"Behind the scenes" at Quilted Twins - a tiny glimpse
“But I called you and left a message.”
“I’ve been emailing you, and …”
“You never answered back… I left you a message a couple of hours ago.”
“Oh, I’m so glad you answered the phone. That must mean you’re open. When can I come in?
“When will you be opening again?”
These questions and more are some of the myriads of ones that we get throughout the day as we answer the phone. Sometimes, it strikes us funny, and sometimes we want to ask everyone to come and work with us a day, so you can see how it goes.
No question quite gets us like the ones that insinuate that we have been off vacationing, with our feet up, sitting on the sofa, eating bonbons, or in bed, watching Netflix.
We here at Quilted Twins are dedicated to a quality product, quality service and a fun time. BUT, we do NOT have a full-time secretary who answers the phone, writes the emails, writes the blog, and packages mail.
In fact, it’s US.. just US. .who does it all.
So, when that phone rings, and you wonder why we don’t get it. It’s NOT because we’re not there, and home eating bonbons with our feet up. It’s most likely because we’re helping a walk-in customer, putting a fabric away on the back far corner of the building or pulling a bolt for a new order, and we simply can’t get to one of our 4 handsets in time.
When we don’t answer the emails promptly, it’s because we’re off doing something else – like creating content for you to ask questions about (or occasionally sleeping!)
When Becky came down sick on Sunday and Monday, I asked if I could take some pictures and explain a bit about what goes on in here at the Quilted Twins Fabric warehouse, behind closed doors!
Not only are we NOT eating bonbons, we’re working super hard and super fast to ensure that you get your product in time, NOT lounging around a lunch table, socializing!
Five of us in Florida and one of us in Poland keep this place and your packages moving! (Really six, but Ken didn’t want to be in this, but he’s pretty vital!)
We are currently not opening to the public until 2 in the afternoon because we have a large load of internet orders .. (for which we greatly thank you!)
But, we are not resting on our laurels, telling jokes, and planning our next quilts. NO. NO. NO. NO. In fact, there isn’t a single one of us who even has time to quilt! Becky, in Poland, is the quilter, and we’re trying to protect her time so that she can continue to provide patterns, content and a fun, interesting blog and FB page!
When we get in to the Warehouse in the morning, we print up the orders that came in since the last time we printed orders. We have a list located near the computer, and whoever prints jots down the last number of the order which she printed! Then we get busy!
We load up the cutting tables with bolts. Primarily that is Margaret, Cheryl’s and my job! This is when I get my first glimpse of some of our beauties!
These are what you all ordered! Ken calls it “We’re doing your shopping for you!”
Piles and piles of bolts and order papers fill the tables.
Jessica has been cutting so much that she’s had to wear a brace to protect her wrists.
Then, either Jessica, Ken or I begin to cut. Usually Jessica. She cuts and cuts and cuts and cuts some more. In fact, she’s cut so much lately that she is having some wrist problems!
Here’s what greeted Sarah when she got in on Monday morning! Each tray contains an order that is ready to be packaged. Since she brings her 3 daughters to work, she arrives after the rest of us.
We put the cut orders into trays and take them to the packing area!
Those of us not cutting have to stay ahead of the cutter, and also put away the bolts, so they can be located again quickly, in case they are on the next order, or another one down the line.
In the packing room, Sarah, along with her little compatriot and companion, Nora, are busily packaging your fabric to go into the least expensive container possible. We do NOT get any kind of special pricing like AMAZON does, and since our prices are so low and even our shipping is, we do not even cover the cost of the shipping with that $7 fee. So, we pack it into whatever fits and will save us money. If we didn’t we would have to raise our fabric prices. We don’t want to do that.
I must interject that this is a family business and we have our (Becky’s and mine) grandkids here at the office during the morning time. The 4 and 6 year olds do very well entertaining themselves with parent approved shows and then they play together, in and around the fabric! They especially love getting new boxes in, as they are instant indoor jungle gyms!
Now, back to my dialogue….Sarah prepares tray after tray of orders from the tubs of cut trays that Jessica provides. Then, I take them and print out the labels. We use a program called Stamps.com. We’re still in the learning phase, and so it does take a while, though we’re pretty fast with the copy and paste feature! (And everyone of those heaps of things on that desk behind my keyboard are issues that I need to deal with, but I haven’t shut down long enough to do that!)
After we get multiple trays ready, they go to Margaret, who is in the building next door. That’s the former “TheCouponClippers” room. (I closed that down on April 29 to give me more time for this!)
Here’s Margaret working on some of the many trays of mail! Behind her are tray upon tray of panels, ready for you to order!
She tapes and tapes and tapes and pulls out the Next day packages and the first class packages, putting them in mail tubs and/or my colored tubs.
Then, Ken and I pick them up at the back door and take them to the post office. We put them in boxes or cages provided by the post office and leave a scan form and the separated NEXT day packages out by the cages and cages of mail. ( I did put a couple of pictures of the empty bolts just from ONE day’s orders, as well as the “cut offs"“ just from ONE day’s orders. Each of these things has to be dealt with as well!)
Bolts waiting to go up on the far left, and the ones being put up on the right! Cheryl is operating the computer.
During that time, Cheryl is either pulling fabric for orders, putting away finished bolts, helping tape or in the back by the camera, putting up fabric as fast as she can.
If I have a few minutes during the day, I attempt to contact all the people whose orders had problems as well as make packs. (I’m attempting to do two packs per day!)
Here’s the Tessellations pack I got ready late on Firday night!
The cool thing is that there are at least 3 people who know how to do each task. This means that not any one person is totally necessary each day, and the success of the business does not hang on their shoulders! (Well, being cute and adorable and riding on mama’s back is exclusively Nora’s task, but that’s the only exclusive task!)
So, when you call in the middle of the morning and want us to take your order, when you can place it online, and you are met with a bit of resistance. This is the reason. We already have our plates full. Our hands are busy and our brains are going a million miles a minute. But I must say that our staff is amazing and Ken (my husband) usually is willing to answer the phone and attempt to deal with the problem.
I hope you enjoyed this little look into just a few of the things that we do to keep your packages coming to you!
And there you are! A glimpse into a day here at the Quilted Twins office/warehouse as we do our best to keep you in the fabric you need and want!
Have a great day wherever you are reading this! Enjoy!
Be sure to check out what we have for you in the store!