Comparing Pricing on Logs to “Buy 9, Get 1 Free”

We are now offering a “Buy 9, Get 1 Free” bulk soap discount on our soaps. We’re really excited about this option because it fixes a lot of the problems that the soap logs had (if you’re new and never saw our soap logs, they were 3 pounds of uncured soap that people had to cut and cure themselves before using).

Some of the benefits of this new discount option include:

Decreased Risk Of Shipping Damage: They are already cured so they don’t get damaged during shipping.
Saving On More Items: We are able to offer the bulk discounts in our specialty soaps (shampoo, pet, shaving, luffa) which we could not do with the logs because of overheating or luffa cutting issues.
Greater Availability: We can keep a higher inventory so we never run out (because soap gets harder as it cures, it is best cut when fresh. If logs didn’t sell as quickly as we forecast, they shattered when people tried to cut them).
Consistent Pricing Across Fragrances: No special treatment of fragrances that are prone to overheating, like Honeysuckle and Nautical, is required so the price is more consistent regardless of the scent.
Consistent Quality: The soap is fully cured so people can no longer give out uncured bars of our soap (thereby giving our soap a bad reputation because people were using uncured soap).
Faster Delivery: There is no shipping delay because we don’t need to wait for the logs to get hard enough to ship.
Better Shipping Options: Shipping costs are more efficient because 10 bars of soap, plus whatever else you order, will fit into a variety of boxes; but the choices are few when shipping a log.

For most people, the biggest concern is how the pricing compares between the soap logs and the new “Buy 9, Get 1 Free” option so I’m going to break down the math for you.

But before we begin, please remember that it’s not a straight forward comparison because you’re not talking about the same thing. The logs are uncured soap in a different shape than the fully cured and bagged bar soaps. As soap cures, it weighs less, even though it lasts longer. So please keep that in mind as we go through the numbers.

A soap log was 3 pounds of uncured soap. Here are four log prices:

Almond Log $45
Oatmeal, Milk & Honey Log $42
Honeysuckle Log $48
Purity Log $42

For the 48 oz (3 lb) uncured log soap, that would be:

Almond $0.9375 per ounce
Oatmeal, Milk & Honey $0.875 per ounce
Honeysuckle $1.00 per ounce
Purity $0.875 per ounce

Ten bars of the cured soap with the “Buy 9, Get 1 Free” special costs:

The full bars vary in weight. We say they weigh a minimum of 4.5 oz (because as they cure they get lighter), but at 6 weeks they actually average 5 – 5.2 oz cured weight. I asked the children pick 10 random bars of newly made, uncured soap and weigh them. (I didn’t tell them why I needed 10 bars, so they didn’t target larger bars). The total came to 59.8 oz. So for 10 uncured full bars that would be:

Almond $0.975 per ounce
Oatmeal, Milk & Honey $0.90 per ounce
Honeysuckle $0.90 per ounce
Purity $0.90 per ounce

You’ll notice that on some of the scents the cost goes up slightly, but on some scents, the cost actually goes down.

With the “Buy 9, Get 1 Free” option you are getting cured soap that is ready to use, access to a bulk discount on our specialty soaps, and more efficient shipping. And with some scents you’re actually saving money over the logs. Plus the shipping is more efficient and cheaper for the bars over the logs.

I’m very sorry if you are going to miss the logs, but as Goat Milk Stuff continues to grow and adds food items, we are striving to make everything as efficient as possible, so we cannot make custom logs an option. The “Buy 9, Get 1 Free” will be the standard bulk discount option going forward. There will still be periodic specials throughout the year, but those are never planned ahead of time. (For example in the Fall we had a “Buy 5 get 1 free” special).