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Ending Delivery Services

I have one more contract to complete and I am going to stop running drugs for the foreseeable future. That is not to be confused with making drugs. I am simply not going to continue to sprint across space, risking NPCs or players to deliver hundreds of millions of ISK worth of merchandise.

I could jump it. However, jumping requires fuel and the fuel costs are not built into my prices. I've always accepted the possible loss for the probable gain. Now, it seems somewhat silly when my store is a steady source of sales that is already hard enough for me to keep up with. Already having lost one load of boosters to my own stupidity and inattention I'm not eager to try again.

I took my POS down a few weeks ago now. Getting everything back up and running and running smoothly has not been easy. It has been much harder than I expected. It took a bit to decide on where to rebuild and how to restart. I had to move my offices and move my equipment. I had to restock my supplies and just get a new grove and a new pattern going. I need to remember to relearn to recheck everything a half dozen times because my POS has sat idle time and time against due to me not making sure that something didn't glitch. POS are not hard but they are clumsy and cumbersome to use.

I also have to sit down and recalculate the cost of all of my boosters. I am no longer breaking even with my business due to the upsurge in POS fuel cost. So, I am raising my prices and that makes me a little bit sad when I have to do so.

I spend a lot of time trying to mitigate cost. It is part of the groundwork game play of logistics and industry  My Jump Freighter pilot finishes Jump Drive Fuel Conservation V in 4 days. I trained that before Jump Drive Calibration V because distance was not an immediate need but fuel was. She jumps regularly and each level of JDFC saves 10% in fuel. That creates a 50% fuel savings for each jump. My math has taught me that it is cheaper for me to buy in Jita, pay Red Frog to ship it to Teon, and then jump it to Bosena from Teon then to make all of the jumps myself + add in the cost of cynos, replacement cynos and liquid ozone. A lot of those costs are small but TCS works on small increments.  That is how I can continue to fight to keep prices down for those that buy there. It is the things that people will never see or realize that they benefit from that sometimes take the most time and energy on my side.

The other side effect is that I think I am ready to make the investment into more complex boosters. The boys have expressed interest in strong and improved boosters. I am going to the Molden Heath forums and write up a post to see their interest in stronger (and more expensive) boosters. If they are going to buy them I will invest in them. (I then posted said poll and in general we're not going to use higher grade boosters enough for it to be worth the investment)

I thought that drug running would be fun. It is mostly tedious and nerve racking to move that much ISK around. It would be nice if it was more interesting or engaging  In general, boosters have a half, finished neglected feel. They are a consumable implant in a way. It would be lovely if they stretched further and were a bit more flexible. As it is, drug manufacturing is a steady amount of work and not the infinite pools of ISK that I once dreamed of.

For now, with the bulk of my buyers local and my store doing well I'm going to end delivery services. I have never charged extra for it. Finding myself not looking forward to this next run and the time and energy that it will take I figure enough is enough. I also find I don't like the little messages of, "I'm out of stuff, I need this and this," and the expectation that I will go hoofing it however many jumps to deliver it. Some of that may be the amount of logistics that I am involved with these days. My time has finally started to develop value to me and I find myself irritated that others still not assign it any. That is amusing because not that long ago I would not have assigned it any value myself.

How things have changed.

Comments

  1. Really nice and healthy attitude towards pricing. I like how you do that

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