Hygiene and Durability VS Confidentiality

Some romance home party plans require the reps to bag and ship their own party orders. Many reps say they love the "confidentiality" of this method. In other words, they don't trust their company to have the shipping info of their guests, right? Or do they believe that the customer really cares that much about a romance home party plan company having their name? To make it worse, these companies also repackage their toys for the "image" or the "classy" factor, if you will. Well, to put it bluntly, the toys were tampered with. A company will take a toy out of it's protective packaging (plastic casing, cardboard box) and workers in a warehouse transfer the items by hand (are they using gloves?) to a clear plastic bag type packaging. Why deprive the toy of it's armor? It's womb? Its manufacturer's warranty? (Yes, most toys over $30 retail have a direct manufacturer's warranty) That's the thing I love about For Your Pleasure. I do a party, place the order as a party and sit back while the company ships to the hostess and the guests who preferred it be shipped to them. The company will even put labels with my contact information on the products. Any back orders and returns are taken care of by FYP, at their expense. No extra shipping for me. Many reps with other company's will argue that I can not personalize the order. Well, the company does put my labels on the items. And if I want to give them anything additional, like educational material or a sample, I can give it to them at the party, via email or for .41 through the mail. But I love that the toy is untouched, untampered with and in it's molded hard-plastic casing. OK, so here is a basic scenario of how it works with repackaged items that are shipped to the consultant.

* The item arrives at the warehouse from the manufacturer or wholesale distributor from where the company orders their product line.

* Workers in the warehouse remove the toy from the package and usually remove any fillers, including manufacturer's warranties and lube or toy cleanser samples. Again, are they using gloves? They then put the item in their own packaging, usually a bag with company logo. The toy is then stocked in the warehouse.

* When the rep places an order, she may be ordering for a party or to refill her inventory. So she places her order and usually pays a percentage for shipping, rather than a flat, because the orders are usually too large to charge a flat rate. (They set their own shipping fees for customers, which should hopefully cover the cost to ship from the company to them, from them to the customer and then any back orders or defectives)

* When she receives the items, she is trained to check that the toy is working properly. So, she now removes the toy from the company's bag WITHOUT GLOVES (ewww), puts batteries in, checks it, then puts the toy back and reseals the bag.

* Now, the toy will usually either be shipped (once again) to the customer or she will add it to her inventory, where it will be carried through a bunch of parties if she doesn't sell it right away.

* The customer finally gets the toy after a bunch of shipments manufacturer to company to consultant to customer.

That's a lot of lugging around for a brand new item. Is it worth decreasing the hygiene and durability of the toy to maintain the so-called "confidentiality" of the customer or to upkeep a conservative image? No, I trust my company to USE (not "have") my customer's information to ship packages. And by the way, at For Your Pleasure, if the guest is having their order shipped to the hostess, all the company needs is a name so the hostess knows who to give the brown bags to. If I was a customer, I'd rather my consultant's company have my name and address so they can ship the never-opened product to me straight from the warehouse via reliable UPS. (Ever see how a postal worker handles a package? HA!) I'd rather have all my customers listed in my back office where I can search by name, number, zip code.

As for the "tastefulness" of the repackaging, well...some manufacturers do have couples on their package or a woman in lingerie. Or *gasp* breasts!! Pretty appropriate picture for the concept of the toys, no? The box the toy came in IS disposable! *surprise!!!*

I'm sorry to be so sarcastic, I just am so passionate about working in a Work Smarter, Not Harder environment. Having every customer I ever had databased and exportable in my back office is smarter. Keeping the toys in their protective original packaging with manufacturer's warranty is smarter. Entering a party order, seeing the package shipped the next day and alerting the hostess of the UPS Tracking status is SMARTER! Keeping products, aside from my kit, out of my house for my kid's sake is SMARTER! Speaking of kids, I'd rather spend time reading or playing with my kids rather than packing and shipping sex toys, wouldn't you?