it looks like some got sold off between the delivery fiasco and the blog post. Later in the blog post it's mentioned as approximately 30k bags sold for half off + free shipping.
It looks like at time of writing there are $5277 in donations at $50/case, so 630 bags from the fundraiser. The Fire Sale has sold out at 24k bags, short of their original 30k bag goal. (Edit: They sold out of all of the caffeinated coffee, not all of the decaf.) They raised between $173k (all $7 bags + donations) and $197k (all $8 bags + donations), not counting the substantial shipping costs for 4k cases of coffee.
The debt likely to be paid off first is $60k of personal credit cards, $65k of business credit cards, and $45k of personal loans (there's a social cost to keeping these after such a successful fundraiser). $170k total here, leaving the $66k of other debt to be paid off more gradually.
(Edit: They only have decaf left from the sale coffees. The 4k bags not put up for sale, and some remaining decaf, are all of their excess inventory. Ignore following paragraph) ~~I'm guessing that they chose to keep the extra inventory after seeing the wild and immediate success of the sale. Knowing that they can pay off their worst debt, and getting a ton of new customers as well, they'd rather have the extra 6k bags around to sell at normal prices. It's also possible that they sold out of one type of coffee first, and that helped them decide to shut down the sale, rather than keeping it updated with the different varieties still in stock.~~
Modest Coffee now seems poised to be successful. Extra stock, no longer extra warehousing space needed, exposure to a ton of new customers, and their worst debts paid. I wouldn't be surprised if they look back on this fiasco as their biggest success in a few years.
One thing that irks me about dealing with big businesses, that the post touches on, is payment terms. If I buy an item, I pay for it immediately (or if it’s large enough, a creditor pays for me). Big companies pay with IOUs that say they’ll give you cash later, say 30-90 days from now or after criterion X is fulfilled. They do not care if you’re a small company with poor liquidity. I think it’s absolutely abusive beh…
And yet, if you’re a big company, transactions are expensive. If small companies need frequent payments and won’t float AP, why would you buy from them? Would you rent an apartment that insisted on daily payments? (Ok, bad analogy, but you get the idea). I don’t have a good answer, but this isn’t a one-sided thing where the big guys are taking advantage of small companies. This is also small companies agreeing to ope…
Everywhere I've seen you've payed that months rent by the ~5th of that month or they come after you for interest.
> Then, 3 weeks into the process, with the orders still coming, Marcus pointedly asked him about why they were ordering so much more than the 6,000 bags they had originally predicted. The food broker laughed and said “I wondered why you’ve been so upset and concerned. When they said ‘units’, that was cases. They’re right on target so far.” You can imagine how we felt in that moment, realizing that the person we hired…
> people don't use the right words and terms Your examples are people "being helpful" by "figuring it out for you" when they don't understand all the specifics. Yes, that's an annoying problem any specialist deals with. The article is about something that should have had clarity in a contract. It's the kind if situation that should involve lawyers.
Oh, this definitely happens but then I just explain how things work and what it means. But it also happens a lot with people who should know better than that (with the job title and all).
I can't put my finger on it exactly but there's something about this story that isn't making sense.