INSIDE THE SHOP: SOCIALS — 8 MINUTE UPDATE & IS USPS RAISING PRICES - Episode 59

https://linktr.ee/KarriKennedy

Quick 8 minute update from my last show

Then we get into what’s actually going on with USPS pricing

What’s being proposed

What it affects

How it connects from the Gaza Strip to global shipping

And what it could mean for you as a seller

#WhyNotWhatnot

#KarriKennedy

#InsideTheShop

#WhatnotSellers

#USPS

#ShippingUpdate

#ResellerLife

#OnlineSelling

#Ecommerce

#WhatnotApp

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Hey there guys. I hope everybody is doing well. It has been crazy. Friday night, I guess it was. I went on and I did an almost 11 minutes shy of 13-hour show. I did mostly$1 starts and I did 100% free shipping. I was only going to do it for like even half an hour to two hours. That was the plan. My assistant ended up leaving. It was crazy. I talk about it in the last episode, but I just wanted to give an update. At the end of the day, I ended up spending over$1,000 on shipping. I think my total was something like$32.50. So I made$2,250. But I'm telling you, once you figure out how much I paid for the products, the packing, me paying Sarah$20 an hour for helping pack all my time packing, I really think it was more like I made like$800 after 13 hours. And let me just tell you a few things real quick, and then I'm going to get into this episode because I just wanted to give you the update and I didn't want to make two separate episodes. Basically, I really did think that I was going to get off. So I didn't think it was going to be that big of an issue. And I just kept getting peer pressure because there were so many people in there and they liked it. Whatever. I, yeah, I caved, guys. I wasn't really thinking about how bad that was going to cost. But let me just tell you, I'm planning on doing this again and changing it because I did not have flat rate boxes. This is a true story. I know you guys are going to say, she's crazy. Why are we listening to her? Guys, I did not intend to go that long and I was having fun and my customers were having fun. And what the heck? I got rid of a lot of stuff. It was great. Um, it ended up being 105 orders and 320 items. That's a hell of a lot for a 13-hour show, at least for me, because this isn't close. You know, some people went on when I posted this on a group and they went on and flexed, and they're like, Oh, I make that much in two hours. I make that. I'm like, okay, buddy, yeah, but not in this category, you don't. And so, you know, I think it's great that there's there's people out there that want to flex and whatever, but for this category to sell 320 items in one show, even no matter how long it is, that's a lot. And when you're talking glass and you're talking breakables and you're talking electronics and pottery, and it just I had everything. It was like an estate sale. It was vintage, estate sale, everything. And it was a lot. And so it took us too much time to pack. And I don't think I would do this again because I only had priority. It either had to go in priority boxes or it had to go in ground, obviously, once it got to be too big, but that really hurt me. And then also, I think in if I do it this like once a month and I do like a 10-hour show once a month or something like that, I would definitely make sure I have flat rate boxes and I would definitely um tell people please, please, please order more than one thing. I think people were doing it just to like take advantage, but there was tons of people who were coming in and buying like Taffy from the Buy It Now, or which means I had to go up to Bucky's, buy the Bucky's. I made absolutely no money. They basically had 100% free shipping. So there were people who were coming in and taking advantage of me. I'd be willing to do this again to see how it goes and really encourage people to buy more than one thing because that definitely happened. And actually, let me give you a few notes that I had in here that um I'm just gonna give you some feedback on how this happened. Um, I had nine raids, and that was six dollars and sixty-six cents um for the you know, whatever items I sent, and they were eye masks. And then just to give you an example, this is where I, you know, you just take it's a taking a chance, guys. And I'm gonna get into the whole episode here in just a second. Um, a cookbook was bought for$10 and I paid$9.21 shipping. Well, the girl bought it for$18. So I lost a dollar and 21 cents, basically. You see what I'm saying? Um, another girl bought a Kate Spade wallet and it was$119, is what I paid for it. Um, she paid$28 and I paid$7. So she got a$119 wallet, and she only paid like really without shipping and stuff. You see what I'm saying? Like, I just lost so much. That was a dumb one. Um, I probably should not have done that. I'm kind of kicking myself on that. I sold these blue and white plates, and they usually go for like 15 to 20 bucks online. I sold them for five bucks a piece, and unfortunately, and I'll I'll make sure I do this next time differently. I should have bundled it. I should have bundled it, but people wanted just one to hang up or whatever. So when I sold it, um I ended up spending$15 for shipping for just one. Um, I had to send it, I don't know where it went, but I had to send it. And so basically I lost money on those plates. One guy got this huge owl that's worth like 30 bucks and a demitas cup that was worth like 20. So he paid 15 bucks. I paid 921 in shipping, right? And he got$50 worth of stuff. So that was a loss. I mean, I I I just I'm sitting here telling you all the losses because I wrote these down. A picture frame went for$7. I ended up paying$4.91 for shipping, so that was a loss. Um, I had two different Chrissies in there, and I think I got it figured out, but that sucked because I didn't write their full names down and I had to figure that out. Um, I had$52 worth of jewelry and Funko type stuff that I paid, like who knows for. And I I think I paid$9 for shipping. Um, so yeah, there were some people who made some really good deals, but guys, really the goal was to get, you know, my momentum up, to try something new, to get it out the door. I I tried it, you know. Yeah, some wins, some losses. I get it. And y'all can think I'm crazy and that's fine. But, you know, at the end of the day, I took a risk. I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I'm a person who doesn't just sit on my hands watching everybody else do it and not try. And I definitely think you guys should try things too. I think what I'm gonna do next time is do like a 10-hour show with$1 starts and maybe$5 shipping or something like that. Um, and I'll definitely do flat rates with ground as my, you know, tags. Um, I'm honestly just waiting on boxes, guys. I've sold so much stuff lately. Um, my shippy, I mean, here, I'm gonna go to my stats real quick so I can tell you I've had um 392 items. And there's a third one that's going 393 items because one isn't listed. I had to get a specialty box for it. 393 items from March 23rd to March 29th. That is a lot because some of these are things like brass and pottery and glass, and it's a ton. And I'm I'm out of everything. I'm out of tissue, I'm out of paper, I'm out of bubble wrap, I'm out of boxes, I'm out of post office boxes. It just was one of those times. But you know, the way I look at it, life goes on and it's cool, and yeah. So um, okay, I spent seven, almost eight minutes on that now. Now I'm gonna get into what the episode is really gonna be about. Um, and that is the this is a socials uh show, guys. And what we're gonna talk about on this one is the UPS. Um, I mean USPS. And the reason we're doing this is because, well, it's just a lot of chatter, but I actually have notes for this. So sit down if you like history, if you like my my feedback, here we go. Okay, so the USPS has now filed approval with the Postal Regulation Commission, the PRC. Okay. So here's what is included. They want to put all of the priority mail, including your flat rate, all priority mail express, and all grand ground advantage mail. Now, when I read this the first time, I thought, okay, that means just boxes, but it doesn't. It's the it's the format of shipping, not a certain type, right? So it's an 8% increase over those services. That's what they want to change. Okay. Now, first class mail, like stamped letters and PWEs, which is plain white envelopes, those are gonna stay the same. Those they're not asking to change that at all. Um, so here's where we're going. Why is this happening? Here's the deal: it comes down to fuel and transportation costs. Now, I know there's a lot of people who do not go to church on here, and I know there's a lot of people who do not watch the news on here. So I am going to add my feedback and my thoughts on this. Sorry about that, guys. Man, I yeah, I talked for 13 hours the other day. I think my throat is still getting used to that. Okay, so I'm going to explain how what happened in the Gaza Strip, what started in the Gaza Strip October 7th, okay. Um, in 20, was it 23 or 24? 23, 23, October 7th, 23 is affecting your pocketbook today. Okay. I'm going to connect the dots for you guys. So here we go. So Israel and the Gaza Strip sit right next to each other. If you guys like go pull it up on the map, you'll see that the Gaza Strip is this like tiny little chunk of land right there by the water, right? It's 25. I apologize. It's 25 miles long and it's only a few miles wide. It's like this tiny little bitty chunk and it sits right there on the Mediterranean, and Egypt is right below it. If you go look up a map, it'll make more sense. But when you like look at the whole globe and you see that this tiny little chunk of land has been so intrical for thousands of years. We're not talking decades, guys. People have been literally fighting over this since Bible times, right? Um, the current war started October 7th. And okay, let me just keep going. Let's talk about how far this goes because I'll I'll go off on a tangent here. So Iran is east of Israel and Yemen sits right um where the Saudi Arabia uh it's in the south. Okay, wait, hold on. Yemen is south of Saudi Arabia along the Red Sea, okay? Now, I really feel like you guys gotta pull up a map of all this, but the Red Sea is a major, major, major shipping route. Okay, it connects directly to the Suez Canal. Now you're like, what do we know about the Suez Canal? And why is Kiri talking about this? Because I think you guys need to know history, it's important. These are big things. What people don't realize that what happens in the past affects the future. What's going on right now with the USPS um postal service and them asking for it link directly to the Suez Canal. So stick with me. The Suez Canal connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, and ships use it to move all kinds of cargo, right, between Asia and Europe. So without it, you gotta look at the map. It would all these ships, all the cargo would have to go literally all the way around to Africa. Okay. Now, there was this guy, his name's Ferdinand Lesseps or something. I don't remember. Anyways, he is the guy who completed the Suez Canal back in like 1869, okay? And about 15% of all of the world's trade moves through the Suez Canal, okay, between Asia and Europe. That's a really big deal because, guys, we live in America, we get stuff from everybody, okay? So this is gonna affect us, our gas prices. I'm kind of not just talking about USPS, I'm talking about your gas prices, your clothing prices, everything, housing prices, everything is being affected by what's happening right now. Okay. Um, so there's this group called the Houthis. It's H-O-U-T-H-I-S, okay. And they're bad guys, and they're in Yemen and they're aligned with Iran, okay? And they're like pirates, basically. I mean, think of them like that. They're bad guys. They are attacking all kinds of ships, mostly commercial, because commercial ones are the ones that have those big um oh housing. They take those crates. What are those called? I'll think about it in a second. Oh, shipping containers, the shipping containers, and they're attacking those along the Red Sea. Okay, it's choosing these because they're mad with Israel because they want that land, that little 25 miles long and a few miles across. Gets bigger, two, three miles here, five miles here, whatever. They want that little strip of land that they've been fighting over for thousands of years. This is not a new thing, which is crazy. Anyways, ships tied to countries that have any affiliation and support for Israel, they're they're mad. I'm trying to be P P C here and not use bad language, but I kind of want to. I don't know whose kids are in the car, but they're really, really mad, right? So they want the land that Israel they're fighting for this land, okay, guys. Iran and Israel fighting for the same little piece of land. So they're gonna attack each other and anybody else who supports them. So ships flagged or owned by certain companies, regions, um, ships suspected of being connected with I um Israel at all. Shipping companies are involved avoiding that whole route now, you know? It just think of um, oh, what is it? Pirates of the Caribbean. If you know pirates are gonna be that way, you're not gonna go that way, right? So um what they're having to do if they can't go through there in the Red Sea and do the Suez Canal and all this is messed up, they have to reroute all the way around Africa. That's about, you know, dependent on how far they go out and where it is, it's probably like over 3,000 miles, maybe four or five. I don't know. I didn't look it up, guys, but I promise it's at least 3,000 miles because it's huge. Go look at the continent of Africa, okay? That's gonna put at least another seven to 10 extra days, and it's crazy. Okay, so what are we basically saying? We're saying that the war that's going on right now that started October 7th, 2023, which is really bad. They attacked, there was this concert. You guys can go look it up. I won't go into a deep dive, but basically the Palestinians attacked Israel, okay, and and a bunch of innocent people, and it was really horrible. Anyways, um, there's this war. Now it's caused a root, uh route disruption because of the pirates, the bad guys. And so that means there's longer travel. That longer travel means higher cost because you're adding an extra 3,000 plus seven plus and seven plus days, right? To go around. So what that looks like is somebody's gotta pay for it, guys. Who's gonna pay for it? I'll tell you who's gonna pay for it. You and me are gonna end up paying for it. Everybody is going to have to pay for this because all these cargo ships, they're they contain those huge um shipping containers that everybody has, right? And they burn like tons and tons. I think it's um about 150 uh, like 150 tons of fuel per day for one of those shipping containers. So you're talking over a thousand tons of fuel to get it a shipping container to go around. Okay, did you hear that? That's an extra week is getting uh a thousand extra tons of fuel. So when you add that up, it ends up to be about 500,000 to a million dollars more per trip. But you got to think of how you guys imagine one of those shipping containers. Some of these cargo freight things can carry 8,000, 12,000, you know, 15,000. There's some that can contain, and this blows my mind, but check me, I'm not kidding. 20,000 of those huge things. I can't even wrap my mind around seeing a hundred of those, but they can put 20,000 shipping containers, those big things people are making houses out of. So, yes, there's a lot of money tied up in it, but when it costs, you know, half a million to a million dollars per trip, that global, you know, traffic and the carriers and the money and everything is going to cost us more. It's gonna cost us more because we got to get it here. All the companies are raising their prices, gas prices are rising, USPS prices are rising. Whatnot prices I'm suspecting are gonna rise too. We're gonna get into this, but I'm gonna give you my Christian perspective here, guys. I know nowhere else are you gonna get a whatnot uh, a whatnot episode with me talking about my crazy 13-hour show and global, you know, wars and how it's affecting your pocketbook and then a Christian spin, but you are gonna get that. Okay, so here's the deal. Um, we're talking about Jerusalem. Okay, that is a key player in end times. I go to a church, it's called um Sugarland Bible Church. I'm actually looking for another church right now, but that that's a whole nother different situation. Um, but I've been going there for, I don't know, six years or something like that. Anyways, um, Dr. Andy Woods, Pastor Andy, um talks about prophecy all the time. Our whole family is pretty into it, so that's why you're getting the bonus treatment, baby. Um, but basically, Jerusalem is being surrounded and always has been by all these different nations, okay? Um, and that's exactly what's happening with this Gaza Strip. You know, Iran, um, Israel fighting that that this whole thing has been going on, and it goes out into the Red Sea. This is reaching out there, and I'm gonna just read um a couple little Bible verses I pulled. Zechariah 14, 12. Zachariah 14, 12 says, For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle. This has literally been going on for thousands of years. This tiny little place, go look it up on the map, guys, has had constant battles and fights forever. Seriously. Um, this is multiple nations and groups involved in the region right now. This is taking place. Okay, then Ezekiel 37, 21, and 22 says, Behold, I will take children of Israel from among the nations, and I will bring them into their own land, and I will make them one nation. That's what it says. That is what happened. My I teach my kids this stuff, and we say, um, Israel became a state in 14, I mean 1948, kind of like Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, that kind of thing. So Israel became a state seen by not just the United States of America. We're the ones who announced it because we were, you know, biggest, you know, world power. Um, we announced it, but NATO supported it too. We all supported it that Israel was going back to its original place, and all the Jews and Jerusalem and all of that have been there since the beginning of time. Like if you go study scripture, you can find these places in the Bible. Okay. So um basically, what's what this means, okay? Just I think this is in times, is where I'm going with that. That it's it's saying, um, you know, behold, I will take my children out from Israel among the nations, and I will bring them to their own land, and they will be one nation. So in night in 1948, prophecy kicked into high gear, is what I'm saying. And if you look into prophecy and you look into Christian history and you look into the events of today, it is playing out, just boom, boom, boom. I could go on, but I just wanted to throw that in there. Okay, so what does this actually mean for you guys selling on whatnot? Okay, nothing right this second. Okay, nothing has changed. No announcement from whatnot about the shipping increases. But if this gets approved, which I highly suspect it will, I mean, the only way it wouldn't is if like the war stops, which I don't think is gonna happen. In fact, there's a lot of money involved with war, and I believe that a lot of people are getting rich off war right now. And um, yeah, I think it's gonna keep, I think we're in time, so it's just gonna get worse. But here we go. Um, here's a few things that could happen. Shipping costs are gonna go up, certain weights and zones, and then whatnot might adjust its pricing, or whatnot might be scared to death because of the economy and the gas prices and everything else. And they might look at it and say, boy, if we raise it another 8%, like they're talking about doing, people might drop off like flies. I don't know what they're gonna say or think. Um, but no details are confirmed, and people are all over social media right now talking about that. That's why you know I'm talking about this. Um, so when shipping changes, you as a seller have to change, you know, buyers have to change because now our prices are, you know, it doesn't matter. It this little teeny piece of land, the Gaza Strip, this little area, Jerusalem, the Israel uh is Israeli people fighting with you know, these pirates, all this stuff happening is affecting your pocketbook, not just at whatnot, at the grocery store, at the clothing store, everywhere. Because All those things coming, it's affecting everybody. Okay. So people are going to adapt. You're either going to see prices raise, you're going to see bundle items, you're going to see focusing only on lighter items because they realize that, oh my gosh, to send this lamp is going to cost me 40 bucks. Something's going to happen. And either it's going to get bad or it's going to get better. Whatnot's going to have to make a decision. Something's going to have to happen, though. And I'll tell you, it's going to happen by April 26th. I think that's the deadline. Um, it's going to affect everybody, though. It's not just whatnot, guys. This is probably going to happen on eBay, Etsy, Amazon, you name it. It's going to affect. So, what should you do right now? I mean, just do what you're supposed to do. Just keep trucking and wait for the official dates. Just keep making sure you're sending the right boxes with the right labels. Go look at the previous episodes, all of that. Nothing has changed yet, but it'll probably happen by April 26th. That's what they're saying. Um, and once again, I'm gonna repeat this USPS is wanting to, they've appropri applied for approval from the PRC, the Postal Regulatory Commission. And they're pointing to the war. They're like, dude, our gas prices, we're not making enough money. We've got to pay our employees. We we can't make sustain this. And so that is what is happening right now. Um, let me see. I I had I think I have some more notes in here somewhere. Um, but hold on. I think let me I'm scrolling real quick, guys. I thought I put something in here. Anyways, I guess to wrap it all up, I think that's good enough. Um, but anyways, guys, right now, nothing's happened. If anything does, I'll post something else. But that's why I do these episodes so that you guys can know what's going on and stay grounded and not follow all the hype because there are a bunch of people, they're potsters, and they're going on social media and they're like, whatnot's raising their prices, and this is happening. That's bull. That's not happening, guys. We still have it, could be earlier, it could be April 5th, for all I know. I don't know, but I will post it. Nothing has changed yet. You will see, you know, what's gonna happen. I will post it. Something's gonna happen, but just you know, keep your ear to the ground, if you will, you know. And um, yeah, that's about it. I was gonna see if there was anything else I was supposed to tell you, but quite honestly, eh, I'll just give you the wrap-up. Uh, you guys can follow my shows. It's Carrie Kennedy, K-A-R-R-I, Kennedy, K-E-N-N-E-D-Y. I am on whatnot. I also have Instagram where it's Carrie Kennedy71. I'm trying to get more followers over there. I just got to a thousand and I'm gonna start posting more over there. I also have a Facebook group, that uh also is there. All of this is there, and you guys can follow the little link. There's a little link in the show notes at the top. If you click on that, it'll even take you to my shop where if you need a light box, there's the one I recommend. If you need a label maker, there's the one I recommend. Even my lipstick is in there, guys. So it's it's all there. Also, my phone number is in my profile on whatnot. You guys can reach out to me. I do consultations. It's just$20 for 30 minutes, which I swear is such a good deal. Um, also, I've got some more interviews coming up and some more cool episodes. But guys, this is episode 58, I think, or 59. I'll look once I upload it. But there's a ton of information. So if you're a newbie and you're liking this, please go listen to other episodes. Give me a five-star rating. And if you will give me a review, that would be great. I think I think I'm just gonna pick one of these upcoming shows. And anybody who has an actual name, I'm gonna put all the people who have done positive good reviews on Apple, only Apple. And I'm trying to get my rating review up to a five. It's at 4.9 now, and that just drives me nuts. So leave a good rating, leave a good review. And if you leave a review, I'm gonna do like maybe a$25 Starbucks card and I'll draw a name from a hat. There's only like, I don't even know how many reviews, not that much. It takes like three minutes of your time, guys. So please do that, and I will do the poll and I will do it on one of my shows upcoming. Um, I guess that's it. If you guys have any questions or need anything, reach out to me. And other than that, have fun shopping and selling and just enjoying whatnot and learning. You know, there's a learning curve, guys. All you newbies, have fun, you know. Give yourself some grace and have fun. All right, we'll talk to you later. Have a great week. I don't know when I'm coming back on, but take care, guys. Thanks so much. Bye bye.