I went into the city today to get bottles. It is somewhat convenient as it is just over the hill in West Seattle and down in the Duwamish industrial part of south Seattle.
I buy directly at the manufacturer (I think). They do manufacture there but I don’t know if they bring my bottles up from somewhere else or not. I’ve heard stories that they make the bottles there, then ship them to a warehouse in California, then transport them back up here; something to do with union protocol.
It was cold today and I had to wait awhile in the receiving area. Meanwhile big, big trucks are loaded. I only ordered one unit which is two palates. They just increased the size to 112 cases from 105 cases. I was concerned because I can just barely carry that much wait in my van. In order to get the cases of bottles in I have them load one palet with the forklift, then I manually load the other palet. I don’t want to risk tearing the rubber flooring on the van. My wife also depends on the van for her business.
I always feel so dumb, so small, loading just one palet. However, I have found that it is best for me to bottle in small batches. That is a lot easier on my cash flow. Sometimes I have to bottle in batches. And although I don’t like to do that, I haven’t found any detriment to wine quality. On the contrary, a little extra barrel time seems to benefit the remaining wine. I find it also gives me some flexibility if a particular wine is selling slowly, I can blend the remainder into another wine.
I got notices today that my insurance was going to cancel the winery, that my telephone was going to be cut off, and that I was going to lose service to my cell phone. I had already paid all of these bills.
I have always paid my bills (well, maybe not a few…but I intend to) in time. It seems so futile to call these kinds of companies. You can’t talk to a regular person anymore as it is all computer generated.
I do some business with Scott Laboratories in California. I buy corks and lab supplies from them. It is always a pleasure dealing with them. When you call them, a human being answers the phone. And they are incredibly understanding when it comes time to pay.
Oh, the bottle company I buy from cut me off from credit when one of my checks bounced back in January of ‘06. Now I have to send a check prior to the bottles being available for pick-up. It really hurts.
Cash flow and all I produce is cash drip.
Oh well, the pleasures of being a small businessman. It like constantly swimming against the tide. You get tired after awhile.
Why didn’t I become a psychologist like I wanted to?
All I really want these days is a healthplan. My wife and I just cancelled our health plan. We really couldn’t afford it; and that was a plan with $10,000 deductible. They were cancelling that plan and reducing the deductible and raising our rates.
Well, I guess I’ll be walking more and watching what I eat and hoping…………
