So what really is recycleable?

If you can believe it I get asked that question a lot lately. Blame it on Al Gore and his tree-hugging friends. Don't want to poo poo them; I am not. Perhaps just some light hearted poking is all that is intended.

What really is GREEN? In a word -- Plastic.

But here is my take on it. What really is considered recycleable?

A lot of things and then again not so many. Let's focus on two groups -- paper and plastic.

Paper can be recycled to some degree. The paper itself can be reused or repulped. The glue sticking to it or any other sort of contamiant cannot. It has to be removed first. So those newspaper drives of old with those stacks of bundled newspapers reaching the rafters for some charity drive are completely recycleable. Magazines with the glossy pages are not. Why? The varnish they place on the paper to make them shiny prevents proper pulping of the paper to turn it into reusable material. Those DVD cases that meld paper with plastic can't because the glue on the paperboard is not water soluable. That means you have to rip the glue off the paper before you can recycle them. Those boxes your X-box 360 or Sony Playstation 3 comes in with the shiny outter printing -- not recyclable. It's the printed side that is pressed onto the cardboard box. Once again it's the process that prevents breaking the box down into pulp properly -- or should I say cheaply.

Now plastic, that is a different story. See those chasing arrows? It's called a recycle symbol. The American Plastics Council in their infinite wisdom decided to come up with an easy visual aide to help the layperson (that's you) find out what sort of plastic your cup is made out of and the recycler to sort through the various types of plastic. Glue? That is washed off in the process of removing contaiments. Labels, also washed off and removed during the recycling process. Metal contamination, they have strong magnets and metal detectors to remove them in-process. Even a metalized CD or DVD disc (with the shiny metal finish) can be recycled. I ahve seen it done and they use the recycled resin for high end spindles for disc replication. See where I am going with this?

Bottom line; plastic wins hands down. Game. Set. Match.

And guess what. That cheap DVD box you bought at Big Lots for under $5.00 for a dozen; guess what they are made out of? Virgin material polypropylene? Don't make me laugh. Smell it. That is the smell of 100% REcycled plastic.

HD DVD vs Blu-Ray vs DVD who is the real winner?

The consumer of course. The real question is who the big loser. And that my friend happens to also be the consumer.

This is my twisted take.

A standard DVD disc or DVD-5 (5GB) can fit most movies less of course those special extras. A DVD-10 (10GB) can and does fit all the movie you wish but you have to flip the disc sometime to see the final part.

HD DVD headed by bigtime software giantor Microsoft is the next best thing out there. Manufacturers can use the existing manufacturing equipment to produce a disc that can store up to 30 GB of data. Not bad considering you can now run those high-falouting games on X-Box 360 with surreal sound and realistic almost life-like graphics.

Blu-ray is the darling of Disney and Universal. You can hold up to 50 GB of data. But this is supported by another evil empire aka Sony Electronics who also holds the golden basket of all console games -- Playstation.

So who is to win? Well I was asked this by one of my direct reports the past week and this is what I told her.

"Hold onto your regular DVD, because you really don't want to see the pimples on some starlet on your HD screen assuming of course you have an HD screen to see the pimples on her .... er... face."

This is my take. The consumer cannot fully enjoy what these two new formats (HD DVD and Blu-ray) have to offer if you don't have the proper tools to view it with. It the simple plain, honest truth. That means surround sound 6.1 and a slamming kick-ass HD Flat Screen. The problem with that is who can afford the $2000+ it takes to get a decent HD screen (btw that is 42 inch) to actually see the pimples on her... face. Much less have the surround sound system to hear them squash those pimples? And for that matter do you necessarily want to see those pimples? So until the price of equipment can go down low enough for everyone to enjoy it, they say the sweet spot is around $299/system sans HD screen, don't touch it.

BUT and this is the rub here. Say you decide to upgrade. Guess what. Your DVD from the old format may not play in the newer players. So that means you get the dubious honor of restocking your library.

Me, I prefer to wait. Wait until it's as cheap as those 3 movies for $20 you can get from Blockbuster used and the playing unit is under $150.

CD & DVD Packaging -- It's what I do.

It struck me the other day that I failed one important duty as a salesman. I forgot to show you what I do.

So here it is.

ACE Packaging is the premiere packaging specialist in innovative storage solutions for optical discs. Our goal is to deliver premium packaging without breaking your budget. ACE Packaging offers a simple design created to prevent theft and protect disc(s).

Product line includes the ACE Slim and Classic Case – holding a single optical disc in both 7mm and 15mm formats; the ACE Duo – holding 2, 3 or 4 discs PLUS standard DVD Booklet in a 15mm spine; the ACE Multi– holding 1, 2 or 3 discs; the ACE Portfolio– capable of holding 4 to 10 discs with a 25mm spine, the ACE Library– capable of holding 4 to 12 discs in a compact, yet attractive display, and the ACE Folio – capable of holding from a single to fifteen (15) SLEEVED discs plus standard DVD booklet in a 43mm nested format. Upcoming items include the ACE Book, a DVD binder capable of holding 2 to 8 discs in a 25mm spine with molded pages to hold your discs and tamper-proof interlocking design.

ACE also offers a complete line of standard packaging solutions such as the D-Frame, CD Poly, Standard CD jewel case and tray inserts for 1 to 8 discs configurations as well as specialty packaging services to create that unique, yet cost effective package. If it’s custom packaging that you are after ACE can do that as well. We can design, manufacture, and manage your new and upcoming packaging requirements with ease.

Visit us at www.ace-cases.com. See the multitude of packaging solutions for your special project.

6 years later -- September 11 -- Remembered

It's odd. Six years ago I was in a hotel room in Vegas attending a convention and I see this on my television screen. Just like the space shuttle Challenger disaster before this I was dumbstruck. Could this actually have been happening?

Well it did happen.

I remember being stuck. They cancelled all flights. I had to seek transportation elsewhere. All the car rental places were sold out. Folks were buying cars off the lots just to get home. Strangely I remember walking on the floor of the convention thinking to myself what a ghost town of a place it had become compared to a day earlier. Everyone was somber. Luckily I was able to find a ride home through the mad driving of a German buddy I had befriended in Los Angeles.

My prayers and thoughts go out to all the family and loved ones lost on this day.

The Nam Tasa Newsreel

Ok a side note.

Take a gander at a buddy's blog The Nam Tasa Newsreel. An ex-Peace Corp, ex-Full-time plastic Salesman, and now full-time English Instructor in Korea, Spanky as he has allowed me to call him is your American single male about town and looking for his place in the world.

Explore with me as he makes his trek through life or in this case the Korean countryside in his quest for cheap beer, decent food, and pretty girls all the while teaching English. Talk about a kid in the candy store at least we will be able to live vicariously though him. I know I will.

http://namtasanews.blogspot.com/

Hey be pithy!

pithy ('pi-thE) adjective Form(s): pith·i·er; -est 1 : consisting of or abounding in pith 2 : having substance and point : tersely cogent synonym see CONCISE - pith·i·ly /'pi-th&-lE/ adverb - pith·i·ness /'pi-thE-n&s/ noun

In other words, be short and sweet. From some of my buddies who have read my blog, I promise to do just that -- be pithy. I just cannot help myself sometimes. I suppose only time will tell.

Something most folks never consider but just as important -- Intangible Costs

Well truth be told they really aren't intangible costs. They can be quantified, calculated, and categorized. I have heard them called soft cost, built-in cost, or hidden cost. All sorts of names charaterize this phenomena and they are rarely considered in the end-cost of a product. They really should but as it turns out they are never until it is too late.

So I propose a slight paradigm shift. How about including this intangible cost into the total cost of your product?

In my experience packaging is ALWAYS the last thing considered. Everything is focused on the content which is a good thing. These sort of truisms can be dishearting to a packaging salesman but you roll with the punches and play the hand you're dealt. Consider altering your vision to include this additional cost so when the tally sheets are in you can honestly say you squeezed a few more dollars back into your pocket.

Any marketing guy/gal will tell you that the industry we are in -- Entertainment -- is impulse driven. If you have a sexy looking package it will sell and typically the customer or end-buyer will accept the package you provide for him so long as it's functional.

What I am trying to do here is provide some additional insight to any burgeoning hot shot customer who has this brilliant idea and is looking to turn that idea into a physical reality. Now tell me if you find yourself in the same position as a customer I recently spoke to -- Let's call him "Customer A" for the purposes of this case study.

Customer A calls me up and says, "I don't understand why I have so many product returns. They leave the factory OK but as soon as it is shipped to my client and they ship it out to their customers they typically receive damaged product."

I ask as any good packaging professional would ask, "What sort of damage?"

His response, "Mostly the disc just comes off the hub. The disc looks OK and can certainly play but it makes a sound when the box is closed like a 'rattle' and they automatically assume it's broken; so they return it."

Now lets consider the costs here. Customer A charges lets say $1000 for a project that ships out 1000 packaged units ($1 per unit for reasons of simplicity.) -- all nice and pretty in its cigarette wrapped case with the pretty artwork and inlay cards with a pretty disc in 4-color art.

Customer A ships that product to his client -- Customer B. It's shipped in bulk so all he has to do now is open a master carton and ship each unit to their customers or ship the whole master carton to their Customer C who sells it to the end customer -- Customer D.

Here is a little stick diagram so I hopefully will keep you interested.

Customer A -> Customer B -> Customer C

or

Customer A -> Customer B -> Customer C -> Customer D.

Let's simplify this model further so we are only considering one stream from Customer A to Customer C, where the "->" represents freight and handling.

Now here are some assumptions. Out of 1000 units shipped you will experience 5-10% failure due to damage from shipping and handling. Let's assume the better percentage of 5%. So out of 1000 units shipped you get 50 + 47.5 units or 97 units suffering from failure of one thing or another. ( (1000 x 5% = 50) + (950 x 5% = 47.5) =97.5 units or 97 units)

If you assume everything was shipped out by some kind of Less-than-Truckload or per piece common carrier like UPS shipping a package -- any package -- would cost on average around $4-5. So now if you or your customer's customer issue a Return Merchandise Authorization you end up paying freight to go from Customer A to B to C then back to B to A or (4 trips x $4 = $16). But it doesn't end there, now you have to add in the replacement shipping cost of shipping it from A to B and back to C (2 trips x $4= $8). I mean total you're spending $24 just to replace ONE product and you could have up to 97 pieces that are bad so you could spend upwards of $2328 just in shipping costs. Great for companies like UPS and FEDex because you (whoever you is) has to pay for the shipping cost. But serioulsy, who is going to pay for all that freight? Customer A? Customer B? Customer C? It's an honest question. Even if you cut it in half ($1164) do you necessarily want to spend that much money on a project that cost you only $1000 initially?

Now I am just talking shipping cost. You have to also consider replacement cost of the product. So really you're spending an additional $97 on replacement product. Spending a total $2261 ($1000 + $1261) on a project that initially cost you $1000. Getting kind of crazy isn't it? Now let's throw in some frustration expense which you can only truly gauge on repeat business. If your end customer is unhappy about receiving a damaged product, is it necessarily going to help you if you save on skimping on packaging?

I know it's a tough nut to swallow but consider this.

What if you added lets say an additional $0.10-0.15 yes, 10 to 15 cents to your packaging format so for a 1000 project you add an additional $100-150 to the project but do not increase the shipping weight of the product using one of my boxes like the ACE Classic -- a single DVD/CD disc case. Using our case I can honestly say you will improve your product's survivability from 5% to say a manageable 1-3%. Let's assume just 3%.

So using the same calculations and assumptions on cost.

1000 units x 3% = 30 units
970 units x 3% = 29.1 units
Total Assumed damaged: 59.1 -- let's say 60 units.

Calculating the shipping costs now you get:
(4 trips x $4) = $16
(2 trips x $4) = $8
Total shipping costs for replacing 1 unit = $24

Now we calculate the total cost
60 units x $24 = $1440
and we divide it by half like we did for the previous example we get $720 total replacement cost. Now we add this to the additional cost of packaging of $150 ($150 + 720) we get $870 for a grand total of $1870 cost all-in.

What does this mean? It means I can ultimately provide you a minimum savings of $391. Now isn't that a suitable trade off? PLUS I put money back in your pocket. Isn't it at least worth considering? I mean getting a really good price for a job is great BUT being penny-wise; pound-foolish here is self defeating.

This is my dilemma. I sell a premium case. It works great. It provides protection but upfront it is rather expensive -- 15% more expensive. If you sell the product you make your savings on the back end and folks for the most part only see the horse and not the cart. Personally I like riding but the smoother the ride the better. And only a few customers get it before it is too late. Typically I am there to do damage control and save their bacon.

Now the question here is after reading this and digesting the numbers are you willing to make that leap of faith and trust a packaging professional to provide you a package as good as mine and take a small hit on the total cost to save both these hidden costs and customer frustration? What if you add packaging on the back end so you double wrap everything or use bubble wrap. Great it only adds say $0.10 per unit but it also adds to the total weight of the product not to mention you spend more in fulfillment costs of kitting the project.

Only you can honestly say.

What I offer you is a way to justify a small additional cost upfront; that will pay dividends. And all that in a day's work. Not bad if you ask me.

Why Choosing your phone service is so important

Just a humorous parody with the mobile phone market being the way it is. Thought it would be a nice change of pace. Personally I would have gone with the gal but hey I roll like that. Click here

A question of Dollars and Sense

Two or three years ago, I designed and built a low cost DVD Case to hold up to 15 discs. We call it the ACE Folio. Yes you read correctly -- fifteen(15) discs. This behemoth of a case had a comparatively smaller profile (43mm spine) to other cases and disc folder systems and a lot easier to assemble and fulfill. It literally filled a niche in the growing movie market namely budget DVD Compilations.

I won't say who it was but it was for one of the big guys. Well we were working with a replicator and indirectly with the replicator's customer; creating a case to best fulfill their needs yet come in under budget. We did it. The Replicator bought into it and we thought their customer did as well. Boy were we mistaken.



Fast forward to today.



I have seen a resurgence in the interest over this case but for a different reason. It's kind of neat to see an overlooked product take on a life of its own once it finds its niche.

Yes it does provide a single package to hold from 1 disc to 15 discs -- sleeved -- and homogenizes the packaging format so you really only need one overlay jacket (Cover art) instead of coming up with 16 different Cover arts for 16 different disc cases. You could characterize the ACE Folio as a catch-all case. It is a flexible case to store one to fifteen discs. It standardrizes the Cover Art so you really only need to have one template; not a plethora of them so printing over runs could be a thing of the past. Holding fifteen discs we are talking just under 1 pound of discs plus anything else the publisher wants to throw in to add value to the product.


You still have the ability to index and find a disc you wish even if it at the bottom of the stack. You really only have to worry about using inexpensive paper sleeves which further protect discs during transit because let's face it UPS is not the gentilest of carriers. And if you consider unit cost plus assembly to other multi disc cases for a package of this caliber (i.e. Binder + vinyl sleeves or Binder + Polypropylene sleeves) you could save as much as 60% of the cost of fulfillment and product -- combined.

Considering all the positives this case offers I understand now why it has seen a resurgence of customer interest.


Now let me break this all down.

If we look at a regular binder system for discs it takes 5-6 steps to pick and place a disc. If we compare that to our ACE Folio which takes only 4-5 steps per disc. Multiply that by the number of discs you are placing into the ACE Folio -- as many as 15 discs or 15 additional steps saved. Now if we assume that it costs approximately $0.03 per touch or step, you save $0.45 per case and that is just fulfillment cost. Add that to our normal pricing of the ACE Folio (approximately $0.55-.85 per case depending upon quantity) to a binder and sleeve set up (approximately $1.35-$5.00 depending upon its complexity) and you can really see the savings a case like the ACE Folio can offer the Customer.

But proof is in the pudding. Figure it out for yourelf. You will see as did I and my customers why this case offers such a big punch for DVD packaging. To view our specification sheet click HERE

Greetings! My First post and What-is-to-Come Manifesto

I was watching television last night; perhaps the first night in a long time, and came across a television program called i-Caught about of all people Tom Green of MTV shock comic fame. Nice to see he is mellowed out after the divorce but he brought up a topic I have only heard spoken in hushed tones at Adult Internet Conferences -- Viral Marketing. Similar to Guerilla Marketing it takes old ideas; updates them to slam head first into the new millenium. It satisfies American's thrist for constant stimulation and instant gratification because unlike before you can get what you want, when you want, and whatever dosage you want.

Completely amazing.

This Blog is going to be my vain attempt to see if this Blog and Blogosphere can actually work. Here I talk about packaging, because let's face it EVERYTHING we buy comes in a package of some sort. Tell me something that doesn't and perhaps, just perhaps I may concede my point and that is that no matter what you do where you go you will always buy something new in some kind of packaging. It is so pervasive that we don't even notice it, yet we generate literally tons of it yearly. No small feat if you consider the amount of packaging it takes to completely encase a computer, flat screen, mushrooms at your green grocer or for that matter a DVD disc.

My speciality in packaging -- you guessed it DVD and CD packaging. Have been doing it for literally decades now. I have seen music artists come and go and to be quite frank I am disgusted with the music out there -- so formula. DVD same thing all glitter no substance which I can honestly say has contributed to the slow down in the entertainment industry. Only lately has the box offices offered some rather funny and well done movies -- soon bound for DVD and my reality.

So stick around as I ramble though the maze of alternative and not-so-alternative packaging. Heck I might even show you what I do for a living and explain how we professionals look at packaging.