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Post by americangardener on Jul 13, 2009 0:54:36 GMT -5
I was just thinking, have you ever bought books on amazon.com? I mean, you can buy directly from amazon, or you can also buy from 3rd parties who list their book on amazon and set thier own prices. Maybe having an option for individual growers to open an account like you do on Amazon, to list whatever they can, whenever they want, would simplify your need for keeping track of inventory. I have both bought and sold books on amazon. I'm thinking that structuring things similar to the way amazon does, might suit your vision better than modeling JL hudson. Quite frankly, Hudson's vegetable inventory is on the small side and it's a pain to navigate. just an idea... Ok.. now i need to find out what this amazon.com place is.. I don't read so i don't buy books so i don't go to amazon. Anyone know if what MP is describing would be something i could set up for growers to sell thier wares to the public? Better yet.. anyone know how to set it up and how much it'd cost? Dave |
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Post by bunkie on Jul 13, 2009 9:35:24 GMT -5
Ok.. now i need to find out what this amazon.com place is.. I don't read so i don't buy books so i don't go to amazon. Anyone know if what MP is describing would be something i could set up for growers to sell thier wares to the public? Better yet.. anyone know how to set it up and how much it'd cost? Dave do check it out dave. i've purchased some things there and they've been good deals as well as prompt shipping. there are people who sell seeds there... www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Dgarden&field-keywords=seeds |
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Post by americangardener on Jul 13, 2009 12:53:05 GMT -5
Ok.. now i need to find out what this amazon.com place is.. I don't read so i don't buy books so i don't go to amazon. Anyone know if what MP is describing would be something i could set up for growers to sell thier wares to the public? Better yet.. anyone know how to set it up and how much it'd cost? Dave do check it out dave. i've purchased some things there and they've been good deals as well as prompt shipping. there are people who sell seeds there... www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Dgarden&field-keywords=seedsWould if i could bunkie.. got my hands as full as i can now. Still working on the label template all by myself.. i've got it done.. now i just have to fill in the blanks and get it to the printer. Or i can get a template made up one of these days and everyone could just print out their own.. but seems i don't have the ability to make the template on the computer yet. Just know how to fold paper and make a prototype. In case anyone is wondering.. i'm going to make up a pad of sticky notes for myself. Numbered TOM0001-TOM0050 and then TOm51-100 etc.. you know.. in consectutive order. I'll show you all how to fold it if we do get sticky pads for each of you.. but they're not necessary with the baggies. I'll show you how i want the 3x4 pad folded so that it's sealed on three sides.. then i want it put into the baggie so that the open side is on top. It's hard to explain.. but it will work for any size label if we have to use it for something larger.. just make larger sticky pads. That's the best i can come up with for now.. still working on something besides pads for you guys.. but if i do.. it'll be TOM0001 in either 25 or 50 sheet pads and TOM002 in either 25 or 50 sheet pads.. you know.. twentyfive or 50 of each variety. I'm telling you when i can get a whole sheet of these made up it will really speed things up and simplify things.. but i can't get anyone to make em for me right yet. And it's gonna give us 8 1 3/8 x 1 7/8 ths pieces of paper to put our logo, seed descriptions and everything else on. That's if i can get em printed on two sides. Four if just one. and then i'll show you all how to fold it once it's printed. Or like i said.. if anyone can make me up a template with what i want on there.. we could all use the same templates. Oh well.. gotta go get some seeds ready to mail to someone for pacakaging. I've got over a thousand of those 2x3 baggies full of bout ten tsps of seeds each. Cause i just condensed mine from the same variety that was harvested at different times into one packet. Now it'll be up to you guys to test them for germ again.. or at least have me tell you what they are so you can put that on the labels. Oh well.. back to work. This packaging is boring. Dave |
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Post by americangardener on Jul 13, 2009 14:01:45 GMT -5
Ok.. i think i've got something that will work for pacakaging with or without the plastic baggies. Simple modification of a stick-up note pads. I need it to be 4.25 inc x 5.25 inch in order to work inside the baggies.. a little under would be nice too.. but that size will work. We can make up a template for four of these pads out of an 8.5x11 inch piece of copy paper if anyone wants to practice. Don't know how i can explain it to you.. bu you'll need a razor blade to cut thru several sheets at one time if we have to make our own. They will seal though.. just two small cuts at the one third mark right below the stickum.. i want to see if i can get the stickum to cover one third of the note pad.. say 1.42 inch wide strip of stickum.. that's all i need.. if i can't get those printed 4 to a page with stickum going cross shaped downt the middle.. then i will work with what i have. You guys will need to have something to cut thru say ten or so at a time. Just a small cut on each corner under the stickum up to the third mark. I'll see if i can't get some dotted lines printed on there if it's too hard... say cut here.. fold here 1st.. fold here 2nd.. fold here third and finally fold the fourth time.. maybe need a fith fold.. but believe me it's sealed on all four sides.. and it'd fit into a ziploc.. or we can use those without ziplocs for those people who know how to buy them themselfs. But it will save on baggies.. especially for the trial size. i can fit a hundred of those into an envelope if i tryed... beleive me that'll be next.. to see how many i can fit into a 44 cent envelope. That's the reason why i'm checking into preforations everyone.. i can design it so that there are 3 or 6 packets.. each indivudually sealed yet still attached like stamps in a book of stamps. You only have to rip one off the preforation at a time.. or i can make it up so that they are in a variety pack with each variety different.. but i still need to find a company that will put the stickum where i want it to be. Then i can put printing over top of that. As i said.. that's the size that works for me.. i'll send you each a prototype with the dotted lines showing where to fold. You won't actually need those when you know what order they go in. It's like a rubics cube.. once you know it.. you know it.
Dave
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Post by silverseeds on Jul 14, 2009 2:55:44 GMT -5
I dont think people will like the idea of sending wet seeds to you. How will they know the value of what they sent you if they dont know the amount of seeds they truly sent? Youll be excluding yourself from the better growers I think. And if you get someone with ten varieties, and twenty pounds of each variety, do you expect 10 seperate mailins in heavy duty ziplocs? I know you want uniformity, but maybe you just need to do that another way, like a germination test bfore you officially buy their seeds, or something. I just think the better growers would just sell their seeds to someplace where they know what to expect. It is also ALOT more weight, dry tomatoe seeds are cheap to mail, a box full of tomatoes seeds in their gel would be many multiples of that with fuel prices, and this cap and trade thing shipping costs will only increase.
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Post by flowerpower on Jul 14, 2009 7:18:14 GMT -5
I looked at the site for the plastic bags. The shipping costs are ridiculous. How do you want to go about ordering them? Maybe the company can split our order for mailing? This is something we need to figure out. I'll call them when I come in from the barn this morning.
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Post by americangardener on Jul 14, 2009 8:12:44 GMT -5
I dont think people will like the idea of sending wet seeds to you. How will they know the value of what they sent you if they dont know the amount of seeds they truly sent? Youll be excluding yourself from the better growers I think. And if you get someone with ten varieties, and twenty pounds of each variety, do you expect 10 seperate mailins in heavy duty ziplocs? I know you want uniformity, but maybe you just need to do that another way, like a germination test bfore you officially buy their seeds, or something. I just think the better growers would just sell their seeds to someplace where they know what to expect. It is also ALOT more weight, dry tomatoe seeds are cheap to mail, a box full of tomatoes seeds in their gel would be many multiples of that with fuel prices, and this cap and trade thing shipping costs will only increase. It dosen't matter what people think.. i want the seeds sent for my assurances that they are fresh.. and not old seeds.. and so that they are processed all the same way. As for the value of the raw seeds.. well what value do they have when they're in your stomach? Or in the trash? People throw away or waste seeds all day long.. if they think they're so valuable then why not send them to someone who knows what they're doing. You're right though.. people are strange animals.. they tend to resist changing anything. If they have never heard of such a thing before they'll be hesitant... i know that.. but then there are those who can't ferment or won't ferment and those people have no other way to get them fermented properly except to have someone else do it. As to the value.. well it is what i tell them it is. I could place the same value they do on the seeds when they eat em or throw em away.. none. They are only worth something when turned into the finished product. They are only worth something when someone besides me would be willing to pay for them. And as far as i know.. there is no one else offering to buy unprocessed wet seed. As to the amount of seed.. if it matters there are aproximately 200 seeds in a large size tomato.. 3-4 tomatoes fit in one baggie.. that stands to reason 600-800 seeds. Which it is more but i really cramm the seeds into some of my baggies. And make no mistake.. this is for the general public and for those trial voulenteers who want to send in small amounts at a time. Not so much for my growers.. i know some of my growers know exactly what they're doing when they ferment their seeds.. some of them process on a much, much larger scale than i do. And those.. well they usually provide their own germination tests and check for purity and all that. The growers i have some of them also grow for other seed companies.. so if it's good enough for the other seed companies.. i guess i can take a chance that the grower has taken steps to ensure quality control. And actually Zac.. if someone had ten varieties at 20 lbs per variety.. sure.. i'd pay to have those shipped here in gallon milk jugs or something if i were a home gardener... 20 lbs at parcel post prices.. well somewhere around $14.. to me that's a bargain to process over a million seeds. You got any idea of the value of a million seeds when packaged into 20 seed packets. It's far more than $14. And they can always put 20 lbs of each of the ten varieties into one package.. it wouldn't be the first time i've had boxes of seeds over 200 lbs a box. But, i can see the point.. those large quantities it would be more sensible to ferment them first before shipping. 20 lbs.. they'd probably end up with over ten pounds of dried seed... depending on how much of that weight was juice.. and how much was seed. Now not that i can'd do it.. but i am not looking for gallon size batches unless someone really dosen't want to mess it up. I'm thinking most home gardeners.. and that's who i'm going for with my services.. most of them you have a hard time telling em how to put the seeds into a baggie in the first place.. So, I'm not expecting them to be wanting to do gallons of seed. I'm even expecting they'll do just one.. or maybe two whole tomatoes in a baggie. I'm quite expecting they won't use the space inside the baggie for seeds.. but rather they'll fill it with juice or better yet they'll add water... just cause that's what everyone tells them is what they should do. There will be plenty of people who won't follow simple directions just cause they don't understand how to ferment using my methods. I guarantee you someone will put water in there. You're right about the postage on the wet seeds.. good thing i don't have to pay it. I've noticed one thing about people Zac.. when it comes to postage.. i'd say 99% of the people will just slap 2 44 cent stamps on an envelope rather than check the actuall postage charge... and even then they'll add an extra stamp for 2 cents postage. Most people if they wanted to find the lowest postage would only have to go on the US postal service website and look it up.. but then most people don't mind paying nearly twice as much as they need to to post things. Me and you.. well we may look up the postage first.. we may use a 2 cent stamp if it only calls for 2 cents.. But, most people don't .. most likely because they don't ship items every single day. Alot more weight? Well on a small 2x3 packet.. lets say they use a bubble mailer.. the difference in the weight of the wet seeds vs the dry seeds won't matter much.. they have to pay for the weight of the bubble mailer anyways.. and that for the ones i have are .51 ounce each. They have to pay the unmachinable charge anyways.. just for the bubble mailer.. and that's even if empty. So those are fixed postage costs.. It'd cost minimum of .79 cents to mail an empty bubble mailer.. add 20 cents to that for the mailer.., and you're looking at a dollar to send just air. The extra weight for the wet over dry seeds.. isn't gonna be more than an ounce difference for that size baggie.. so is it worth the extra 17 cents to have someone else do the work or not? That's the only difference between shipping the wet and the dry. Bout 17 cents or less/baggie. Anyways Zac.. i'm hoping you're wrong.. i'm bettin on this catchin on. It's simple to do.. and as i said.. not much of a price difference.. 17 cents more to send wet over an empty bubble mailer. Small price to pay to save having a jar full of wet smelly seeds sitting in their homes and not knowing when or how to take them out of the smelly water. Beleive it or not.. some people actually don't think adding water will cause the seeds to germinate prematurely. You have no idea how many people i've seen in the forumns get on there and ask.. after the fact mind ya.. what the white tails are growing out of their seeds and how long they're supposed to soak em in that jar of water. Usually.. it'll be something like.. is a week too long to have my seeds fermenting in a jar? Of course they don't get the connection between the water and the white tails.. they don't think they're doing anything wrong cause they have never heard of a right way to do it. Anyways Zac.. i'm postitive there are people out there who can't handle something as simple as fermenting tomato seeds.. i've seen em every year around harvest time.. they're out there. Those are the people i'm trying to reach with my new services... as for the voulenteers.. not all will send wet seeds.. some will ferment their own. I can be pretty sure they are from fresh seeds since the variety i sent them dosen't exist anywhere outside of my house. If they do send back seeds.. i know when i sent those out.. and from that i can safely say those seeds were fresh grown this year. Since they only came from one source.. and that's me. I've got no problem with my voulenteers fermenting and packaging the seed themselfs.. the problem is in using different methods and different packaging and different labeling and just everything differently. You may be familiar with trading.. well i've got a zillion different size packages.. some triangular from cut corners off envelopes.. some wrapped in foil.. some in ziplocs.. some with crayon drawings on the outside.. some in coin rolls, some in toilet paper.. some in coin envelopes.. some with non fermented seeds.. just dried with the gel coats on em. Some in paper bags.. some in sandwich bags.. some wrapped in wax paper.. some in newspaper.. Anyways.. you get the point.. i need all my seeds to be in my labeled packages in order for me to sell them. I don't need a collection of every possible thing you can use to wrap a seed in and mail it. I need uniformity. And yeah i could just tell everyone to ship me their seeds in a ziploc of a certain size.. but will they follow those directions.. not likely.. people don't follow directions very well. Least most of them. They couldn't give a hoot if it's making more work for me to unpackage their nice neat little bundles of paper towels wrapped in tape. All they think about is sending something.. and it dosen't matter how wrong the packaging is.. at least they sent it. Well, unfortunately.. that does me no good for someone to think they're doing me a favor by fermenting and packaging it themselfs. If it's gonna make that much more work.. well.. i won't bother.. i'll give those away to some charity if i can even get them to take some wadded up paper towels with a name written in marker on the outside. Even charitys will throw those out if they can't find someone to give em to. So, actually Zac.. what i'm doing is trying to perfect a new service that i beleive will be profitable. I think there is a need out there. And as for my voulenteers.. if they want to ferment and package the seeds the way i do.. then fine.. that's perfect.. let them do it. But if they want to package in cute little homemade packets with a drawing of a tomato on it.. those are just gonna make it harder for me.. and harder for them.. for nothing. Cause i won't bother unpacking and repacking a dozen seeds. Those will get donated to anyone willing to save em from the compost pile. And where's that gonna get us.. i have no seeds.. the voulenteer is upset cause their seeds got disposed of.. and we're both out alot of time and effort for nothing. Much simpler to just follow the simpliest directions i can give.. squeeze seed.. seal.. mail... Than it is for me to teach every person how to ferment them, how to dry them, and how to package them... and even what to use for packaging.. you know not everyone has heard of those ziploc baggies yet... they still use toliet paper and tape for theirs. |
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Post by americangardener on Jul 14, 2009 10:28:24 GMT -5
I looked at the site for the plastic bags. The shipping costs are ridiculous. How do you want to go about ordering them? Maybe the company can split our order for mailing? This is something we need to figure out. I'll call them when I come in from the barn this morning. Ok.. let me see here.. there are other sites that offer free shipping for orders over $99.. i'll see if i can't find those again. It's been awhile since i've ordered.. but to me.. paying $4/M and shipping costs of $20+ per order is better than paying $9.95/M and getting free shipping. Figure ten thousand.. which is bout what my last order was.. was something like $45 i think i paid bout $20 for shipping.. at any rate it was less that $70 for ten thousand total cost. So if you can find one that offers free shipping and still has a price that is under $7 per thousand.. then it might be cheaper. Course with the larger orders the shipping charge isn't as noticable.. Say 20 or 30 thousand will be lower shipping rates than ten thousand if you go by poundage. If i recall right the parcel post maximum is something like 200 lbs.. and if i recall right it works out to be about 70 cents a pound.. Course the rates go up on the smaller size shipments.. let's guess at $1.20 or so per lb for the smallest packages.. that's still only about an extra dollar or two to the thousand price.. figure cost pluss postage the actuall cost for us would be around $5.50 per thousand. Those 2x3" size weigh 1.3 lbs if you ever need to check shipping rates. Ten times 1.3 equals 13 lbs... add some for the package materials and boxes that they mail in.. and i'd guess it'd be under 20 lbs total weight for that package. Don't have time to look up the postage on that though. But, if you can find a better deal.. by all means find me a better deal. As for splitting.. well so far i have you and Zac that will be doing some packaging. I'm thinking i'll have Zac making up the 2x3 inch packages alot more than smaller size ones. Simply because if this fermenting thing works out like i hope it will i'll be having him do some fermenting for me too.. and then he can just package that batch into 8 indivual 1/4 tsp packets.. send 7 back to the customer and save one for our company. So,.. anyways.. send him more of the 2x3's and less of the 1 1/2 x3's. How bout 3 thousand 2x3's for zac.. and 2 thousand 1 1/2's and for you.. 3 thousand of the small 1 1/2's and 2 thousand of the larger 2x3's? Sound ok to you? It won't last long i'm telling you.. you'll be needing to order more in less than a month. But it'll get us started. I'm still tinkering with my idea for trial size packets.. i think i've got it worked out.. got the design done.. and i can do it with existing products that are already on the market.. and just have them imprinted so that i can utilize em. We'll see on that though.. but i've got it down to about 2 cents per trial packet now.. I'm still gonna see if i can't get it cheaper. Anyways.. let me know when you're ready and i'll get you the password to my paypal account or i can have them mail you a debit card with a daily limit on it. Or i can transfer from my paypal to yours.. but then we're just paying commisions for moving money from one of us to the other to the other and it's eating away at the original amount sent. But we'll work out something for you to order those. I'm still working on what we can use for labeling and still have it look professional. I like using just a piece of copy paper printed on one side stuck in a ziploc for trading.. simply because it's the cheapest on shipping and cheaper to produce. Don't know yet whether we will ever switch over to coin envelopes.. i can't see the cost of em $25/M as worth it cause we can use ziplocs and label em ourselfs far cheaper than that.. even if we use stick on address labels. And i can get a photo on those if i try hard enough.. i did it once. But, sooner or later we're gonna need to price labels or what i want to use for the trial packets.. sticky note pads.. or imprinting the ziplocs or something. For now i guess we'll stick with copy paper.. perfect size is bout 5.5 long x 1 7/8ths or slightly less wide. Folded in half that fits right inside a 2x3 inch baggie and gives us 4 sides we can print on. That's alot of info for one label.. but we can use it. That's what i've decided to use for now till we can come up with something cheaper or more time saving. Thos stick on labels in my opinion aren't any faster to use than sticking a piece of paper inside the baggie and they will fade in a heartbeat if you take those out to the garden and forget em for a day or two.. believe me..inside is much better. I don't like the ink from the printers running off like water color paint.. but at least inside the baggie it's somewhat protected from moisture. So labels aren't worth it in my opinon... they cost something like 2 or 3 cents each if you figure it out.. then still got the ink that would be the same as paper.. and the paper i can make any size i want to fit in the baggies. So that's where that is.. maybe i'll order you guys some labels already pre-printed.. but other than that.. it's a pain printing our own.. same amount of time to copy onto copy paper as it is to copy onto labels.... and the copy paper is ten times cheaper.. what's it now... around 2 or 3 dollars a ream at the dollar store? That's what 500 sheets? So 5-6 dollars verses $25 for labels. I think we'll use copy paper for now. But the problem is making it look somewhat professional. We have some give there cause we are promoting seedsaving and we'll be marketing to the seedsaving crowd more than anyone else.. so they'll accept a little more homemade type label than say someone who is used to ordering from Burpee and paying for the package instead of the seeds. Anyways.. we still need a template. I can download some templates from those label companies even if i don't order their products. Just need to get a template that will fit our piece of 5.5x1 7/8 inch size pieces of paper. Anyone at all want to help me with making up some templates? Remember that's 4 sides of paper if we want to use that much. 2 if we just use a 2.75 inch x 1 7/8 inch. And we'd get twice as many labels out of a sheet of paper. Only reason i want the longer one is so that people can use it as a plant marker if they want.. and they can keep all their notes on there.. and it'd make it easier for me if they sent back that paper with that variety's number already on it. But we'll see what we can do. I'm still leaning towards the longer one folded in half.. even though it will increase our costs by double. Anyways.. that's it for me for today.. i'm done rambling.. and i got to go plant something.. it's nice out.. i can still get something done before it rains tommorrow. Dave |
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Post by americangardener on Jul 14, 2009 21:15:19 GMT -5
Is anyone here besides me? Am i talking to walls or beating my head against a brick? i dunno.. but if anyone is out there and following along.. i'd love to hear from you.. see if we can't help each other. You know what i want to do.. and if anyone can help me accomplish that and find a way to profit off it too... so be it... i want to do both. I want everyone here to have their own island in the carribean some day.. but i get mine first.
That's all i got to say bout that.. seeds is like a box of chocolates.. you never know what you're gonna get.
Dave
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Post by silverseeds on Jul 14, 2009 21:24:51 GMT -5
to be honest you lost me a long time ago, all I know is you have some seeds, and you want them packaged. I dont reallyknow the game plan
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Post by americangardener on Jul 14, 2009 22:18:39 GMT -5
to be honest you lost me a long time ago, all I know is you have some seeds, and you want them packaged. I dont reallyknow the game plan No one knows the game plan SS.. we're making it up as we go... but you did come in at halftime.. let me fill you in.. the mission of course is to win. What i want to do is make every vegetable seed availible to everyone who wants it.. every variety in every country. Not much of a mission.. but we got to start somewhere. So far here's my history... i've been collecting and trading seeds with people from all around the world for about 6 years now. I've been growing out those seeds i liked from those. I've been growing out seeds from seedbanks for about 4 years now.. i've been doing increases on those that i liked. I've been buying seeds from other seed companies for bout oh.. ten years or so where i've been saving the seeds.. even from hybrids. And what else can i tell you... i am starting up a seed company a little bit earlier than i had planned because of circumstances.. am i done with my trials.. nope.. am i ready to get started... again nope.. i'm winging it.. i'm only doing it because i have ten thousand varieties of vegetables that no one outside of the seedbanks have. I want those out.. i want to be reimbursed for my time and labor.. and i want to make jobs for everyone i know. I don't think that's too much to ask for either. As for my experience.. let me just say... the last corporation i founded back in 1990 is today still going like gangbusters and has a multi million dollar a year annual budget still. Course it's a non profit so i didn't get a penny of it.. but i can do the same thing over again.. cept this time for profit. |
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Post by americangardener on Jul 15, 2009 9:48:48 GMT -5
FP.. i might need your help here. I'm done with the label design and i have no way to get it to you. I don't have a template yet. But i'm gonna show you some pictures and see if you can't read my mind. What i want you to do is get yourself some copy paper. Fold it like i did in the pictures. Course when i do these they're gonna be on full sheet sticky pads.. so these are just models. As you can see it's got a specific design.. designed to stay with those seeds forever. It's designed to fit over a yardstick or tongue depressor or even popsicle stick if that's all people have. It's designed to be used for taking notes and for gathering information. I'm gonna want alot of stuff printed on the outside of those packages and pictures on at least one side. Obviously the side that will show thru the baggie when it's on the marker. But, alass i have no printer.. i could make photo copies of hand written labels and show you what it is i want done.. but if i were to make the labels i'd need to make a template first.. that handwriting takes forever. And anyways.. back to the folding.. it's just practice. What i want to do soon is make up some trial packet sheets. I can get 8 per sheet. Now i just need to find someone to put preforations where i want em. I can do the rest.. but i'm telling ya it will be so much better to have them printed up on the sticky notes. It'd save us an enourmous amount of time if all we had to do was place a precut piece of prefolded paper onto a sticky note in a crease and fill it with seeds and press to close it. It will hold.. i've tried it with my prototype. And besides we can use the baggies as double insurance that the seeds stay put. Anyways.. i'm done with the design.. just waiting on a template and i still need to find a supplier for sticky pads and do something bout the preforations.. that's almost a must have cause we couldn't very well make up sheets where other people would have to use a razor blade to cut em apart. So far i've found full sheet sticky pads with full sticky on the back that are preforated down the center lines to make 4 sheets per page.. if i have to i'll see what i can do about getting those imprinted.. i can make a 4 packet sheet of trial seeds just as easy as 16.. just a matter of folding it right.. and for that i need the printing so i can picture how it'd work better.
Anyways.. pics to follow...
Dave
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Post by americangardener on Jul 15, 2009 11:20:44 GMT -5
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Post by ceara on Jul 15, 2009 17:02:22 GMT -5
Maybe design something on a computer publishing program, like Microsoft Publisher. You can set up the templates any way you like before printing out. To fill in the data, you can just type the info into one label area and copy/paste into the rest. That way, not a lot of typing and definitely no handwriting. The file sits in your computer until you can either print it yourself or give the file on a CD/DVD to your local printer and price out how much to print and cut out all the little bits for you. Printers usually have the machines that will evenly slice up stacks of paper and would take less time than having one person cut them apart with scissors.
Little plastic zippy bags of various sizes are available (at least here anyway) at the local dollar store in the craft section.
Try to think of what you might like to have as a logo.
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Post by americangardener on Jul 15, 2009 19:05:33 GMT -5
Maybe design something on a computer publishing program, like Microsoft Publisher. You can set up the templates any way you like before printing out. To fill in the data, you can just type the info into one label area and copy/paste into the rest. That way, not a lot of typing and definitely no handwriting. The file sits in your computer until you can either print it yourself or give the file on a CD/DVD to your local printer and price out how much to print and cut out all the little bits for you. Printers usually have the machines that will evenly slice up stacks of paper and would take less time than having one person cut them apart with scissors. Little plastic zippy bags of various sizes are available (at least here anyway) at the local dollar store in the craft section. Try to think of what you might like to have as a logo. Yeah.. i wish i had some sort of software to do it on. At least i'd be able to make up the label templates and get those to everyone doing the packaging. But, don't and i can't install any programs cause of that darn install wizard being corrupted. I'm gonna need to get some quicken for my computer eventually too. I hate having to write everything down the old fashioned way. That's why i never did like accounting.. they make you learn the old way before they let you use computers to do it. Least when i went to school they did. You know what i can do though.. i can make up something in notepad and then put it on a disk and take it to the library and get it printed out. Then i can do a mock up and copy it onto some copy paper and mail one out to everyone. Then all they'd need to do is run it thru the copier for as many copies as they wanted to make. It'd be the hard way to do it.. but it'd work. If you can see in those pictures.. i have it where the sticky paper is folded onto itself to seal the packets.. and then that will leave it in the shape of a half sheet of paper.. and it will run thru my copy machine just fine.. i would imagine it would run thru anyone elses too. If anyone could print out some of the package templates after they've been made up.. then i could use em on my copier to make multiple packets.. i would imagine each of you could have one master copy too.. and then just use your copying machines to print out the labels.. it's just a thought.. but if it's too expensive to get these made up with them being imprinted.. then we may just have to print one out and make alot of copys ourselfs. The main thing right now is getting the preforations where i want them... and making sure the sticky is't real sticky.. i just want it the same as the regular post it notes... won't be resealable once it gets dirty fingers on em.. but it'd last a year.. and that's all they're supposed to last anyways. Anyways.. i have to email the reasearch team at that one website where i was waiting for the customer rep to answer.. he say's it'll take them about 2-4 days to find a manufactuer to make it to my design. We'll see. I'd almost rather pay the shipping on ten thousand of those if we can get em imprinted the way we want with out spending a whole lot. It would certainly save us alot of time using the copy machines and printers. And like i mentioned before about the ink from the printers.. it's water color.. so when i go to ferment my tomato seeds with the labels in the baggies.. that gets erased. If need be.. in ten years i should therotically be able to reuse the same label. Not that i'm expecting to go that far.. but it could be returned to the grower along with the seed packets if they have me ferment them. So.. i don't know how professional i can make it.. but i'm thinking we may have to hand write every tomato variety name onto the packets in ball point pen.. now that will stand up to fermenting. But, never mind that.. just thinking ahead here. I'm gonna check into the sticky pad thing.. that i think would be unique.. and i can see lots of possibilitys of making up variety booklets of 8 16 or even 32 little sample packets on one sheet. And in case anyone is thinking i'm off my rocker already.. i also have a couple ideas on how to fill them the fastest way possible. I have those tiny ones designed so that my pieces of venitian blind slide right in there easily.. any ways i can just use that as a scoop when i have a lb bag of tomato seeds to package up. All i have to do is slide it in the packet and drop a dozen or so seeds.. move it.. drop some more.. and etc.. i can hold enough seeds with one finger on there to be able to fill every packet on the shett. Anyways.. Is anyone gonna say i'm crazy yet? I know i am.. but i know it will work. Dave |
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