Cost of production

[Desert Karen]

No, PO is only interested in the fragrances in liquid form under a certain flashpoint. But I recently had little on ozers with FPs below 200 degrees come to me via PO, not ground, because the amount was so small.

If you weigh your pkg you can plug in the weight, size, where it coming from and going to and get a shipping quote on USPS website for priority or parcel post or first class if small.

SERIOUSLY??? I had no idea you could do that. Ebay, or those that sell on ebay, use a label that say;s ebay on it. I wondered how they did that. I have a scale to weigh my oils, etc. on. I think I'll check out the PO site tomorrow....although I forgot AGAIN to grab some envelopes at Wal Mart tonight.

 

[Maythorn]

Walmart is where they are the cheapest that I've found.:smile:

 

[gratia]

Lye Cost per Oz $0.47


[*]Actual cost of lye purchased from Lowes @ $15 for 2lbs

Thats quite high for the price of lye, no? Maybe I am reading something wrong? I get mine at our local "Mom and Pop" hardware store and I pay about 3.50 per lb, which is kind of high, but I don't want to pay the shipping when I can get it when needed.

Bulk, bulk, bulk.

 

[green soap]

Actually, the number was indeed supposed to be $0.16 per ounce of soap, but now that I check it, I believe it's actually $0.07 based on these assumptions: $10 for a 4 ounce bottle (that's an estimate based on the lavender and tea tree oil I just bought, but I know that EO cost varies greatly based on the oil, source, quantity, etc). Anyway, 4 oz = 8 Tbsp, so $10/8 = $1.25 per lb assuming 1 Tbsp per lb of soap. This divided by 16 oz in an lb = $0.07 per oz of soap. Is that correct, or did I miss something?
Gee, for a hospital CEO, simple math seems to be difficult suddenly.

I am sorry, I thought you meant $0.16 per oz of fragrance oil. I see that you are calculating the costs per ounce of soap! This makes a lot more sense now.

Just a side comment. I have been weighing my EOs and find that most are 11 g per tablespoon, so not quite a half oz (28.5 g per oz).

 

[AngelMomma]

We recently got lye at a local chemical supply. Talk about cutting cost! Its a 50lb bag. They quoted us a price just over $50.00. But when they rang my husband up it was $47something. I'm guessing they gave him a military discount because he had just gotten off work and was in uniform. If I ever decided to sell I would have to start buying in bulk 50lb for my main oils. I just wouldn't be able to stand the thought that I could be making more profit if I was ordering some of the main oils online.

 

[ErikWeaver]

Personally, I would skip the color and fragrance, but I really do like pure ol' soap, so I'm biased, heheh. Also, I like the look of natural soap and I enjoy seeing the variations as I modify the recipe. With regard to fragrance some people are sensitive to those, so I'm not sure I'd personally recommend it for a church "mission" soap.

According to my spreadsheet I'd say you are in the ball park. I pay less for my sodium hydroxide but if you are buying it locally at the hardware store you have to deal with what is available, and that is always higher. My best price so far was from Bulk Apothecary, and my worse at Lowe's (50-cents per oz! ouch!). Roebic and Rooto were two brand names (drain cleaner) if you go the local route.

http://bulkapothecary.com/buy-sodium-hydroxide-lye.htm

But your oils look a little expensive to me. I can buy a 101-oz jar of olive oil at my Sam's Club for about 12-cents/oz (cpo). Crisco comes in at less than 10 cpo, and sunflower seed oil just a couple cents more. I even found coconut oil (77-degree) at both my local Dillions and Wal-Mart Super Center (but only at one of the four nearest WMSC, so calling around might save gas money). The coconut oil averaged about 20 cpo bewteen them.

I like to add oatmeal (quick cook, and made into a flour with my electric nut chopper) to some recipes and that comes in at just under 7 cpo, using about 6-oz per 7 or 8 pound batch. That's pretty good for a cheap and natural exfoilant, to my way of thinking anyway.

Making a basic oatmeal-coconut-olive-shortening oil soap I came in right at 67 cents PER BAR for a full sized 30-bar recipe. If I recall they averaged about 3.5-oz per bar, and I had just a little waste in the end cut/slivers. Basically, it was $20 for the recipe, and I got 30 good bars of soap out of it. $20/30 = $0.67 per bar...

(I don't know if this is going to format properly, but here goes!)

.......................................................................................Per Oz............ Total
Shortening 38 oz 0.06792 2.58096 Olive Oil 24 oz 0.17584 4.22016 Coconut Oil 24 oz 0.19873 4.76952 Lye 12 oz 0.50375 6.045 Oatmeal 8 oz 0.06167 0.49336


SUBTOTAL = 18.109

Hope that helps.
Erik

 

[ErikWeaver]

OK, terrible formatting! ug! Trying again....

Ingredient---Used------$/Oz------Tot$/Item
Shortening... 38 oz... 0.06792.....$ 2.58096
Olive Oil........ 24 oz.... 0.17584.....$ 4.22016
Coconut Oil.. 24 oz... 0.19873.....$ 4.76952
Lye............... 12 oz... 0.50375.....$ 6.045
Oatmeal......... 8 oz..... 0.06167.....$ 0.49336
===============================
SUBTOTAL................................ = 18.109

 

[melstan775]

Thanks for breaking that down. I know I could benefit from it, so I am sure others can too. If you add packaging and labor into your cost, how much do you think your total production per bar is?

 

[rodeogal]

Thanks for the breakdown. You are the second person I have seen on this forum that uses shortening/lard as the bulk ingredient. Very interesting to see the different recipes. All my recipies are at least 41% olive oil. That is the way I was taught, and have just continued to formulate that way. I come in right under $1 per 4.5 ounce bar with materials and labels.

However, if I add labor then multiply by 2.35 for the wholesale price, then by 2 for the retail price, I should be charging approx. $6.60 per bar (according to the resources that were given to be on another thread). I don't have my bars priced that high. Pricing is the tricky part for me! On the Internet, I see prices anywhere from $0.90 an ounce of soap to $1.65 an ounce of soap and I wonder if the consumer really knows how to tell the difference or if they just shop by price.

Any thoughts?

 

[2lilboots]

I think most consumers buying homemade soap are buying the scent, the colors, and the ingredients they like. If they want it the cost isn't the big deal for them, they will buy it.

 

[ErikWeaver]

Packaging costs depends upon the packaging heheh. It can be as simple as cutting a piece of printer paper to fit around the bar and taping it in place, on up to however complicated you care to make it. For direct sales I like the idea of being able to see the soap. For the mission soap that would not matter, nor would fancy packaging. I'd suggest bulk packaging, like a packing slip in a comfortable sized box, and be done with it. But it also depends upon what the customer wants.

For labor I set a timer and time myself. Then you can calculate time per bar. Multiply that by the wage you wish to earn. Remember to plan on setting aside about 25% of your income for income taxes.

As to percentages of shortening/lard vs. olive oil that depends on the soap recipe. I've also made Castile, and that is 100% olive oil. So it just depends.

 

[rodeogal]

As to percentages of shortening/lard vs. olive oil that depends on the soap recipe. I've also made Castile, and that is 100% olive oil. So it just depends.

Erik, do you also price your soaps according to the recipe? We have had this discussion (somewhere) on here. For simplicity sake, I price mine all the same.

 

[ErikWeaver]

Well, yes and no. I break my soaps into unscented and scented/essential oils. Because FO/EO cost so much I do price them differently than the unscented soaps.

 

[ZandarKoad]

Thanks for the breakdown. You are the second person I have seen on this forum that uses shortening/lard as the bulk ingredient. Very interesting to see the different recipes. All my recipies are at least 41% olive oil. That is the way I was taught, and have just continued to formulate that way. I come in right under $1 per 4.5 ounce bar with materials and labels.

However, if I add labor then multiply by 2.35 for the wholesale price, then by 2 for the retail price, I should be charging approx. $6.60 per bar (according to the resources that were given to be on another thread). I don't have my bars priced that high. Pricing is the tricky part for me! On the Internet, I see prices anywhere from $0.90 an ounce of soap to $1.65 an ounce of soap and I wonder if the consumer really knows how to tell the difference or if they just shop by price.

Any thoughts?

I'm using mostly Olive Oil as well, and some coconut. Then a tiny amount of Castor Oil. Here's my breakdown (in cost per ounce of PRODUCT, not soap):

$0.4476 (Castor Oil)
$0.3228 (Extra Virgin, Organic Coconut Oil)
$0.1528 (Extra Virigin Olive Oil)
$0.214 (Lye)
0.00749 (Steam Distilled Water)


I failed to weigh the batch before cutting, and I figure it's most accurate to weigh all the bars after they are done drying (they do loose water weight over time). But I'm estimating at around 79.2 ounces final weight. So that would put my total cost per ounce of soap at $0.213. No smells or spells (colors).

 

[judymoody]

My bars (4.5-5 ounces cured) cost somewhere between $1 and $1.25 in materials, depending on my oils and EO choices. My base recipe is coconut, palm, olive, castor, and cocoa butter. I buy FO and EO in increments of 4 to 16 ounces depending on what it is and the expected shelf life. Lye for $1.50-2/lb including shipping. Base oils from Soapers' Choice in the gallon containers, except for OO which I get from Costco.

Buying in bulk (50 lb increments for oils and lye) would bring the cost down considerably.

I haven't calculated my labor costs. I am primarily a hobbyist and do this for fun. If I added in the time required for book keeping, packaging, shipping, maintaining a website, transaction fees, etc., I don't know if it would be worth my time. As a creative endeavor that provides me a ready supply of gifts for friends, teachers, etc., it is very satisfying.

 

[Lilahblossom]

I'm glad you all have posted these numbers. Thankyou!

 

[LuvOurNewf]

I think most consumers buying homemade soap are buying the scent, the colors, and the ingredients they like. If they want it the cost isn't the big deal for them, they will buy it.

This is how I look at it also. I figure that the consumers are "buying" homemade/handmade soap and such.

Now if they were "shopping" for it the only thing that would matter would be the price.