Putting your money where your mouth is…

is certainly easier said than done.

I use poly mailers to ship things all the time. I use them when someone Mooches a book from me. I use them when I sell a book on Amazon, or when I sell something small on eBay. I go through about 100 a year. Well, I’m down to my last ten or so and need to reorder. I typically buy these on eBay as I like the prices and I like the small business owner part of that. Well, this time I wanted recycled mailers, so I send emails to the two suppliers I’d previously used asking for a quote on the same item, just made from recycled ingredients.

Neither vendor could provide such an item. I was surprised. Then I did a little shopping around on the web. It was not easy. I finally found what I was looking for, at a price increase of 74%. To put that into dollars and cents, the envelope that used to cost me .34 was now going to cost .59. Wow. That’s a big difference. (Those prices include shipping charges.)

I kept searching and finally found a place that offered the envelopes with free shipping, if I met a minimum order value. Each envelope would then cost .41, which was only an increase of just under 21%. That’s still a large increase, but I could live with it. I have to live with it. I have to practice what I preach.

This might seem insignificant, I’m really only talking about 7 cents. $7.00 for a case. What happens though if I am a large retailer, who does a lot of shipping? Using environmentally friendly products cut into profit margins. I know it’s not good for the margins, but I do believe that it’s good for business. I do.

I’m going to buy a stamp that I will use on every envelope, asking people to reuse and recycle. I’ll stamp this on my new envelopes, and on any boxes that I send. I already have a box storage area in the garage. Any box that we get goes out to the garage for reuse. I save so much more than money by doing this. I always have a box when I need it, and I never have to go out and pay for a new box.

It’s not easy being green.