Showing posts with label holiday crunch time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday crunch time. Show all posts

Saturday, December 12, 2020

The Countdown to Christmas Deadlines

 We are in the final push to get orders out in time for holiday gift giving. The post office has been doing a dismal job with deliveries. Once a package leaves our studio, who knows how long or what route it will take to get to it's destination. I keep my finger crossed and keep an eye on tracking. I can't even begin to count how many missing package inquiries I have made in the last few weeks.


While I haven't had any piggy banks or salt pigs in stock for months, there are still lots of nice pots in our gallery.


We have been open by appointment only since the end of November. It has been working out well. Shoppers have the gallery to themselves, everyone is wearing a mask, and we have contactless payment through Square.


I decided to run a report on the Square app and compared sales from the first weekend in December of 2019 to the first weekend in December, 2020. We sold more in 2020 than 2019! The people who called and made appointments were either past customers or people who saw our work online and were very interested in making a purchase. It felt so much safer than dealing with people in and out all day, sanitizing the door handle, if the door couldn't be left open, and reminding people that our emergency occupancy was only three.
Jeff and I have been very thankful that our online sales have sustained us over the last nine months. We are hopeful it will continue and that we can all get through this winter safe and healthy.




Tuesday, November 29, 2016

A Potter's Life During the Holidays


This is my world these days. The piggy bank orders keep coming in! Lots of them are personalized and the interesting thing about this year is that many of them are for twins. As I was typing that I realized that I forgot to stamp two pigs with the names "BEN" and "MAX"... I ran out to the studio and did that right away, before they got too dry. I always enjoy learning what names are popular right now. I think I shipped 10 finished pigs this week, and assembled twenty more since yesterday afternoon. Tomorrow I am moving on to salt pigs.
While I was assembling the piggy banks, Jeff went to town hall and helped replace light bulbs in the town of Seagrove's holiday lights that line Main St. The lights will be placed on the utility poles, prior to the holiday parade this weekend. We enjoy living in town and are happy to volunteer for the community. The beautiful thing about Seagrove is that you can live in town and still enjoy a rural lifestyle.
Have I told you lately how much I love our new home and studio?