Elsom got back to me a few days ago. Sorry I wasnt around to post it earlier. I havent had the chance to fully read this response, so lets all try to translate what the man is saying.
But in any event, it does appear possible we can get this, money will be the deciding factor.
Response:
Unlike ordering via The Formulator (which is still under revision) for customized retail size products, the minimum size of commercial custom batches is 2Kg. The advantage of custom commercial batches over The Formulator is in the ability to include any ingredient of choice you may have (with some limitations of course) while The Formulator is restricted to a relatively large but restricted list of ingredients (which keeps expanding as we include more ingredients into The Formulator).
For a batch, cost per person is calculated by dividing the total amount of material among the total number of persons; if you have 40 people, the cost per person is quite attractive. We can make an estimate using round numbers for ease of demonstration; the final total will depend on final decisions about ingredients, concentrations, cost and cost-upon-availability of the desired licorice variety (the minimum amount we can buy for the project and how much it costs), processing technologies (time which people spend directly on processing, machine use-time) , packaging, shipping, etc.
Assume an order size of 2Kg (2,000 grams, about 70 ounces); this is our minimum for a custom batch.
Assume a price for a batch of that size of $2,000. That’s in the range of our usual bulk prices for 2,000 gram batches, provided that the special licorice extract is available in such small quantities (and is not restricted for use by patents, or else we will have to extract the licorice ourselves to avoid such problems), and not significantly more expensive than the other licorice variety. Packaging into individual retail bottles rather than a single bulk container will increase the final price, which will also be adjusted (up or down, but remaining in the neighborhood) for the final formulation, but we’ll ignore those complications for now.
That makes the price of the material very easy to estimate: $2,000 for 2,000 grams, so $1 per gram (one scalp application).
Evenly dividing 2,000 grams among 10 people assigns 200 grams to each person: that’s $200 per person for 4 bottles of 50gram each (almost 2oz). If you have 40 people, each will pay $50 for one 50gram bottle (almost 2oz). We usually recommend using 1 gram of a serum for each application: if applied once daily, a 50gram bottle holds enough serum for 50 days.
The easiest and fastest (and therefore cheapest) way for us to deliver a custom batch is in a single container, to be re-packaged into smaller retail containers for distribution by the person/organization who buys it. If that is what you would like to do, then the price of the bulk material itself (something around $2,000 for 200grams) is the only major consideration; express shipping of that weight should add about $50.
If you would require us to package the batch into retail containers (for a serum, the best option is amber glass bottles with treatment pumps and black-and-white labels), add $5 per bottle; shipping costs to send the entire production run to one location would also increase because glass packaging is heavy. To ship retail-packaged bottles directly to the members of the group, up to 4 of the 50gram bottles in one flat-rate USPS Priority Mail envelope, we would charge $9 per package in the US or $15 for international shipping.
We are not a packaging company but we do keep a few sizes and styles of very simple retail packaging in stock; you can see what that looks like at http://www.elsomresearch.com/about/packaging.htm.
The 2Kg example is based on the asumption that you are interested in the smallest possible batch. For larger batches, the price-per-quantity can be significantly reduced since, among other savings, we get better prices when we buy larger quantities of the ingredients we use in the project; if you involve more people at the $200/person level, or if your current 10 people wish to have more than 200 grams each, the project can become more cost-effective.
We accept payment by credit card (via Google Checkout), by money order, or by bank wire transfer. Even though multiple individuals would be pooling their resources for this project, we would expect one person to be our contact point and to be responsible for paying us.
I hope this helps.
Elishalom Yechiel, Ph.D.
But in any event, it does appear possible we can get this, money will be the deciding factor.
Response:
Unlike ordering via The Formulator (which is still under revision) for customized retail size products, the minimum size of commercial custom batches is 2Kg. The advantage of custom commercial batches over The Formulator is in the ability to include any ingredient of choice you may have (with some limitations of course) while The Formulator is restricted to a relatively large but restricted list of ingredients (which keeps expanding as we include more ingredients into The Formulator).
For a batch, cost per person is calculated by dividing the total amount of material among the total number of persons; if you have 40 people, the cost per person is quite attractive. We can make an estimate using round numbers for ease of demonstration; the final total will depend on final decisions about ingredients, concentrations, cost and cost-upon-availability of the desired licorice variety (the minimum amount we can buy for the project and how much it costs), processing technologies (time which people spend directly on processing, machine use-time) , packaging, shipping, etc.
Assume an order size of 2Kg (2,000 grams, about 70 ounces); this is our minimum for a custom batch.
Assume a price for a batch of that size of $2,000. That’s in the range of our usual bulk prices for 2,000 gram batches, provided that the special licorice extract is available in such small quantities (and is not restricted for use by patents, or else we will have to extract the licorice ourselves to avoid such problems), and not significantly more expensive than the other licorice variety. Packaging into individual retail bottles rather than a single bulk container will increase the final price, which will also be adjusted (up or down, but remaining in the neighborhood) for the final formulation, but we’ll ignore those complications for now.
That makes the price of the material very easy to estimate: $2,000 for 2,000 grams, so $1 per gram (one scalp application).
Evenly dividing 2,000 grams among 10 people assigns 200 grams to each person: that’s $200 per person for 4 bottles of 50gram each (almost 2oz). If you have 40 people, each will pay $50 for one 50gram bottle (almost 2oz). We usually recommend using 1 gram of a serum for each application: if applied once daily, a 50gram bottle holds enough serum for 50 days.
The easiest and fastest (and therefore cheapest) way for us to deliver a custom batch is in a single container, to be re-packaged into smaller retail containers for distribution by the person/organization who buys it. If that is what you would like to do, then the price of the bulk material itself (something around $2,000 for 200grams) is the only major consideration; express shipping of that weight should add about $50.
If you would require us to package the batch into retail containers (for a serum, the best option is amber glass bottles with treatment pumps and black-and-white labels), add $5 per bottle; shipping costs to send the entire production run to one location would also increase because glass packaging is heavy. To ship retail-packaged bottles directly to the members of the group, up to 4 of the 50gram bottles in one flat-rate USPS Priority Mail envelope, we would charge $9 per package in the US or $15 for international shipping.
We are not a packaging company but we do keep a few sizes and styles of very simple retail packaging in stock; you can see what that looks like at http://www.elsomresearch.com/about/packaging.htm.
The 2Kg example is based on the asumption that you are interested in the smallest possible batch. For larger batches, the price-per-quantity can be significantly reduced since, among other savings, we get better prices when we buy larger quantities of the ingredients we use in the project; if you involve more people at the $200/person level, or if your current 10 people wish to have more than 200 grams each, the project can become more cost-effective.
We accept payment by credit card (via Google Checkout), by money order, or by bank wire transfer. Even though multiple individuals would be pooling their resources for this project, we would expect one person to be our contact point and to be responsible for paying us.
I hope this helps.
Elishalom Yechiel, Ph.D.
unk: