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Sizing up the orders
Sizing up the orders
Written by Michael Gackle
Created: 9/10/2025
On 6/10/2025, I fulfilled 3 orders, 5 items, and while it took a while, I figured it was worth sharing a couple of stories for the day.
In processing the orders, the first problem will be the last we talked about, a delay for processing.
All the items sold were pre-allocated a budget for shipping based on a system that projects sizes and prices. These sizes are based on the (H x W x D) of a parcel bag and what it can hold. Unfortunately, the system, while not perfect, does a really good job at delivering a fair allocation of funds for shipping.
With the Trio of orders, I feel each order is fair value. There are challenges I am working on that will eventually improve the pricing of each item. But of the 3 orders, I feel the best value for money is the flat rate satchels.
If you fit more items into a smaller parcel up to the 5Kg weight point, it's considered cheaper and more affordable. Some of our calculations have a pricing matrix in which we try to apply discounts based on the quantity of items being purchased.
To be clear about how we compare to our competition, we actually apply higher discounts based on the quantity. If you've seen discounts of 1%, 2%, 3% for 2 or more, 3 or more, 4 or more, then, for your knowledge, you are likely seeing a business putting in very little effort.
While not all of our items are priced correctly, as we aim to adjust the prices as our backend systems further develop, which is a challenging task, designing a pricing matrix to suit each item, and then navigating those matrices effectively.
And example of us applying larger discounts "Save upto 25% when you buy more" is the following (https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/365091006371?var=635133537435) 15.87mm (5/8") H11 Round bar, we can bundle it up and generally sell it cheaper, there are some risky circumstances where it costs more to do it this way, however due to how our systems are calculating, this means we have overquoted on shipping.
To ensure our clients are aware of the element we are trying to provide to the community, we are trying to get our prices down sustainably while overdelivering on service.
The services we have improved upon and are improving upon since we started are the following:
- Cut
- Deburr
- Colour code to industry standards (Blue [4140], Green [1045, 4140 Chrome], Pink [1214])
- QA (Remessure)
- Insource stock for custom customer requests
- (Coming soon) Material certifications
50mm 4140 H9 (2 Units 150mm long
50mm 4140 H9 (2 Units 150mm long
Shipping costs $10.02
Includes mailer
Time to process 30 minutes
30mm 4140 H9 500mm long
PLUS!
35mm 4140 H9 300mm Long
30mm 4140 H9 500mm long
PLUS!
35mm 4140 H9 300mm Long
Shipping costs $23.22
Includes mailer
Time to process 20 minutes
30mm 4140 H9 700mm Long
30mm 4140 H9 700mm Long
Shipping cost $24.22
Wrapped with recycled cardboard.
Time to process 30 minutes
You might have noticed the 30mm 4140 H9 700mm long took 30 minutes to wrap, to clear up what causes this is the resistance of rolling the cardboard, and ensuring that the product does not open as a byproduct of shipping. The resistance to rolling heavy cardboard and shaping it is a challenge that we will work on in the near future!
Most orders take around 11 minutes to fulfill, but the uniqueness of the ones we see above allows us to share why it took longer.
For 50mm cuts, the time to process is higher because of the saw cutting speed is limited for the perfect chip formation and longevity of the cutting blades. Faster cuts result in more wear and reduced life, resulting in potentially higher costs. We follow the instructions for the cutting speeds for this material. It's slower to cut 4140.
For the 30mm and 35mm cuts, these are generally faster, grouped with similar orders, so you can cut one and then the next, reducing processing time.
Because there are 2 at 30mm, we just had to re-cut the alternative length, and it resulted in a quicker processing time.
So, where orders take 11 minutes to fulfill, we saved 2 minutes in one order, but lost 19 minutes on another order.
And in the heavy 50mm order, we spent 30 minutes in mostly cutting time waiting for it to cut through.
In an 11-minute allocation, we not only pick up heavy material and cut it, but we also deburr, remeasure, mark with a color code, and wrap with cling film, and soon we will be including a material certification to take us to the next level of service delivery.
We used to use cardboard to wrap parcels to fit in a bag snuggly so their is no movement within the bags.
The advantages were.
Less likely to pierce through the bag resulting in lost goods in shipping
More professional care taken.
Made the placement and visibility of shipping labels clearer.
The disadvantages are:
Extra time
Inconsistencies
additional weight
Slightly oversized sheets resulted in handling and resizing the sheet used.
Added additional dimensions in some cases to an item making it harder to enclose within a satchel.
We very rarely use this technique anymore, as we can avoid items getting lost in shipping removing burrs, adding wrap and then taping the bag from the outside to the item which does reduce our ability on occassion to add a clear label, so a sheet of cardboard can help give us enough room to clearly display the shipping label, all while wrapping the parcel tightly too the bag from the outside.
The cling wrap creates a rougher surface area making it more difficult to get lost in shipping.
Prices in page true as of the 9/10/2025.
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