Pre-industrial Revival

I obviously did not think this through. When my vendors retired, leaving my customers without the product they are devoted to, it seemed sensible for me to take over the manufacturing. It became a quest. The retirees had trashed the machinery that was used to make the product as well as ALL their paperwork, including their customer list. Still I was determined. They finally divulged the source of the raw materials and gave me a release of the UPC code and trademark. I moved confidently forward.

A firm in Ohio was contracted to extrude and cut the 4" long sticks of adhesive, while I searched for packaging material and arranged for new labels. Shortly before they arrived, the company that was to have packaged them changed their minds. "Okay," I thought, "I will pack them myself."

This is when the pre-industrial revival took place at my house. In the age of machines I find myself* folding boxes, by hand; cutting parchment paper, by hand; wrapping 5400 sticks, by hand; filling boxes, ten to a box, by hand; placing inserts in boxes, by hand; and finally - labeling, by hand. The guy in Ohio asked if slave labor was still available in Georgia. I replied, "Only at my house."

(*credit to my husband for folding boxes and cutting paper and having good ideas.)