#her business as a meat vendor.. and her own supplier.. means she has such a deep foot in this business.

[saintevamp]

                               𝑴𝑬𝑻𝑨 01: 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑼𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹𝑮𝑹𝑶𝑼𝑵𝑫

the black market seraphina works, fondly named “the underground,” is comprised of three groups of people: vendors, suppliers, and the council. they  work  inside          &*         outside  of  the  space  itself,      but  each  role  remains  extremely  important  to  the  underground  actually  functioning  within  its  means.        NOTE:      if  one  of  these  groups  were  to  be  dismantled,       the balance  would  become  way  off          &*        there  would  be  an  excess  amount  of  bloodshed  within  that  community.      below  i’ll  talk  a  bit  about  their  roles     (    though  they’re  fairly  obvious    )    &       briefly  list  some  people  who  work  them.

ＴＨＥ ＊ ＶＥＮＤＯＲ��

➙    the  vendors,    as  obvious  to  their  names,       keep  the  market  going  at  the  most  basic  level:     selling  their  stock,     making  money  that  goes  both  to  them          &*         to  the  underground.         the  underground  currently  holds  about  200  vendors          &*         stores  as  of  current,     with  their  names  usually  tailored  towards  the  customer  of  choice       (      vamps-r-us,         1-800-ZOMBIEBRAINZ,        smoke[ing] and apparitions,     just  to  give  a  few       )      or  just  general  dollar  stores          &*         grocers  for  those  who  prefer  a  diverse     (     or  are  omnivorous     )      palate.              this  role  depends  on  the  suppliers,       and  so  those  who  run  vendors  are  usually  cruel  to  them     –––––     when  the  suppliers  don’t  deliver,      their  vendors  fail          &*         their  existence  in  the  underground  is  questioned  by  those  above.      most  of  the  vendors  are  owned  by  older  creatures,         having  been  in  the  family  for  centuries  or  longer.                   VENDORS  ARE  THE  FIRST  TO  REPORT  THEFT,       a  little  too  much  pride  in  how  much  they’re  selling  for          &*         for  how  much  lower  than  anyone  else.      some  vendors  who  work  are:

𝚅𝙰𝙻𝙴𝚁𝙸𝙴 𝙻𝙰’𝙶𝚁𝙰𝚈:      an  older    (    actual    )     vampire  who’s  been  around  for  way  too  long,     but  she  stopped  aging  in  her  thirties.      she’s  made  of  solid  silver,         her  teeth  replaced  with  actual  ivory.     she’s  wealthy,    full  -  stop.      her  shop  runs  vampire  -  exclusive  house    +    personal  ware,    such  as  fang  warmers,      vampire  -  friendly  sex  toys,     human  -  blood  substitute  for  those  allergic  – your own much  tinier  kroger/aldis/walmart     !          she’s  been  in  the  underground  for  centuries,    her  shop’s  name               𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐕𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄                a  household  staple  !

𝙿𝙰𝚄𝙻 ( " 𝚂𝚄𝙽𝚂𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙴 " ) 𝙼𝙾𝚁𝚃𝙾𝙽:      some  folks  in  the  underground  call  this  wolf  -  of  -  a  -  man  an  absolute  delight!!!   to  have  around,     but  he’s  anything  but  that.          he’s  spoiled  rotten,     being  the  inheritor  of  his  all  -  including  vending  shop       (          &*        chain  stores   !       )         funded          &*        founded  by  two  pull  -  yourself  -  up  werewolves,     his  family  holding  the  title  of  oldest  werewolf  walk  -  in  as  of  current.    the  ladies  love  him          &*        their  boyfriends  hate  him,    but  they’ll  be  damned  if  they  say  something  against  him     !

𝙹𝙴𝚁𝙴𝙼𝚈 𝚂𝙸𝙻𝚅𝙰:      a  reanimated  corpse  that’s  been  in  the  underground  for  going  on  two  decades,       he  showed  up  out  of  the  blue          &*        refused  to  leave,      so  the  council  allowed  him  to  stay    ––––    and  he’s  not  being  removed  !        no  one  knows  what’s  in  his  shop,    it  doesn’t  have  a  name      (    or  one  they  haven’t  heard     )       but  people  always  leave  satisfied,      though  they’re  unable  to  describe  their  experiences.

ＴＨＥ ＊ ＳＵＰＰＬＩＥＲＳ

➙    the  suppliers,     once  again  obvious  in  their  name,     work  mainly  alongside     (    for.    )    the  shops  that  sell  fresh  produce  or  have  any  type  of  beef  with  any  other  vendor.        they  supply  produce          &*        in  some  cases     (    in  the  past,    )  meat,    working  to  keep  their  vendors  open          &*        active,     delivering  the  best  of  the  best  all  the  time.       most  of  the  suppliers  are  human  beings  who  have  become  disinterested  in  humanity          &*        show  no  attachment  to  them.         othertimes,      it’s  younger  ghouls  who  are  just  starting  out  in  the  working  world,      or  the  creatures  who  want  a  fast  -  paced,    more  violent  occupation.     some  suppliers  are:

𝙻𝙴𝙸𝚂 𝙵𝚁𝙰𝙳𝙾𝚁:      a  human  being  who’s  decided  to  live  among  the  supernatural,         he  works  extensively  with  a  cross  -  bow.      most  of  his  produce  goes  to  the  much smaller  companies  selling  meat,     but  the  meat  is  never  the  best  quality.       he’s  nearing  his  own  time,    however,     but  plans  on  purchasing  a  few  ingredients  for  an  aging  potion. 

𝙳𝙴𝚂𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝙳𝙸𝙰:      an  oracle  seraphina  had  a  short  -  lived  fling  with,       desange  supplies  holistic  materials          &*        spiritual  things  for  the  witch          &*        apothecary  vendors.        her  work  is  well  sought  out,      and  she  gives  her  own  readings  to  whoever  wants  them,     for  a  very  reasonable  price      (     the  weight  of  your  questions     ).

ＴＨＥ ＊ ＨＩＧＨ ＊ ＣＯＵＮＣＩＬ

➙    the  high  council,     or  those  who  founded  the   underground  at  its  beginning.        comprised  exclusively  of  five  members,      four  of  which  are  original  members,       they  oversee  the  underground          &*        make  sure  everyone  is  in  their  rightful  place.        without  them,    there  is  no  underground.         they  hold  meetings  weekly,      and  reviews  happen  bi  -  monthly,       just  to  keep  a  tight  ship          &*        keep  everyone  paranoid.         NOTE:      seraphina  is  not  one  of  the  original  members;     her  spot  was  given  to  her  in  the  will  of  the  last  vampire  who  was  killed  by  a  human.        most  of  the  other  vampires  are  angry  at  this,   but  she  reigns  third  -  in  -  command  on  the  council.     i  will only  be  listing  two  of  the  members,     but  i  will  not  give  any  more  than  a  simple  description  of  them,     as  they  will  be  getting  their  own  metas  eventually.

𝙰𝙼𝙼𝙰𝙳𝙴𝚄𝚂 𝙵𝙾𝚄𝚂:      an  older  vampire,     head  of  the  council          &*        the  final  sayer-so.          whatever  he  says,   goes.        he’s  got  a  wife  at  home,     two  vampire  children          &*        zero  room  for  bullshit.     he  is  not  a  fan  of  S.   taking  the  reigns  sometimes          &*        he  wishes  to  knock  seraphina  from  her  post  as  third  in  command.      a  stickler  for  tradition,      he  is  raising  his  children  to  take  over  his  post  as  head  of  the  council,     and  has  graduated  from  vendor  to  actual  store.      his  store          &*        restaurants  have  chains  only  visible  to  supernatural  creatures,      and  he  caters  to  everyone,     with  an  emphasis  on  vampire  cuisine          &*        delicacies.

𝚂.:      no  one  knows  if  S.  is  human  or  not,     nor  does  anyone  actually  know  who  they  are.   never  visibly  present  at  meetings  but  always  there,    S.  communicates  through  an  external  speaker          &*        assistant,    miss  janya  moray.  they  are  second  in  command,       but  even  ammadeus  is  afraid  of  them,    so  they  act  as  if  they’re  the  head.         whenever  they  do  come  around,     their  face  is  obscured  by  a  mask.        their  entire  body  is  made  out  of  metal          &*        flesh,        some  parts  of  their  head  covered  in  brain  -  matter  that  is  frozen  solid.    when  they  do  speak  as  just  themselves,       their  voice  is  almost  mechanical.

[ladystylestores]

How a Colombian market is using AI to combat Covid-19 outbreaks

Image copyright Courtesy of Plaza Minorista

Image caption Shoppers and vendors arriving at Plaza Minorista are screened

When the coronavirus outbreak first hit the Plaza Minorista market, Edison Palacio knew that it would take more than disinfectant and face masks to contain it. So he decided to use artificial intelligence.

Mr Palacio is the director of the densely packed market which sits in the heart of the Colombian city of Medellín.

Every day, up to 15,000 people flood into the giant building where more than 3,300 vendors sell fruits, vegetables, meats, eggs, spices, grains and clothes.

Markets like Minorista act as a key food supplier for cities like Medellín. They are a crucial link bringing food grown on farms to a metropolitan area of nearly four million people.

But such crowded markets have become hotbeds for the coronavirus to flourish across the region. Similar outbreaks have occurred in Mexico, Peru, and Brazil.

“Plaza Minorista is a meeting point,” Mr Palacio says. “With the arrival of this pandemic to the city, we immediately became a high-risk zone.”

Tech to the rescue?

At the end of June, Colombian authorities traced more than 300 cases to wholesale markets. Minorista has already been at the centre of two outbreaks.

Image copyright Megan Janetsky

Image caption The market provides a livelihood for many and neither vendors nor buyers want to see it close

Some have closed down entirely. Others have shut down large sections of their facilities, done deep disinfections and dropped building capacity to encourage social distancing.

Minorista teamed up with researchers at the University of Antioquia to install AI technology to control and track the virus at markets. They are among the first in Latin America.

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Mr Palacio explains how they use facial recognition software connected to cameras at the entrances and to security cameras around the building to collect data on the vendors and market-dwellers. Among the data they collect is their age range, gender, and if the person is wearing their mask correctly in order to assess risks and more vulnerable demographics.

Thermal cameras can take the temperature of 200 people per minute, he says. If someone has a high temperature or wears their mask incorrectly, an alarm will go off and alert market security.

Image copyright Courtesy of Plaza Minorista

Image caption The markets have also stepped up their cleaning and disinfecting routine

“We have to learn to coexist with the virus,” Mr Palacio says. “We as administrators of a place like this, with massive flows of people, have a responsibility to implement all of these scientific and technological protocols.”

Risks to privacy

The World Health Organization has declared Latin America the new epicentre of the virus and despite nearly four months of government-mandated lockdown, Colombia has reported more than 165,000 confirmed cases and more than 6,000 deaths.

Mr Palacio wants local governments to further harness the AI technology to curb the spread of the virus and implement it in other crowded public spaces like the metro system and government buildings.

Image copyright AFP

Image caption The metro in Medellín is offering free coronavirus tests…

Image copyright AFP

Image caption …and is enforcing social distancing but it does not yet have AI

The tech has also been used in countries like China, South Korea and Japan.

Privacy watchdogs have warned of the potential danger of AI being misused and some consider that risk to be greater in Colombia where the authorities have in the past been involved in illegal wiretapping scandals, spying on political opponents, journalists and human rights activists.

‘Complex issue’

Nora Restrepo, a U de A researcher involved in the AI project, describes its use as “a complex issue”. She argues that AI has become an increasingly useful tool to combat the pandemic, especially when closing the markets was not an option.

Image copyright Courtesy of Plaza Minorista

She says that cities like Medellín would collapse without the markets, and those relying on them to get affordable produce would have to go hungry. In this case, the sacrifice is worth it, she says, and researchers can take precautions to ensure the technology is not invasive.

Ms Restrepo and her team of researchers plan to test surfaces, residual water, food and staff throughout the building to see where the virus lingers and how effective disinfection efforts are.

They hope to use that data, and what is collected from the AI cameras to build a heat map showing how the virus moves throughout the building.

“It’s not just to detect who may be sick but to look much deeper than that – how we can detect the virus and at what moment we can intervene before it spreads,” she says.

‘My biggest fear’

For Felipe Betancur, the owner of a small produce store, such measures would ease the anxiety he has felt since the virus arrived in Colombia earlier this year.

Image copyright Megan Janetsky

Image caption Felipe Betancur says he welcomes the measures put in place at Plaza Minorista

The 47-year-old ventures to the markets every morning armed with a mask, disinfectant and a face shield to buy goods for his shop.

“It’s impossible to respect two metres distance, or even a metre-and-a-half,” Mr Betancur says. “You’re very close, face-to-face with everyone. This is my biggest fear.”

Market closures would be disastrous for Mr Betancur’s small business, which he says has only been making the “bare minimum” during the pandemic. It would mean he would have to defy the travel restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the virus and incur the additional costs of driving out to rural farms to buy crops directly from farmers.

Image copyright Megan Janetsky

Image caption Felipe Betancur relies on the produce he buys at markets to stock his own shop

Both for the sake of business people like Mr Betancur and to stop the virus from spreading, Ms Restrepo hopes that the AI project at Minorista will be a success.

If it is, it could be expanded to other Latin American cities to minimise the risks posed by large markets.

“We’re facing a new reality, this is a new age in the way we live,” she sums up the challenges ahead.

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Media captionMeet the socially distant robot scientist

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[josephkitchen0]

A Year-Round Chicken Care Calendar

I couldn’t think of a better New Year’s resolution than starting your own backyard chicken flock. This next year is going to bring you mixed feelings of eagerness and anxiety with hopefully the culmination of happiness and joy. Raising chickens for eggs, meat or as pets is a fantastic hobby. Mark your calendars as you are going to have one busy year ahead of you. This year-round chicken care calendar should help you know what to expect.

January

The icy cold of the winter is the best time to research laws and regulations regarding chicken care. Seeking out local feed stores, poultry associations and fellow chicken keepers will help you narrow in on what your exact goals are for keeping chickens. Social media, like Facebook and Yahoo Groups, also have a slew of online chicken associations and clubs that will help you decide what birds are best for your backyard.

A week-by-week guide to a happy, healthy flock!

Our friends from Purina® wrote this free guide to help you enjoy your first year with chickens. YES! I want this Free Report »  

Kaydee Geerlings of Perez of Town-line Poultry Farm, Inc. helps customers and vendors understand chicken care. Townline Poultry Farm, Inc. is a four-generation family-run business, and her job spans from accounts payable and purchaser to scrubbing the bathroom and cleaning coops. Geerlings-Perez’s job can be summed up in two words — farmer’s daughter.

She adds that one of the first things a new chicken caregiver needs to ask themselves is, “What am I hoping to gain out of my chicken flock?” With an abundance of choices regarding chicken breeds and purposes, questions potential poultry keepers should consider include:

• Are you solely looking for eggs, quick growers for meat or a little of both (dual-purpose)?

• Are you wanting variety within your flock (feather color, uniqueness) or solely focused on egg production?

• Do you want brown, white or colored eggs?

• If you are looking for meat birds, what type would you like? Are you interested in free-range chickens?

By answering these questions, you can determine what breeds will suit your needs the best. This will then allow you to finish the rest of the necessary research including coop space, feed requirements and possible equipment. Most chick suppliers can also provide a step-by-step guideline for space and temperature recommendations for brooding chicks.

Chicken Care Expert Advice: “Those considering a poultry purchase in the spring should definitely take the time to research in January,” Geerlings-Perez says.

February

By February, most hatcheries will have incubators full of fertile eggs and are gearing up for full production.

“This would be a good time to make sure you either have all of the necessary equipment and coops on hand or get them on order. If you have breeds selected, shop hatcheries and suppliers that advertise for those particular breeds and compare pricing/availability. Purchasing from an NPIP certified chicken hatchery is recommended. When purchasing from a feed store or any type of ‘middle-man,’ make sure the validity, quality and certification of originating breeder or hatchery is verified. To prepare yourself for contacting a supplier, sound like a poultry pro by familiarizing yourself on chicken lingo. Reading past issues of Backyard Poultry magazine and finding out what pullets, straight run, cockerels, broilers, hybrid, heritage, temperament and hardiness mean will avoid miscommunications with the supplier. You can place your order as early as the end of February to ensure booking for a ship date you prefer.” Geerlings-Perez says.

Do not forget to calculate for predators, disease or rearing problems. If you want a certain number, order a few more as an insurance policy.

Chicken Care Expert Advice: Edward Gates, manager at the Randall Burkey Co., Inc., says February is for preparation. “Make sure you have a big enough coop and run for the number of chickens you plan on getting as well as a safe place to bring your chicks home.”

“This is a great time to get your order in from your favorite hatchery or chick retailer!” said Twain Lockhart, Nutrena Poultry Specialist.

March

As spring unthaws in your backyard, March for most of the country is a suitable time to make sure your coop space is set up properly and provides all necessary supplies such as feed and water bowls and troughs, heat lamps and bedding.

Predator-proof fencing and coops are a must for proper chicken care. This can also be a great time to contact the hatchery/supplier of your choice to schedule your shipment of chicks.

Chicken Care Expert Advice: “Many suppliers are sold out for weeks ahead of time. I would advise placing your order around two to four weeks in advance from when you would like to receive them,” Geerlings-Perez warns.

“This is where it truly gets exciting! Pick up or bring home your chicks, making sure that your brooder is set up well ahead of time,” said Twain Lockhart, Nutrena Poultry Specialist.

April

Happy, healthy, active, eating, peeping chicks will be arriving at your home any day!

“One or two days prior to the expected arrival day, ensure your brooder is completely set up and up to temperature,” Geer-lings-Perez says. “Once you have picked your shipment of chicks up and brought them home, carefully place them in the brooder near the food and heat.”

Growing up I would carefully grab their delicate but durable bodies out of the box and gently dip their beaks into a sugary water to give them a kick-start. Geerlings-Perez says that this can help teach and encourage them to begin drinking and eating quickly.

Chicken Care Expert Advice: “This is where it truly gets exciting! Pick up or bring home your chicks, making sure that your brooder is set up well ahead of time,” said Twain Lockhart, Nutrena Poultry Specialist.

“Most feed stores and hatcheries offer a packet of vitamins and electrolytes that can be added to the water — very beneficial for the first delicate weeks of raising chicks,” said Kaydee Geerlings-Perez, Townline Poultry Farm, Inc.

“With all the showers that come with April don’t forget to give your chickens a spot to keep warm and dry,” said Edward Gates, manager Randall Burkey Co., Inc.

  May–June

As your chicks age, their temperature, feed and space needs will change. “Consult with your supplier or alternative resources to ensure you are maintaining the proper environment for your flock to thrive,” Geerlings-Perez suggests. She adds that there is no “one right way” to raise birds and everyone finds the approach that works best for them.

Chicken Care Expert Advice: “By now the baby chicks you brought home should all be looking like real chickens,” said Edward Gates, manager at Randall Burkey Co., Inc.

“The chicks are getting big and it’s time to move them outside!” said Twain Lockhart, Nutrena Poultry Specialist.

July

Providing plenty of water and ensuring your coop has proper ventilation is a must for proper chicken care. Lockhart says that any birds 16 weeks and older should be on layer feed and supplemental oyster shell. Layer mash consists of more calcium, which is essential for the hen’s body to produce plentiful eggs with strong shells. To help with the summer heat, Lockhart recommends shade cloths or misters as needed.

Expert Advice: “Getting into the warmer months make sure your chickens have a place to cool down,” Gates says.

August

Your flock should be reaching around 17 to 20 weeks of age by this time which is about the earliest you can start to expect eggs. “If your coop is enclosed, it is also a good idea to give your flock additional light which encourages egg production,” Geerlings-Perez says. “Do not be alarmed if you do not see an egg in August — some breeds can take as long as 28 to 30 weeks to begin production and environments can prolong production as well.”

As you have invested so much time and resources, double check your coop and nest box areas for any gaps that predators would weasel into. Checking with your local supply store can help determine what types of  equipment will be the most helpful for common predators in your area.

Chicken Care Expert Advice: “Make sure to start checking for eggs. Could be any day now!” said Edward Gates, Manager at Randall Burkey Co., Inc.

“As the days start to get shorter, second season and older birds will begin molting. Don’t panic, it’s natural and normal!” said Twain Lockhart, Nutrena Poultry Specialist.

  September

Once egg production has begun for your flock, there are a couple things to remember. “Eggs will start off small as the bird’s body adjusts to this change,” Geerlings-Perez says.

It may take several weeks for the color and/or size to reach what you may have been expecting from the breed you ordered. “It is also important that you collect your eggs regularly — we often recommend twice daily,” Geerlings-Perez adds.

If a chicken accidentally breaks an egg, they may realize that eggs are good eats.

“Once egg pecking begins, it can be a very difficult habit to break and the best way to avoid it is by getting their eggs out frequently,” Geerlings-Perez says.

As the days begin to get shorter, providing additional light can also encourage and maintain egg production.

Chicken Care Expert Advice: “Molt will continue, and now is also a great time to check and treat birds for any parasites,” said Twain Lock-hart, Nutrena Poultry Specialist.

October-November

“Enjoy your eggs,” Geerlings-Perez advises. “This is what all of your planning, research, preparation and chicken care is for. Nothing beats fresh eggs for breakfast and there is rarely a lack of demand for real-deal farm fresh eggs — from customers, friends,  or family.”

In a perfect world and with proper chicken care, a healthy hen should produce about one egg a day, but there are many factors to consider. “Realistically, depending on breed and environment, you should be able to expect a laying percentage as low as 60 percent to as high as 90 percent,” Geerlings-Perez says.

The low end would be more typical for fancier, more exotic type egg layers whereas the high end will be mostly your production hybrid type breeds. I choose to keep fancy bantam chickens because of their pet-like temperament and small size — and the eggs for me are an added bonus. If you are experiencing a laying percentage significantly lower, your flock may be experiencing low lighting conditions, improper nutrition or stress from the environment. Contact your supplier or reference Backyard Poultry magazine which will lead you to the proper sources.

Chicken Care Expert Advice: “All done with your pumpkins from Halloween? Chickens love eating pumpkins before they rot,” said Edward Gates, manager Randall Burkey Co., Inc.

“Your birds will need 15 hours per day minimum to continue to lay through the winter. Now is a great time to also winterize your coop,” said Twain Lockhart, Nutrena Poultry Specialist.

December

Proper chicken care in the winter means making sure your flock’s water doesn’t freeze when the temperature start dropping outside. The end of the year would also be a good time to begin thinking about your needs for the following year.

Hens are most productive in the first year of laying and many breeds will produce very well their second year.

“Laying percentage will drop very noticeably by the time they reach three years of age,” Geerlings-Perez has noted. At what point you decide to replenish your flock will depend on your egg needs and attachment to your flock. Once you are ready to replenish, you begin the process again — no longer as a rookie, but as a poultry proprietor.

Chicken Care Expert Advice: “Of course the chickens get a present for Christmas!” said Edward Gates, manager Randall Burkey Co., Inc.

“Pick up eggs often to avoid freezing/breaking/egg eating hens. Make sure water is available with heated water stations,” said Twain Lockhart, Nutrena Poultry Specialist.

    RESOURCES FOR CHICKEN CARE:

CDC www.cdc.gov/features/salmonellababybirds/ www.cdc.gov/healthypets/resources/salmonella-baby-poultry.pdf

USDA

www.usda.gov/documents/usda-avian-influenza-factsheet.pdf www.aphis.usda.gov/wps/portal/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth

Kenny Coogan, CPBT-KA, is a pet and garden columnist and has authored an ecological themed children’s book titled “A Tenrec Named Trey (And other odd lettered animals that like to play).” He has a B.S. in animal behavior and is a certified bird trainer through the International Avian Trainers Certification Board. He cares for a 25-year-old Moluccan cockatoo, eight bantam chickens and six Cayuga-mallard hybrid ducks on his homestead. Find Kenny at Critter Companions by Kenny Coogan on Facebook.

Originally published in Backyard Poultry December 2015-January 2016 and regularly vetted for accuracy.

A Year-Round Chicken Care Calendar was originally posted by All About Chickens

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We have come a long way since our first post (6 months ago), here!I plan to continue updating our progress every 6 months, highlighting our mistakes and our hits in hopes your can utilize some ideas to help your ecommerce and the difficult business that is fresh (24 hours) perishable shipping.Who we are: https://www.cameronsseafood.com/in 1985 my Dad and Uncle started the Maryland Seafood business and today it does $20 million in gross revenue each year. We sell raw and cooked seafood, and prepared dishes at 14 locations — 11 storefronts and three trucks — We have over 1,000,000 customers in the Baltimore-Washington-Philadelphia market. On June 24th 2017 my cousin and I started the nationwide home shipping business as a separate entity. The operation is run by me, my wife, dad, uncle, brother, cousin and 60 employees. I have no ownership in the stores, food trucks, and franchises. My uncle owns and handles all that.My Background: the business was named after me in 1985 as I am the oldest son of 6 children. My main business is apartment brokerage and investing. I have been a MD, DC, and VA broker for 17 years www.idealrealty.com. I sell 100+ unit complexes to institutions and high net-worth individuals.Coolest Online Customers: Gilbert Arenas and Mia KhalifaWhat seafood do we sell online: Virtually everything but, 85% of sales are Maryland crabs, Maryland crab cakes, Maryland crab soups, and Free shipping samplers.What we do: we ship freshly cooked Maryland Blue Crabs, Crab cakes and seafood to your door in 24 hours after being caught in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. We send you seafood that is 3 days fresher than the grocery store. Btw, we accept bitcoin!Where do we get our Seafood? Chesapeake Bay, Maryland for Maryland products, using our own crabbers and contracted crabbers over the past 32 years. Although our COGS is 30%, shipping with 1-2 day delivery is very expensive, with the packaging materials outweighing the FedEx fees. We ship it fresh with Snow/King crab legs, soft shells (in off-season) and lobster tails being the items we ship frozen. Some items we receive frozen like Bee Gee shrimp from Louisiana.We are True Blue Certified, meaning In order to be True Blue certified, participating food service establishments commit that at least 75% of their annual crab usage will be from Maryland harvested or processed crabs.Startup Leverage: We do have some amazing advantages and you should tab into yours: 1) We don’t pay rent because we operate out of my uncles seafood headquarters. 2) We don’t need employees to handle extra orders (my partners handles up to 50 orders a day by himself) because we can use our existing employees. 4) We don’t have “employees” we contract existing employees meaning you don’t have to pay 15% tax 3) We don’t have food spoilage because we buy only what we need from our the stores each morning.Online Profit Margins: We aim for 35% gross margins with our cost of goods sold at 30%. However, packaging and shipping costs wipe out most of it while paid-advertisement has wiped out the rest leaving us with 10% gross for the first 6 months. 1) We eliminated AdWords since our ROI/customer acquisition costs were too high. 2) We reduced all packaging costs through trial and error. We eliminated anything not necessary then negotiated each material with three vendors. You need to create a bidding war. 3) We negotiated shipping rates by switching vendors 3x. We formed a strategic partnership to tab into their FedEx account. With a growing customer base we are on track to hit 30% gross next year but it’s possible to hit 40% and 10% net.Free Shipping Model: We offer free shipping to 29 states (1-2 day zones through FedEx ground network) when a customer spends over $200. Since our average order is $160 we think that’s a solid minimum order. We offer flat-rate air shipping everywhere else. National shipping is $94.99 or $79.99 when they spend $200+. We offer many free shipping sampler combos to local and regional customers. It’s too expensive to ship nationally without ridiculous pricing. That’s ok, if we can capitalize on the 29 ground states we will hit our $20,000,000 number. We don’t make any money on shipping, and I wish we could. Shipping page.Chargeback Fraud: people are creative and fraud has cost us thousands We cannot require signatures on shipments without incurring a $4.50 fee and what if the person isn’t home? FedEx will return the box to their hub subjecting it to transit issues and spoilage. A lot of our customers order our food as gifts so the billing and shipping don’t match. We learned you can get expensive software that charges a per transaction fee. It’s only worth if at higher volume but you can do your own fraud detection. For example, look up the shipping address in google maps. Google the person and look for articles about them to show they live in the state. Modify your payment processor’s security features so you can monitor the results. We noted most fraudsters order our frozen items (to store or resell them) so we carefully review each frozen order with wide eyes.Losses: We have made many errors totaling $15,000. Shipping wrong items, missing items, item arrives late or spoiled, gel packs melt, things happen. The important thing is to address the root cause, which helped us lower our losses rate from 15% down to 5% with a 3% goal in mind for 2018.Shipping – pin FedEx vs UPS and save money. Make sure the “rates” include a residential fee and fuel fees. Also know like new credit cards they will give you introductory rates that eventually run out and use your monthly sales volume to adjust up/down. Negotiate longer into rate periods if you can! UPS offers insurance on the entire sale and will grant 25% off next day air on any bad deliveries and charge $1.80 per $100 but there is a catch. Your customers need to provide you photo proofs, and UPS has to be at fault to receive a claim (late delivery which occurs less than 1%) or a forgetting to deliver. However, UPS has abysmal Saturday ground delivery networks as it’s new as of August 2017 when FedEx has the entire network open. UPS has a smaller ground delivery range that FedEx too. No brainer for us, we chose FedEx. We don’t take insurance because it’s a loss. This will depend on your line of business.Packaging Perishables – we reverse engineered Blue Apron and competitors to figure out how to ship fresh (and live) seafood. It also teaches you where to find suppliers (use manufacturers not resellers as they have a markup). Call them and form relationships.Gel Packs: It takes 5 weeks to properly freeze a gel pack! I thought our business was doomed when I learned this because how can I store that many gel packs and replenish them within my walk-in freezer? Solution: we pay for pre-frozen ones and have pallets stored at -10. We learned this from ordering from Blue Apron and calling the gel pack manufacturer.Boxes: to ship perishable seafood you probably need an insulated cooler and corrugated box kit. Since we started, we reduced costs by 30% by searching for a manufacturer (not a distributor) that can cut costs and store surplus for us. Costs include freight so find someone local within 1-2 hours of your HQ.Customer Service: We sell seafood but we are in the customer service business. We are open 7 days per week and either I or my brother will answer your phone calls (888-404-7454 x1). Our competitors are only open 5-days per week. We offer cash refunds and reshipments on any customer complaint. Our competitors may give you a credit on your next order…The customer is always right and we ensure 100% satisfaction guaranteed. This has converted customers to repeat customers. We treat each customer as we want to be treated. Give a little, get a lot.Website: I know you think I am biased because my wife created our site from scratch but she did an amazing job for her first ecommerce site! We modify content daily and advertise to our email list once per week with discount codes. This would have cost me $10,000 to $30,000 with all the changes we have made. It’s constantly evolving and the project never ends. Find a good partner that will grow with you. No 3rd party will put in the passion a strategic partner could offer. Try offering a lower hourly rate but give them a piece of the action for the difference.Advertising: The best advertisement for us has been word-of-mouth. We carry 5-star reviews on Facebook but getting satisfied customers to review is hard (after a sale they receive an email asking them to rate their experience). We thought about offering a coupon but it feels like a bribe. We do offer a coupon once someone abandons their cart to remarket. We send out weekly coupons via mailing list and we offer weekly storewide specials (the real savings happen when you sign up). Social media is free, get good at it. Learn which outlets suit your business. For us, Facebook and Instagram work whereas Twitter has no traction. I learned ads on social media don’t convert. Nobody wants to be spammed ads. They want to discuss a topic and engage on pictures, videos, and education about your field. They will find a way to buy from you. Instead of offering a coupon teach them a recipe, explain why a Maryland Crab is the world’s best crab (in the Chesapeake Bay, due to the specific climate, the Blue Crabs lie dormant for 6 months and form a layer of fat on their meat which gives them a their sweat buttery flavor!). You see, that’s interesting! When you post ask yourself how will this engage an audience? You want to advertise? Then try doing giveaways using www.gleam.io, which has amazing social networking tools to spread the word.Facebook is another animal where most of our success has been through remarketing. Currently, we are brainstorming both organic and paid Facebook ideas…I’m open to any suggestions. Getting customers to your homepage is the hardest part. Once they get there, your site has to convert them. When we started, we used Adwords to bring attention to our product pages but we had no other supportive information to convert them. We recrafted each page to stand on its own (assuming they never leave that page) and doubled our conversion rates!We outsource our SEO/AdWords to a company that we learned about through our first Reddit Post. SEO can take at least 6+ months to build up your keywords on the rankings list. You need to be on the 1st page or you won’t convert traffic. We started with most organic keyword rankings on the 64th page and are have almost all of our keywords now on the 3rd page. By February most of our keywords should be on the 1st page! Many things went into this including getting quality backlinks, blogging 6 times per month with SEO rich content, carefully titling each page, section, and product; and Keyword/URL optimization.Adwords: We foolishly spent $42,000 on AdWords and ended our campaign with $37 cost per conversion and 186.29% ROI, which doesn’t allow us to make profit during the off-season (crabs are seasonal from April to November) so we will try again in Q2, 2018.Influencers: overall this hasn’t been profitable. We have social media influencers with 100k+ dedicated seafood/food followers whereby we grant them a vanity link and discount but it hasn’t worked. We belong to several influencer networks were they receive 8% for posting banner adds, this has only brought in $10,000…Mia Khalifa: We reached out to Mia as she has the strongest influences (4m+ followers) for a Maryland native that loves our seafood. We sent her food and she spent a week hyping the brand including social media posts, PMs and featured a Twitch episode about Cameron’s. Definitely drove tremendous traffic although we can only ship to the USA due the transit time lag of customs. We look forward to working more with her.Gilbert Arenas: I’m a huge Gilbert and Wizards fan! He replied to Mia’s post and a PM worked to get his interest. He is a real character and orders a lot of our seafood each month. He love the high-protein variety that (Maryland) seafood provides. Chicken and vegetables does get boring.Washington Post: We were featured in the Washington Post on Dec 1st, see here. They did a good job summarizing our business so far. We have also been featured in Forbes, New York Times, Huffington Post and more. How? I googled the food reviewer from each of the above and figured out their contact info. Sent them a 2-line email asking them to review our food and boom!Videos We started sharing videos of the entire process so you can see the experience before you risk order fresh seafood online. We plan to continue posting new videos in 2018 and I’d love feedback on what you would like to see?What we doFirst Customer UnboxingAnother unboxingResteam Maryland Crabs (gif recipe style)Packaging demo2018 GoalsGetting to 100+ orders a day without paid advertisementWholesale crab cakes to home meal delivery providers (i.e. Blue Apron)Wholesale frozen crab cakes and soups to large retailers (i.e Costco) and AmazonVisit multiple tradeshowsPlease provide us any feedback or ideas. We want to get better and need your help.Discount code "holiday" will save you 10% on all order and we accept Bitcoin!

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First and foremost: thank you all for your kind support in this thread... not only the responses, but the dozen+ messages. Some of you just wrote to say you're interested, some even offered to help out. I'm grateful and hope you all keep along with me on the journey - rain or shine.Let's get the first part started - Hi guys - long time lurker and new time poster. I've been reading /r/startups & /r/Entrepreneur for years and all the information I've gathered has been invaluable in my day job, and now I'm hoping to make the step-up to stop thinking and start doing. I'm going to start a dropshipping e-commerce website with a large number of items & a (hopefully) unique value proposition.Most importantly: I'm not now, nor plan to, sell anything or benefit from this directly by any means. I won't be posting my website, linking to my blog, or offering a course at end (if I start making money). The reason for these posts will be: to gather my thoughts into words, to regurgitate what I'm learning (teaching is the best way to learn new concepts, etc etc) and most importantly to get input from you guys. I'm hoping people may learn from what I do, mistakes I make, things I read/summarize, etc. and that I can learn from your guys' experience.1 - The BasicsThe idea: I debated whether to get specific with you all or not, but.... here goes. If you can do the idea better than I will, congratulations :) The website will be a variety of items curated into collections for gift giving. For example - a curated list of items for college graduation for someone who is into automobiles. This custom curated list will include car tools, unique car items (one real example: an anti-glare sun visor), maybe a battery charger, etc. This gives me two target markets - for the gift giver, and the gift getter. It will have a request feature ("wishlist") but will be marketed towards gift givers ("hey sister of a college graduate, no idea what to get your brother? check out what our staff recommends"The problem(s): it's broad. But what's the biggest problem I forsee? Gift giving isn't always thought ahead of time. It's not something you plan a month in advance (because, you know, dropshipping). Shipping times, shipping problems, shipping times, shipping problems. We'll tackle it. Our marketing will have to be top-notch.Unique Value Propositions:Curated list definable by occasion, age, relationship, hobbies, etc.Established "trustworthyness" from custom lists, so that people can feel comfortable purchasing the items without thinking "will they like it?"The ability to create wishlists - both for personal use and for marketing (instagram influencers, hello.)The ability to REQUEST a custom collection of items. You fill out a form that says 'hey I have a sister who's into this hobby, this hobby, and this hobby. She's graduating college this year. What should I get her?" Boom, we create a list for you, and you fill your cart upPricing. Gift giving for some is super easy - just ask what they want, and buy that playstation 4 they want. For some... it's kind of... scary. I want to buy my friend something nice, but I don't want to spend $50 on a gift. The items on our website will be REALLY reasonably priced. Ranging from $15 and above. Pretty reasonable for a gift.The Future: The first step forward will be to move suppliers away from Aliexpress (will be described more below) to specialty vendors. This will require talking to them individually and will require more work (less automation) but will improve pricing, quality, and shipping times.My ULTIMATE goal somewhere along the line is an automated list of items based on an individuals own social media and/or ideas from the inputter. Listen, if someone has the time to make this website/idea - do it. You input your friend/relative's social media accounts, the bot crawls them for keywords, and creates a curated list based on keyword match. You can teach it to add/remove certain categories (ex: she complains about make-up but she never wears it - so don't give me makeup suggestions). This is not something I have any way of making yet, but it's actually kind of how this idea was bore. I think this would be an awesome website/tool.2 - Where I am NowSite & Structure:Domain registeredShopify hostedProducts (see below)Pages done: FAQ, Contact Us, About Us, ShippingAs of now, I have imported 255 products into my store with appropriate titles & pictures. The only thing left is to fix up the descriptions on them all - I will be adding a small slight personalization to them all (two-three sentences) but the majority will just be fixing & improving Alibabi's product descriptions.What's Left:Logo - Any suggestions? Will probably be deciding on a freelancer from Fiverr or something similarOfficial paperwork - I have an LLC registered, but I need to register a DBA under my websites name. This wormhole will also lead me down to banking, credit card, etc. I hope Shopify/Aliexpress will ease these a little bit but I need to figure out the nitty gritty.Aliexpress research - I need to learn & try purchasing from Aliexpress vendors. For the beginning, I will not be using an automated app to order. I would also like to learn about the best procedures for communicating with vendors, shipping, etc.So how close are we to launching? Two weeks.3 - Apps, Programs & WebsitesDomain - namecheap.comHosting - ShopifyApps I am using or will use:Consistent Cart - this was the first one I tried out but I'm open to suggestionsFomo - I love these little popup social proofs on ecommerce websites. I hope it'll be very helpful in the conversion rate stageMailChimp - I'm not sure how I'm going to incorporate newsletters, but I know it's an important facet in recurring salesOberlo - This is the quarterback of the team. It is how I am importing products from Aliexpress, pricing them, and keeping up with quantity. I hope it works as good as looks so far with the pricing and inventory. It claims to update once a day I believe. So far it's been working great for importing, but I have not yet used any of it's order fulfillment tools (and don't plan to, at least in the beginning)TRUST - Adds trust seals onto the pageWHAT I NEED RIGHT NOW: Wishlist. Any suggestions? The one's I've tried haven't been great.FUTURE: Kit/Marketing tool - open to suggestions... Kit was the most I've run across in suggestionsFUTURE: Fraud Filter - I've seen Subuno recommended most oftenFUTURE: Upsell Bundle - to include bundles. I'm not sure if this will work great for my website. I'll take a look once we go liveFUTURE: Product Reviews - looking for suggestions here as well. I've seen a few recommended. I'm also interested in how you guys would recommend starting. I don't want to begin with all products having 0 reviews, I don't want to fake reviews, and I think with a wide variety of items I'll be hardpressed to ask for reviews off the bat. Should I put this on pause until I get a steady stream of purchases?Social Media Management - this is another area that I will be looking into further. I know Instagress & buying likes get a bad rap, but I'll be reading into them more to get started. At least at the beginning, I just want to look like an established business more than worrying about engagement & conversion.Products - Aliexpress.com4 - Choosing ProductsSo to get into the meat of it all. As mentioned in my previous thread -My rules for myself & my customers - I won't use dropshipping from overseas as an excuse for lack of quality. I will only put up items that I have faith in because of reviews, orders, and vendors. I will spend the time to make sure my customers are not "fooled" - upfront on shipping times, easy returns, etc. I will not con people for the sake of making a sale. With transparency & honest interactions I hope to limit my returns/problems & keep recurring buyers as well as take pride in my products & websiteSo, with that in mind: my criteria for finding items on Aliexpress (using Oberlo as a tool to filter):Must have ePacket shipping (12-20 days shipping times) avaliableMust have over 500 ordersVendor must have 4.5 or higher star ratingBrand names must be from the brand store onlyI took a quick look through the comments & reviews just to see if I could spot anything out of the ordinary (example: some items have lots of orders & high review but lots of 5 star reviews saying 'product didn't come, but vendor was quick in refunding me'.... that's not what we want)Items were unique and not a very common product someone could pick up from a store. For example, the anti-glare sun visor mentioned before... it's available in a store somewhere, but you wouldn't just 'run across' it while looking for a gift. You would have to specifically search for it, and it may not even be available at a regular storeBrand names did not sound very foreign (sorry guys)5 - Marketing PlanSEO - My main focuses will be on the collection pages. Using the example of college graduate with an interest in automobiles, I will gear the page to hit keyword for long-tail searches like "gift ideas for college graduate interested in cars". Throw in lots of backlinks, and see the organic results come on. Did I sound like I know what I'm talking about? This is gonna require lots of reading & research.Social media - My biggest hope is what I believe to be a very undervalued form of advertising - social media influencers. I hate them as much as you do, but I really think it could be great value for the money. I plan to offer influencers a few options - a set $ for posting a link to my website/product, a free product for posting about it, a % of net profit for posting my website, OR the option of posting their own curated collection (give their followers the impression of 'wow I'm so important that this website made a page just for me'.PPC - I don't believe google adwords will be my #1 converter, but I'll give it a try (thank you Shopify for the $100 free adword credits). Facebook ads & Facebook video ads most of all are where I will be focusing most of my budget & focus.6 - FinancialsRevenue - $0Expenses so far: $66.87Domain name: $8.88Email: $5.00/monthFomo: $19.00/month (I forgot to cancel the trial!)Shopify: $29.00/monthConsistent Cart: $4.99/month (will remain active, for the moment)Future fees:DBA registrationPO Box / Virtual Mailbox (any tips??)Fees per order:Shopify: 2.90% credit card fee + $0.30/order7 - Short Term Gameplan1) Finish the product listings (about 20/255 done as of time of writing)2) Get logo finished3) Set up DBA, P.O Box/Virtual mailbox4) Set up social media accounts5) Order 2-3 items from website to learn what customer sees, learn how to order from aliexpress, any unforseen problems6) Make site live8 - Long Term Gameplan1) Start off with aliexpress so I can minimize my interactions with vendors prior to sales coming in. Work on SEO, website, marketing, etc. Learn the ins and outs of the game before I move into bigger time & money commitments.2) Once the idea is somewhat validated, I have a good grasp on the basics of service & marketing, I will look into a service with similar dropshipping capabilities to aliexpress but local (the current options I've ran across such as Doba aren't as easy to manage or begin with). This will hopefully improve my quality & my shipping time while cutting down on my customer service problems & time3) Start working with individual vendors and products that can dropship. More time spent with each individual vendor and product (remember, there will be a large list of items), in exchange for only top quality products, service, and customer relationships.TL;DR: IM SORRY ABOUT THE 9 PAGE ESSAY. Please give me all your input and criticism so I can improve my idea, my posts, and we can work together. I'd love to hear any suggestions you all have.Since this is post #1 - I'd love to hear your thoughts on the presentation of the post. I tried to be concise but expand and it's kind of in the middle. Did I talk about too much? Didn't get specific enough? Too specific? Tl;DR? Should I focus on something else I forgot? Please let me know. Part 2 will be adapted to your responses.P.S. I will respond to posts & messages as fast as I can, but please be patient. Thanks. Thanks for your kind words, thanks for your help, and thanks for your love.