Effective immediately, the Retro Junction blog is changing focus to better showcase those who are involved in my freelance writing and designing business and I will be blogging under my own name.
This all comes about as the result of a decision I made about a year ago to close my vintage shop on Etsy because of the problems arising from shipping.
It was very frustrating that no matter how well I padded, bubble wrapped and planted boxes inside boxes, it seemed too many of my vintage (sometimes valuable antique) items were arriving crushed and broken at the customer's doorstep. One package even looked like it had been run over by a delivery truck.
Of course, the only way to keep a happy customer and maintain an impeccable reputation on Etsy is to completely reimburse the entire item cost - plus the charges for shipping. Unfortunately, the mail service doesn't cover breakage, only lost packages.
So you can see where shipping was impacting my bottom line and turning an enjoyable hobby of buying and selling into a losing, stressful enterprise. Items that had survived 30, 40, 50 or more years were being shipped off by me to their quick demise. I felt like an assassin.
Raising the shipping charges to add insurance coverage was not an option, as customers simply won't pay the rates needed to cover the losses. I decided I'd rather keep the item than have it destroyed.
But that's okay too. I think I was ready to move from online retailing back to what I was really good at - writing and designing.
The bonus is now I have a lot of really cool items dispersed throughout my home for my own enjoyment, thanks to my golden rule of collecting only items I would like to get stuck with if they didn't sell. Items that inspire creative thought, bring back wonderful memories or simply make me smile at their whimsy.
And so, while this blog takes on a new life - one thing that won't be changing is my love for vintage!
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