Penzey’s giveaway

DoubleEgger

JohnInCarolina said:

DoubleEgger said:

If his business is so great, why is he giving away spices all the time? 

It’s a loss leader as someone upstream pointed out.  It’s the spice world analog to a $0.99 Big Mac.

Clearly, you’ve never been in sales

Very rarely are loss leaders free items. Usually they are heavily discounted items that are at cost or slightly below. The only other folks that I can think of that give away away free stuff is Harbor Freight 

stlcharcoal

GrillSgt said:

So we shouldn't believe anything you say, correct?

Correct!  I'm not going to lie to you, but that doesn't mean you should believe any privately held company's claims to their revenue, profit, etc.  I could say our revenue was way up recently.  Yeah, the online sales on whatever date or month was up because I discounted something, took a loss but revenue was truly up.....profit down.  Just saying that it's not like we're seeing numbers.

Just doesn't seem like a guy that would admit it if revenue was down. I remember when he axe'd salts from his catalog many years ago.  Wrote this long letter how everybody should be salt-free.  Then months later salts started coming back into the catalog and stores.

JohnInCarolina

stlcharcoal said:

JohnInCarolina said:

What I don't know is whether or not the kind of strategy Penzey's has adopted here increasingly makes sense for specialty companies as the world becomes more and more Amazonified.  It's a strategy to distinguish yourself in a world where anyone can find a dozen varieties of smoked paprika via Amazon prime, and probably get them faster and more cheaply, than the single variety that you can afford to stock, for example.  

Good point on Amazon.  Got to make yourself stand out from them somehow....and that's definitely a way to do it.

Our Amazon sales WAY outsell our webstore even though we charge a lot more.  It's tough to compete with that kind of convenience and trust.  Blows my mind how much more people will pay to buy it there.

Either way, we'll stay apolitical here......doesn't matter what religion, political party, or color, if your money is green, you are my best friend and favorite customer!

Very happy to be one of your customers man.  Rockwood is really the only lump charcoal that I buy.  I'm just glad I have a local Ace that carries it.  

GrillSgt

stlcharcoal said:

GrillSgt said:

So we shouldn't believe anything you say, correct?

Correct!  I'm not going to lie to you, but that doesn't mean you should believe any privately held company's claims to their revenue, profit, etc.  I could say our revenue was way up recently.  Yeah, the online sales on whatever date or month was up because I discounted something, took a loss but revenue was truly up.....profit down.  Just saying that it's not like we're seeing numbers.

Just doesn't seem like a guy that would admit it if revenue was down. I remember when he axe'd salts from his catalog many years ago.  Wrote this long letter how everybody should be salt-free.  Then months later salts started coming back into the catalog and stores.

You wouldn't believe the numbers if I posted them, so what the hell? Not surprising, and so convenient.

stlcharcoal

GrillSgt said:

You wouldn't believe the numbers if I posted them, so what the hell? Not surprising, and so convenient.

So post them...

What you posted sounded more like an opinion, or some other observation.  If you're inside the company, or have some other source, then why not state it?  Then yeah, it's more believable.  This is the internet man, can't put much faith in any info you find out here unless you see it first hand.

GrillSgt

I had never purchased anything from Penzey's prior to this year. I wasn't even aware they had a store in Louisville before one of my kids told me. I'm not going to bother to share anything they have sent to their customers. Why would I? Do you think my opinion of your politics prevents me from using RW?
That ****'s for suckers.

TEXASBGE2018

GrillSgt said:

I had never purchased anything from Penzey's prior to this year. I wasn't even aware they had a store in Louisville before one of my kids told me. I'm not going to bother to share anything they have sent to their customers. Why would I? Do you think my opinion of your politics prevents me from using RW?
That ****'s for suckers.

I think he has established that as long as your card clears or your money is green he doesn't care.

GrillSgt

Nobody said he did. 

stlcharcoal

GrillSgt said:

I had never purchased anything from Penzey's prior to this year. I wasn't even aware they had a store in Louisville before one of my kids told me. I'm not going to bother to share anything they have sent to their customers. Why would I? Do you think my opinion of your politics prevents me from using RW?
That ****'s for suckers.

I don't know where the disagreement is here.  Maybe their revenue is up, but that doesn't mean they're making more money at the end of the day or in a few years.  If it works out for them, he has my respect as a marketer (as that strategy has not worked for a lot of other people in the long run, despite what they said......look at Target a few years ago.)

I hope my politics don't change anything with you.  It's not like I'm using my company marketing or money to push them.  I don't really pay myself, so it's not like I'm spending the profits on anything personally.  Never had a sign, bumper sticker, or ever given any money to any candidate that I can remember (unless it was indirectly through the pilot, real estate, and retail industry organizations I belong to.)

Goes the other way too.  I welcome anyone to be a customer or mine whether it be in charcoal or real estate.  You summed it up in the last line.....we are all better than that.  Dangerous world we're in right now with the other folks that want to go straight to public shaming, intimidation, and even violence.  That behavior does not help their cause.  I was glad to see the green party kick out that loon down in TX who assaulted that teenager at a Whataburger.....go fund me also pulled his page down for the $85000 since he lost his part time job at a bar.  People gotta get away from that crap.

Ozzie_Isaac

From Bill's email:

So we think we’ve discovered something. Sometimes when a business discovers something, the smartest thing a business can do is keep it a secret. Then while it’s a secret, get the patents, trade marks, copyrights or whatever else it takes to own your discovery. We think this is not that kind of discovery, we think this is one of those discoveries that you are obliged to share. The discovery is that standing up against everything the Republican Party has come to stand for is really, really, really (+76 more reallys), really good for business.

I get that for so many this can seem at odds with the feeling being presented right now that this is an evenly split nation, but it really isn’t. As much as it seems that the big issue right now is an out of control, possibly worse than racist presidency, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The real issue is unlimited political spending that got this President and so many other Republicans elected. Watching tv ads and reading comment sections it can seem like Republicans actually have popular support, but ads and comments these days are simply part of what unlimited political spending can buy, but from our experience what it isn’t buying is popularity.

This chart is our weekly online sales this year vs last year starting with the week of April 1st. It mostly is the tale of just two offers. The first was calling out the President for claiming that he was above the law; he isn’t, this is America where no one is above the law. No one can pardon themselves.

The second came with us pointing out that whatever the results turn out to be the President only has himself to blame for the Russia probe because: “Our President chose a campaign chairman who had accepted $17 Million from a pro-Russia political party. This chairman went on to personally pick the vice presidential candidate, who then went on during the transition to pick a literal Russian agent as our country’s top national security advisor, despite being explicitly warned about his past.”

The first offer in the chart looks like two spikes because this is a weekly graph and that offer ran over a Saturday and Sunday. But that second offer, that big pyramid there, just ran for eighteen hours over a Thursday night. With that offer we received an eighty-fold increase in sales over the same time period last year. Along with those orders we get comments like: “Don’t mix business and politics, Bill. It’s bad for the bottom line.” “I was taught years ago, you don’t mix politics or religion with your business.” But look at the chart. This is not 80% growth, this is 80 times as much in sales!

And there will be those who say, “Of course you get great results, but you’re just giving stuff away.” Yes, that is true, but this chart is sales in dollars, not simply the number of orders vs last year. I think a lot of this is about intention. We really do see cooking as this act of kindness that Cooks do which sets a better future in motion. For us it’s clear that cooking is where our humanity comes from. In this almost one million years we’ve been gathering together around the fire to share food we’ve learned the greatest lesson, that strength does not come from the ability to drive others away, true strength comes from the compassion to let others in.

Cooks give away meals made with love freely. That we, as a business of and for Cooks, get to sometimes give away Spices freely makes me happy. That you can be a good customer of Penzeys without ever spending a dollar with us so very much fits the spirit of our customers. Yes, if no one spent money with us we’d be out of business, but that’s not the way humans work. We are proud that those who have a hard time justifying the cost of Spices in their budget can get great tastiness in their life without spending anything. We are also appreciative of those who can pick up a little gift or a couple items to help make all this work.

In our experience we’ve found that when you honestly support and speak out for the values of your customers, your customers support you. Humanity really is the gift of Cooks, and for people who cook to simply watch as Republicans use the power the money of unlimited spending has bought them to undermine education, take health insurance from the poor, dehumanize those deemed not white enough, and separate children from their parents simply for seeking asylum, these can be heartbreaking times. Speaking out now really matters.

If you are involved in a business that has been uncomfortable with the attacks on human decency the Republicans have been committing, there is really no better time to share those concerns with your customers than now. Your country needs you.

And if you are a marketer, please be aware that the times are changing. Maybe it's time to stop saying young people can’t be reached and instead try to get your clients to look into the values young people demand. At some point some breakfast cereal maker is going to celebrate the bravery of Colin Kaepernick by putting him taking a knee on the cover of their box. In that moment they will lose a third of their customers over 55 for what I imagine might be another year or two. In that moment they will win all of the younger generations for all of the rest of their lives.

There’s talk right now about people no longer being interested in things but instead being interested in experiences. At Penzeys we sell Spices, the things that have been selling continuously for longer than any other thing in human existence. A big part of why Spices have the staying power they do is that they are experiences. Each Spice, every Seasoning connects us to a place, a time, an event that has at its heart our humanity — how we take care of each other. Make your product an experience, make your experience in some way radiate decency, compassion, and kindness and get ready to be busy.

Right now those on the frontlines of challenging what the Republican Party has become are being rewarded, and that’s a good thing. Unlimited political spending has taken away the vote from individuals and given it to corporations that seek profit from undermining the public good. It’s time for America to vote with our spending. My advice is to be a company worth voting for. I believe what we’ve been experiencing is only the start of something much bigger. Business is an evolutionary process where the new things that work, very quickly become what everyone needs simply to survive. This is not the time to be left behind.

And for us, we are trying to figure out the flat weeks between pyramid peaks. We are in that spot where just doing what we do best for 18 hours means going silent for the next three weeks while we struggle to get six weeks worth of orders out. I think we are figuring this out. And as we’ve been quiet for a few weeks now, maybe the next big thing is coming soon. If your friends and family aren’t on our mailing list yet, now might be the time to get them to sign up.

Spend every day like it’s November 6th,

Bill Penzey
bill@penzeys.com

Ozzie_Isaac

As you can all see by the clearly labeled chart, blue is higher than orange.  98.2% greater! Bill wins.  Clearly.

(Scales, units, axis labels, titles, etc are all unimportant and detract from you simpletons ability to understand.  All you need is blue = bigger)

milesvdustin

I am so sick and tired of the politics on here. Just **** cook something and stop crying. 

Ozzie_Isaac

milesvdustin said:

I am so sick and tired of the politics on here. Just **** cook something and stop crying. 

 I agree, stop your bitching about our politics.  If this forum was only about pork shoulders, brisket, and chicken wings it would be boooorrrriiiiinnngggg.

HeavyG

milesvdustin said:

I am so sick and tired of the politics on here. Just **** cook something and stop crying. 

Why do you read these threads?

Somebody making you do that under duress?

blasting

.

GrillSgt

Ozzie_Isaac said:

As you can all see by the clearly labeled chart, blue is higher than orange.  98.2% greater! Bill wins.  Clearly.

(Scales, units, axis labels, titles, etc are all unimportant and detract from you simpletons ability to understand.  All you need is blue = bigger)

I call it yuge.