Business Update During Covid 19 Pandemic
The Good Soap is a very busy home based business run by myself Dawn Rhodes and employing 2 staff members, Michelle and Gemma. We produce and then sell a large amount of products locally and across the UK, and abroad by arrangement. Every single product is developed and then made 'inhouse' All products are cured, packaged, labelled, batched and stored in my home property.
During the Covid 19 outbreak, following government instruction I am unable to have my team working with me in my home. I am therefore working alone. This requires me to keep producing the stock and get all parcels out to customers alone, whilst running my website, my very busy social media, and trying to reply to customer emails or messages - this is a challenge that I am fully prepared to face head on. And so my commitment for the next few months is to steer The Good Soap through these unprecedented times, in order to keep my business strong and to welcome my team members back when the time comes that we are allowed to work together once again.
Producing soap and other products, unmoulding soaps, getting equipment washed, drying moulds, stocking shelves, labelling products, ordering stock and all behind the scenes work are all labour intensive activities, all be it very enjoyable. I may therefore over the next couple of months have to cut down on the full range that we offer and keep our best selling items on the shelves. This will happen if I find that I am physically unable to keep up, due to there only being 24 hours in the day. The catch 22 situation is that whilst I am making and selling soap I cannot be wrapping parcels, and whilst I am wrapping parcels I cannot be making soap - if only there were 2 of me!
Some products may be dependent on whether I am still able to procure the ingredients, some have already been affected (Frangipani essential oil prices being just one example) Of course many oils we use are from overseas and this may too be affected.
I will only be doing 2 trips to the Post Office. We prepay for our parcels online so I only have to drop off, although sometimes have to stand in a queue to do this, and in the interests of social distancing and trying to keep as safe as possible I will be dropping off on a Tuesday and on a Friday. ALL parcels will be First Class and so once it goes to the post office it SHOULD be with you the next day although some areas of Royal Mail may be shorter staffed so please be patient. Your postman by now will be used to leaving parcels on your doorstep or in a safe place, so you can keep yourself safe from contact. I will still get tracking information so will still know when your parcel has been delivered. Please read our postal statement before contacting me about your parcel.
During this time please use the website as much as possible for finding information as it's not always possible for me to answer messages, and 90% of questions I get asked are covered on the frequently asked questions page here: https://the-good-soap.co.uk/pages/frequently-asked-questions
I feel very fortunate during these difficult times to still have a business to run, and to be able to do it safely from my home. I am grateful for the support of my customers and followers. I am delighted to be able to offer the service to you whereby you can get great quality products delivered to your doorstep for yourself and your family. I send love to each person who reads this post, I hope you and your family members and friends remain safe.
Thank you - Dawn
31/03/2020