It's a week to go before Thanksgiving and the "official" start of the holiday season, but the consensus here at Penguin Central is that we've been
in the "I can't believe it's almost the holidays" season for a couple of weeks now. For me these last three months has really flown (it's ironic that time can fly while penguins can't). If you combine my usual work I do preparing for the penguin holiday rush with all that it's taken to get the new Penguin Place website up and running, these last three months have gone by in a flash. For me Penguin-Place.com mach II has been an endless procession of little problems, big problems, blips, changes, corrections, touch ups, touchdowns, updates, revisions, hiccups and maybe even a burp or two thrown in for good measure. On the plus side, I actually think I've run out of things to fix, but of course just when I think I've addressed everything, I find something else that needs some tinkerling.
The latest update I'm making this weekend has to do with the infamous Login, User ID, Password thing. Personally, I can't stand them. I know, I know, it helps speed up the process of checking out (if you've got all your user id, password stuff handy).
But, if you're like me, and have a couple of different passwords for things, and can't always remember which goes with which you're in trouble. I can hardly remember where I parked my car no less what my different passwords are for amazon, google, you tube, my bank, USPS, my space, etc.
On Penguin Place, the login stuff is / was on the home page and it gave some people the impression that they had to login or register just to shop or waddle around the site, which is simply not true.
You don't have to login to shop or even check out, but penguin shoppers thought you did. So, to keep things simple, I'm taking the login off the home page, and it'll just be on the check out page from now on for frequent shoppers who want to breeze through the check out process. I've also listened to some customers who ended up stuck or stumped on the checkout page and I'm trying to make things as easy and simple as possible to get through the check out page.
Speaking of simple, my favorite P-Bay lister Warren can't seem to get the price he wants for his Chilly Willy visor. So, with the clock ticking, as he's moving in with his gal pal in two weeks and apparently that hat (as well as many other of Warren's prize possessions) must go (ah, the things we do for love), Warren has not only lowered the price and tweaked the name (he removed the word Vintage from the title), he even sent in a new picture of the hat, this time with himself wearing it at his computer. I call the photo Warren and Chilly Visor in Action. Good luck and God Bless Warren.
Speaking of P-Bay it appears to be quite a hit.
We've managed to find some loving homes for many a wayward penguin, and even had a few people listing with us that have sold some penguins. It's not a windfall, but it's been good, clean old fashion penguin fun. The only P-Bay related mishap so far was when I sold an old window display Antarctic Dominoes shirt, and thought I should wash it one more time before sending it on to its new home.
In my multi-tasking haste I mistakenly used fabric softener instead of detergent. Well, needless to say the shirt didn't come out looking too happy (although it was quite soft). I ended up sending the customer two shirts and note explaining why they were a little tie dyed looking and so extra soft.
I'm happy to report that with Black Friday a mere week away our penguin inventory and selection look to be the best we've ever offered!
At the moment we're listing 437 different penguin items and to top it off coming in later this week will be a really fun new set of indoor / outdoor penguin lights, aprons, baby bibs, place mats, dish towels, pot holders, oven mitts, clothe napkins, magnets, Australian penguin crossing signs and socks.
Also, we'll be accepting PayPal starting next week. On a more serious note, due to my over indulgence regarding our yummy chocolate penguin pops (they're really good), I've instructed my assistant Jake to hide the stash of chocolate penguins from me. From now on when we get an order that has chocolate penguin pops in it, I have to leave the room while Jake fetches penguin pops for the order.
So, far I've yet to peak but it's only been two days and I'm convinced he's eating them behind my back.
And, you thought it was all fun and games working at Penguin Place.
Oh yeah, in case you're curious, although they are birds, penguins do not taste like turkey.
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