UK Workshop Merchandise

[Vulthoom]

Wizer, have you looked at this company?

http://www.zazzle.co.uk/wooden+mugs

£11.60 plus postage is a little steep for a plain ceramic mug and a logo.

If you just want white ceramic mugs with logo (pending mod approval) and personalised with your name you can have a look at:-

http://www.algolonline.co.uk/mugs.html

They start at £8.00 including UK delivery (but I think I can wangle a small discount - I know the owner :wink: ) And there would be no problem with having to buy in bulk....

They also do T-shirts, coasters, mousemats and a range of other stuff.

There is no minimum order and everyone could buy their own.

Although I admit that for the workshop mug a lid is preferable.....

 

[wizer]

Lee: What's that? Have you found a supplier? If it's just a display of art work. It'll be a bit better than that mate. Assuming I can get someone to deal with us.

 

[wizer]

Right, we've had no reply from the mods so the idea of having these personalised is dead in the water.

I am in close contact with Marc Spagnuolo (The Wood Whisperer) and he has offered to sell us a qty of wood grain mugs, like the original picture, with The Wood Whisperer logo.

It's about the best I can do. If we didn't want TWW logo on the side of it, then I'll have to get one of my contacts in the states to make the whole order for me and then re-ship it to the UK. That pushes the price up AND it means money upfront with a long lead time.

I think there's about enough requests here to make an order of 60.

Otherwise we can just let it fade away. It's up to you guys.

 

[bodgermatic]

Maybe what's required is a sweetener? Is it worth offering recompense for the use of the site logo? Perhaps a percentage (£1 - £2?) on the price could go towards site running costs. Although it occurs to me then that we're paying _for_ advertising merchandise for the site

 

[big soft moose]

Still, you 'turners could always attempt to make your own!

I'm thinking of attempting exactly that - i'll post a wip if anything transpires - my idea is to buy an insulated mug and make a wooden jacket for it

 

[big soft moose]

theres a suplier who can personalise the woodgrain mugs here http://www.discountmugs.com/nc/travel-m ... l-mugs.htm

its an american site but i would guess they can ship over here

 

[wizer]

Pete I have spoken to them and about 6 other suppliers, they will not deal with overseas orders. I was even put in contact with a company over here that does similar stuff and even they could not make an order for us.

It would be great if we could offer the real wood jacket kits. It would take a group of turners to agree to share out 60 mugs. I think the logistics would be a nightmare.

I'm happy to give money to Charley, as I was with the badges. At that time he wanted me to offer the badges at cost, which is what I did.

So my last post is our only option\s

 

[big soft moose]

It would be great if we could offer the real wood jacket kits. It would take a group of turners to agree to share out 60 mugs. I think the logistics would be a nightmare.

I agree about that - i'm going to make just the one for my own use , tho i'd be happy to share my trials and tribulations on a seperate thread if anyone else wants to have a go.

If i'm succesful in that - i might , stress only might, be open to making them for other people tho not ukw branded unless mod permision is forthcoming

 

[Lee J]

I'll take 2x wood whisper ones wizer - no worries

 

[Mike.C]

Pete I have spoken to them and about 6 other suppliers, they will not deal with overseas orders. I was even put in contact with a company over here that does similar stuff and even they could not make an order for us.

It would be great if we could offer the real wood jacket kits. It would take a group of turners to agree to share out 60 mugs. I think the logistics would be a nightmare.

I'm happy to give money to Charley, as I was with the badges. At that time he wanted me to offer the badges at cost, which is what I did.

So my last post is our only option\s

Tom I will take a couple of them especially if they have real wood jackets.

Cheers

Mike

 

[Mike.C]

Hi Tom good news, get your skates on because we have been given the go ahead to use the UK Workshop logo on the mugs As I said put me down for two.

Cheers

Mike

 

[wizer]

Pete I have spoken to them and about 6 other suppliers, they will not deal with overseas orders. I was even put in contact with a company over here that does similar stuff and even they could not make an order for us.

I'm afraid it doens't matter if we have permission to use the UKW logo or not. None of the US companies will deal with me\us. I can no find supplier outside of the US that supply\customise the wood grain mug.

To me, the wood grain is important. If you wanted to ditch the wood grain idea, we could have a stainless steel one made. It's up to you. But I'd guess there would be some sort of minimum order, so it's not worth doing unless we're all pulling in the same direction.

I'm happy for someone else to take this on if they think they can do better. Otherwise we need to chose between Woodgrain Wood Whisperer branded or UK Branded Stainless Steel. My vote goes for the former.

 

[Mike.C]

Pete I have spoken to them and about 6 other suppliers, they will not deal with overseas orders. I was even put in contact with a company over here that does similar stuff and even they could not make an order for us.

I'm afraid it doens't matter if we have permission to use the UKW logo or not. None of the US companies will deal with me\us. I can no find supplier outside of the US that supply\customize the wood grain mug.

To me, the wood grain is important. If you wanted to ditch the wood grain idea, we could have a stainless steel one made. It's up to you. But I'd guess there would be some sort of minimum order, so it's not worth doing unless we're all pulling in the same direction.

I'm happy for someone else to take this on if they think they can do better. Otherwise we need to chose between Woodgrain Wood Whisperer branded or UK Branded Stainless Steel. My vote goes for the former.

It seems a shame that now we have got permission not to be able to go ahead. This US company does a wood grain version http://www.discountmugs.com/nc/travel-m ... l-mugs.htm so if we were able to sort a design and text that we all agreed on, would one of our US members be able to have them delivered to their house and then send them onto a UK address? Yes it would all add to the cost, but 50 from this company works out at just over $5, which is not a bad start and may allow us to add the shipping on and still keep it to a reasonable cost. I am sure that if we looked around we may even get a better starting price.
We may not even be able to get a US member to help out, but surely it is worth looking into if as Tom stated at least 60 members were interested.

Come on guys don't lets give up yet.

Cheers

Mike

 

[big soft moose]

in my opinion - and this is not intended as a criticism of tom who i know has dome a lot of work on this - I dont see the point in getting a mug that promotes wood whisperer - this is not the wood whisperer forum afterall.

my first preference would be for a ukw branded wood effect one, but if thats not practical (as it appears not to be) i would prefer a steel ukw branded one to a non ukw wood effect one.

edit: ive just sent an email to my contact at yes gifts - with whom i do a fair bit of biz asking if they can get the wood effect ones ( they dont carry them as a matter of course but i'd be suprised if the mugs are actually american manufacture and if they are actually made in chaiwan or wherever it ought to be possible for a british company to order them )

 

[wizer]

Mike, I have contacts in the US who could sort this for us, that has never been the issue. The problem with going that route is 1. It incuurs two lots of postage 2. It means either someone has to bankroll the whole order, or we all have to take a leap of faith, pay for our mugs and wait perhaps a month or two before we see anything in return.

I've said all this above. If someone can find a better deal, please find it and then report back.

 

[wizer]

edit: ive just sent an email to my contact at yes gifts - with whom i do a fair bit of biz asking if they can get the wood effect ones ( they dont carry them as a matter of course but i'd be suprised if the mugs are actually american manufacture and if they are actually made in chaiwan or wherever it ought to be possible for a british company to order them )

The MD of the company Nick Gibbs uses spent a good couple of weeks trying to find an alternative supplier. nada.

 

[big soft moose]

you'ver probably seen it already but theres this http://www.zazzle.co.uk/weathered_wood_ ... 8616089415

its doesnt look as good as the US ones tho that may be down to the lousy photo and it isnt cheap - but it is wood effect and shipped in the uk

 

[wizer]

I discounted it on looks but mainly on price. I can't see even an order of 60 pushing that price down to, for example, the wood whisperer ones (which might work out to £10max).

 

[big soft moose]

i also notice that in the states you can get a kit for making your own wood travel mug - but i cant find them in the uk either

http://www.smoothturning.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=2

 

[wizer]

nope none in the UK. They'd also work out to be expensive.