RD, Closing for hunting season or ??

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Steelbanger
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RD, Closing for hunting season or ??

Post by Steelbanger »

"Oh, not going to be much more coming from Ranch Dog Outdoors as I'm winding the business down."

Good morning Michael,

I was surprised to read this in one of your latest posts. Can't say that I blame you either. I don't think many realize just how much of yourself goes into each and every design you market. I can only imagine how busy your days are when you're home so really can't blame you for the big decision. Or maybe you're stopping the R & D portion and will continue marketing the tried & true mould designs. Another possibility is that Lee finally realized your designs are worth adding to their line and they made you a generous offer. Of course I only speculate the what-ifs.

I'm going to e-mail you later today.

Frank
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Re: RD, Closing for hunting season or ??

Post by Ranch Dog »

It will be awhile until I actually shut the door Frank. In a nutshell, here are the big reasons.
  • Customer contact consumes my day. I'm responding to about 2500 emails a month. My phone calls are heavily "filtered", I do not return calls unless the contact indicates he is ready to purchase or there is a problem with a specific order; otherwise, I would spend my day on the telephone as well.
  • My web site needs to be updated to meet certain banking requirements, requirements that have nothing to do with making the site or information any securer and everything about the banks earning more of the slice of a sale. The software fix is available but it is very "hands on" and requires a considerable amount of time. I'm not interested in doing it. In that I will not be "PCI Compliant" on August 25, I will be charged a $40 a month fee by my merchant account provider or any provider I switch to. I could strictly use PayPal but their base fee is $40 a month. They are all pirates I come to find.
  • When I got sick back in May, I found there is no easy way to turn this business off. I cannot simply hang out a closed sign. If I were to croak, the money would continue to come in even though the orders would not be shipped. It would be very tough for anyone else to figure out how to shut it off. The inbound orders would create a huge problem for my wife. Once shutdown, there is also the issue of $50K worth of molds just sitting there and what it takes to turn it back into money.
It could be reduced even further, I'm worn out.
Michael
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Re: RD, Closing for hunting season or ??

Post by pricedo »

Ranch Dog wrote:It will be awhile until I actually shut the door Frank. In a nutshell, here are the big reasons.
  • Customer contact consumes my day. I'm responding to about 2500 emails a month. My phone calls are heavily "filtered", I do not return calls unless the contact indicates he is ready to purchase or there is a problem with a specific order; otherwise, I would spend my day on the telephone as well.
  • My web site needs to be updated to meet certain banking requirements, requirements that have nothing to do with making the site or information any securer and everything about the banks earning more of the slice of a sale. The software fix is available but it is very "hands on" and requires a considerable amount of time. I'm not interested in doing it. In that I will not be "PCI Compliant" on August 25, I will be charged a $40 a month fee by my merchant account provider or any provider I switch to. I could strictly use PayPal but their base fee is $40 a month. They are all pirates I come to find.
  • When I got sick back in May, I found there is no easy way to turn this business off. I cannot simply hang out a closed sign. If I were to croak, the money would continue to come in even though the orders would not be shipped. It would be very tough for anyone else to figure out how to shut it off. The inbound orders would create a huge problem for my wife. Once shutdown, there is also the issue of $50K worth of molds just sitting there and what it takes to turn it back into money.
It could be reduced even further, I'm worn out.
Sounds like a cottage industry that morphed into a high maintenance monster.
You're making it sound like the banks are greedy..........can't be true!!! :lol:
I have a feeling that you with a lot more R&R time on your hands is going to be bad news for the hogs resident on your ranch. :mrgreen:
If they were smart they'd get their affairs in order. :D
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Re: RD, Closing for hunting season or ??

Post by joec »

It is a shame as I've bought a few special items from your site. I wish someone would produce your bullets on a big scale as I would buy regularly myself. I just can't cast at this time where I live but perhaps in a couple more years.

I can understand being worn out though as I'm there myself and have been since I opened a small self storage business.
Joe
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Re: RD, Closing for hunting season or ??

Post by Ranch Dog »

joec wrote:II wish someone would produce your bullets on a big scale as I would buy regularly myself.
Lee Precision of course is familiar with my designs and their success, you might see something from them in the near future.
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Re: RD, Closing for hunting season or ??

Post by joec »

Ranch Dog wrote:
joec wrote:II wish someone would produce your bullets on a big scale as I would buy regularly myself.
Lee Precision of course is familiar with my designs and their success, you might see something from them in the near future.
I would love to see Lee produce bullets from their molds as well as yours. I still collecting and trying out bullets/loads for 2 good hunting loads. One for big stuff, another for mid range game. I figured my plinking or even cowboy loads can handle small stuff if need be.
Joe
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