I've been in touch with JoAnna about the possibility of a Soap of the Quarter subscription. Those who subscribe would receive one full size soap (not sample size as though are more difficult for her, and sorry, no creams) each quarter of the year. All the details have not been worked out, but I envision subscriptions would be in one-year increments. She is looking into pricing, packaging and shipping and what ever else will make this an enticing deal. I'm about to open a big can o' worms. JoAnna has asked me to find out what scent we should start with so she'll know what to have ready. I'm afraid that if 30 people respond, we're going to get 35 different suggestions! I'm no scent-ologist, so I can't even begin to suggest a scent unique to what JoAnna already has available. Here are a few of my thoughts: 1) Let JoAnna pick the scent every quarter based on her whim. 2) Let JoAnna make seasonal-appropriate suggestions that could be voted on. 3) A free-for-all vote session (see my comment on the can o' worms!) 4) Your thoughts on a better way this could be done
I agree with Etoyoc, option 2 is best and option 1 is the next best option. Steve - thanks to you and JoAnna for following up on this.
:sihns011 2 or 1 Would there be a menthol option? Would it be each person decides, everyone decides or based on that seasons soap?
Option One seems like a good idea. And the easiest for Joanna. It seems to me that if you are going to do a Soap of the quarter, the whole point is to try new things you wouldn't normally try. If soap of the quarter is all bay rum, lime, rose, etc. what I would call typical scents I'm still interested but would rather have more unique scents. Stuff I'd not normally commit to trying. I'm pretty sure Joanna has done some interesting scents in the past I remember someone here talking about her Beer scent and some other different scents that were more unique. Also for those of that have tried a puck before, how long does it last you, on average, with everyday use?
Ok, well....I picked out some scents I guess we could start with. Question. Cheap container or nice container? Cheap container being a Petri Dish. Nice large lathering area, compact for cheaper shipping to/for you guys, not so pretty, but a nice label could fancy it up a bit, and the lid does not stay attached, just sits on it, but it won't rust. Oh, and probably a smaller puck of soap. Not sure how much I can get in it, but I'd prefer at least 2 ozs. I do have some Petri Dishes on hand to test this out. Nice container being a tin with fitted lid. Possibly going to rust if left wet, though. Still compact to save on shipping costs. A bit more expensive. Fits 4 ozs.
Is the consensus that for the first month of the subscription you would get a container, and then for each period after that you get a refill soap puck? Personally, I could care less about the container's construction. The petri dish would be sufficient. I think 2 oz. per quarter-year is a small enough quantity to keep the price point low enough for personal interest and also allow for people's general soapy wanderlust.
I would think that to start off this endeavor and not overwork JoAnna, packaging should be what is easier for her. Personally, I would be just as happy with refill pucks and not having a container. However, that would probably require JoAnna making the soaps in some form of mold, removing the soaps pucks from the mold, packaging the puck in something, and then prepping the molds for the next batch of soap - not hardly as easy as letting the soap cure directly in its container.
The container really doesn't matter to me; petri dish is fine, if a fancy container is easier for JoAnna, that's fine too.
This is a cool idea, and my vote is for option 1. It seems like otherwise it could just end up being a mess. This way Joanna can get feedback and input on scents that might be new or under used and we can still get seasonal appropriate things. And the best part is that if you don't like them there would be a whole thread of participants expressing their opinions so pushing it off to someone who does shouldn't be much of a problem.