Maybe I am taking things far too literally? But I have just been looking for more courier companies to take on for sending out products from Tiny Box Company and Tiny Difference and I read this on TNT Express's (the courier company) website and I am thinking that I am fighting a losing battle, or maybe I'm just in 'one of those' moods!!! TNT write, "Please avoid the use of recycled packaging to ensure your goods are properly protected..." Forgive me for pointing out (which I have done to them in a letter) that recycled packaging is ideal for sending packages in... What the hell is going to happen? Is it going to suddenly disintegate? It is as good as it looks and feels dear friend, Whether recycled or not, the physics of any packaging (unless it gets wet!!... OR BURNS!!) is not going to change overnight!! I sell only recycled packaging and guess what? I run the only company in the UK that solely deals in only recycled packaging that is far sturdier than some non-recycled products out there. So TNT Express... unless you guys have suddenly changed the laws of the universe give me a freekin' break! Oh yeah and I can get cheaper Next Day too.
Rachel Watkyn - Tiny Box Company UK Founder
Friday 29 February 2008
Tuesday 26 February 2008
I am sooooo uncool!!!
I read in a consumer magazine (Retail Week Feb 1 page 25) that ‘Green is getting old…’ and the new buzz word for 2008 is ‘moral’… What the hell???
So I am thinking; are people really that stupid to let the media dictate to them that it’s not ‘fashionable’ to be green and it’s all about ‘morality’ this year…
Have we become such a consumer driven society that we are not thinking about our children and our grandchildrens lives because my friends at the rate we are going in 50 years the UK will be just 1 giant landfill!
My point is… it’s apparently now about to be untrendy to be ’green’ surely this should be the very tip of the iceberg… And the media should be on top of this. Maybe I am talking out of my green bottom… or maybe I am just being completely ‘green’?
Whilst ethics are of course very important (that’s why I set up Tiny Difference!!!) do we just abandon being green or be seen as untrendy…
Oh to hell with it!!! I am going to buy that mink coat I saw… ‘cause now if I wear it I won’t get paint splattered on me by some PETA nutter… Oh no, I’ll be on the front page of the glossies!
Rachel Watkyn - Tiny Box Company Founder
So I am thinking; are people really that stupid to let the media dictate to them that it’s not ‘fashionable’ to be green and it’s all about ‘morality’ this year…
Have we become such a consumer driven society that we are not thinking about our children and our grandchildrens lives because my friends at the rate we are going in 50 years the UK will be just 1 giant landfill!
My point is… it’s apparently now about to be untrendy to be ’green’ surely this should be the very tip of the iceberg… And the media should be on top of this. Maybe I am talking out of my green bottom… or maybe I am just being completely ‘green’?
Whilst ethics are of course very important (that’s why I set up Tiny Difference!!!) do we just abandon being green or be seen as untrendy…
Oh to hell with it!!! I am going to buy that mink coat I saw… ‘cause now if I wear it I won’t get paint splattered on me by some PETA nutter… Oh no, I’ll be on the front page of the glossies!
Rachel Watkyn - Tiny Box Company Founder
Tuesday 19 February 2008
Why I do what I do (Part 1)
Hello, my name is Rachel Watkyn and some people may not know about me so here is reason number 1 why I run Tiny Difference and Tiny Box Company and why I am trying to help others.
When I was in Sierra Leone in about 1998, I worked for the government (I was in I.T and my UK company had a contract with them). One day a Government employee came into the office and asked for a measley advance on his salary. He implored that he needed the money as his wife had just been shot by the rebels and she needed urgent medical assistance. He was told to come back the next day as no advances were now going to be given. He trembled as he said that his wife would 'probably be dead by then'. I could only look and listen with horror.
He did not return the next day.
I am going to publish a series of these little snippets, please subscribe to be updated.
Yours sincerely,
Rachel Watkyn
When I was in Sierra Leone in about 1998, I worked for the government (I was in I.T and my UK company had a contract with them). One day a Government employee came into the office and asked for a measley advance on his salary. He implored that he needed the money as his wife had just been shot by the rebels and she needed urgent medical assistance. He was told to come back the next day as no advances were now going to be given. He trembled as he said that his wife would 'probably be dead by then'. I could only look and listen with horror.
He did not return the next day.
I am going to publish a series of these little snippets, please subscribe to be updated.
Yours sincerely,
Rachel Watkyn
Thursday 7 February 2008
'Fair Trade' in The UK--- Are they serious?
The point about the soap that Christian has written about (PART OF ORIGINAL POST: "The reason we are posting this is this: Two days ago Rachel ran into the 'Tiny' offices all excited... She had just been on the receiving end of a 'fair trade' sales push. A lady in a shop selling her 'fair trade' soap!!!!!!!!!!!!") is that it was made in England in the next village up from us. I was assured that it was Fair Trade but on reading the back label, the content was 60% water. So made in England, mainly from water. How much of the ingredients are therefore legitimately fair trade. I have, to date, not heard of Fair Trade water, but then I may be wrong!
I also came across a "fair trade" jewellery box company this week who on further questioning (not by me as i'm too gullible but one of our contacts who is far more sceptical, and rightly so) said that yes, child labour was used as the whole family was involved. She was adamant that there was nothing wrong with child labour and when questioned about schooling and that if she was paying a fair wage for the past 20 years to these families so they could afford school, she indignantly stated that in these communities it is a way of life for children to work as well. Is that fair trade ?
Rachel Watkyn - Tiny Difference Founder
I also came across a "fair trade" jewellery box company this week who on further questioning (not by me as i'm too gullible but one of our contacts who is far more sceptical, and rightly so) said that yes, child labour was used as the whole family was involved. She was adamant that there was nothing wrong with child labour and when questioned about schooling and that if she was paying a fair wage for the past 20 years to these families so they could afford school, she indignantly stated that in these communities it is a way of life for children to work as well. Is that fair trade ?
Rachel Watkyn - Tiny Difference Founder
'Fair Trade'!!! Really?
Rachel Watkyn set up Tiny Difference as a 'fair trade' contemporary jewellery company a little over a year ago. Rachels fair trade ethos is simple; All workshops she uses in Africa (there's 3 of them) and Thailand are all IFAT registered, meaning that the workers get a fair wage, she researched the areas extensively and her Tiny Difference company promises of giving 20% of it's profits back to the poorer areas thus helping them grow perhaps is maybe taking the Fair Trade thing a bit far. But that makes this ethical superwoman stand out just a little bit more.
Fair trade, as she sees it is just that... but what exactly makes a product or item
fair trade?
We thought it was simple; good working conditions, a fair wage and, well that's about the all of it. At the moment it's foodstuffs that actually have an official Fair Trade 'governing' body, that's why you see the coffee etc labelled with Fair Trade packaging. But now other sectors are moving in on this selling point! Just look around on your journey today and see... Ask yourself this though, "Are these other items really Fair Trade?", and how can you really tell, looking past a sticker or the word of the store worker who will use this to pull on your heart strings and send you on a mini guilt trip as part of their selling tools.
We ask you to beware and maybe ask for a bit more proof...
The reason we are posting this is this: Two days ago Rachel ran into the 'Tiny' offices all excited... She had just been on the receiving end of a 'fair trade' sales push. A lady in a shop selling her 'fair trade' soap!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now we know that today, soaps are made from fats and oils that react with lye (sodium hydroxide). Solid fats like coconut oil, palm oil, tallow (rendered beef fat), or lard (rendered pork fat), are used to form bars of soap that stay hard and resist dissolving in the water left in the soap dish.
So the coconut oil etc... may just have come from someone who actually does use fair trade conditions but where is the proof????
Until we have a proper 'Fair Trade' body overseeing just how and when this term can be used, at present it is ONLY used officially for foodstuffs, then we at Tiny Difference suggest using the age old adage when you see anything 'fair trade' for sale; Buyer Beware!
Christian
Fair trade, as she sees it is just that... but what exactly makes a product or item
fair trade?
We thought it was simple; good working conditions, a fair wage and, well that's about the all of it. At the moment it's foodstuffs that actually have an official Fair Trade 'governing' body, that's why you see the coffee etc labelled with Fair Trade packaging. But now other sectors are moving in on this selling point! Just look around on your journey today and see... Ask yourself this though, "Are these other items really Fair Trade?", and how can you really tell, looking past a sticker or the word of the store worker who will use this to pull on your heart strings and send you on a mini guilt trip as part of their selling tools.
We ask you to beware and maybe ask for a bit more proof...
The reason we are posting this is this: Two days ago Rachel ran into the 'Tiny' offices all excited... She had just been on the receiving end of a 'fair trade' sales push. A lady in a shop selling her 'fair trade' soap!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now we know that today, soaps are made from fats and oils that react with lye (sodium hydroxide). Solid fats like coconut oil, palm oil, tallow (rendered beef fat), or lard (rendered pork fat), are used to form bars of soap that stay hard and resist dissolving in the water left in the soap dish.
So the coconut oil etc... may just have come from someone who actually does use fair trade conditions but where is the proof????
Until we have a proper 'Fair Trade' body overseeing just how and when this term can be used, at present it is ONLY used officially for foodstuffs, then we at Tiny Difference suggest using the age old adage when you see anything 'fair trade' for sale; Buyer Beware!
Christian
Tuesday 5 February 2008
Is the UK really setup for recycled????
So here at the tiny offices we find ourselves (surprisingly!!) as the only UK packaging company that only sells recycled stuff... How the hell can that be? Don't get me wrong, it is great for us! I mean who else can boast that? But it is a sad state of affairs. I (Christian) get requests from potential customers every day to have recycled boxes made bespoke... Seems simple enough, but we can't (sometimes!) get UK manufacturers to produce these RECYCLED... With all the talk from everyone of 'recycled this and that' and everyone seeming to want it, the infrastructure just isn't there! We had a very big UK box manufacturer actually lie to us for 3 months telling us their products were recycled. After a bit of detective work, we found out the truth... Everyone seems to be trying to jump on the 'bandwagon' but without doing anything about it... even lying which if we actually believed this Midlands manufacturer our reputation would have been shot to pieces. The Tiny Box Company is proud of our detective work in making sure our stock is recycled... we even had to post this important notice on our website because we care about us and being honest. Is this too much to ask?
Christian
Christian
Sunday 3 February 2008
Go on, have a freekin' guess...
It was a surprising warm Christmas Eve in East Grinstead and the constant droning by Christian my lovely co-worker of ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas…’, sung completely out of tune and without knowing what the actual twelfth day is, the muppet! It was driving me insane. So using the excuse of “late Christmas shopping” I hastily exited the Tiny Box offices.
Due to me founding and running a recycled packaging company and being featured in the press I thought it a tad hypocritical to not practice what I preach so with a warm cup of cocoa inside me I launched into my quest of completing my entire Christmas shopping, that’s right ENTIRE Christmas shopping without using one single plastic carrier bag!
So off I trotted with my Bag for Life, I still could not get that pesky twelve day’s tune out of my head when I reached my first stop; – Broadleys (a local store in East Grinstead) for a sweatshirt for Dad. I spotted it and in his favourite colour too! I whisked it to the till. Then it happened… As fast as Santa Claus slugs his complimentary, out came the very first (insert dramatic music in your mind here!) plastic bag. With a completely stupid grin on my face knowing that the cashier did not have any idea of the mission I chose to accept, rejected it and proudly (and still smiling stupidly) placed it in my canvas bag.
Next stop – WH Smith for cards and books. And yes as sure as ‘nine ladies dancing’ follows ‘ten lords a-leaping, the next damned plastic bag arrived. My smile was not so wide but I was still looking stupid, as I forgot my flipping PIN number. After attempt number two failed I paid with cash and whispered; ‘No thank-you I have my own’ and promptly positioned my purchases neatly on top of Dads sweatshirt.
McKay’s next for that hideous purple and white polka dotted dressing gown for Mum. I know the department manager, she’s the Mayors wife don’t you know! All of a sudden she was manning the till… and then, like Paul Daniels on acid she produced a paper bag. ‘Hark the Herald Angels!’ I exclaimed. I paid for my purchase, exchanged seasonal pleasantries and then as I hid behind the underwear to spy, the mayors wife whom I exchanged pleasantries with scurried from the till, a young girl took over and as sure as ‘The three French hens would fight with the seven swans a-swimming’- she went back to the old reliable plastic.
On to Boots, for those stocking filler type things that you only seem to find in Boots. I seem to spend a large proportion of any shopping day in a Boots somewhere. It’s kind of like they bombard you with some kind of subliminal message as you meander the High Street that infiltrates your subconscious and tells you that no purchasing or browsing excursion is complete without an obligatory trip to Boots. I love them! But not the three plastic bags they tried to fob me off with. One would have done too. My recycled sack was beginning to look like I had kidnapped Dawn French.
Next Phones4U for my little sister, she had been blatantly hinting about the new Sony Ericsson. It’s as small as a RAZR but as sure as I would hate ‘a partridge in a pear tree’ in my stocking, out came the next large plastic carrier bag. I proudly told them of my tinyboxcompany.com, I bored them with the tale of pleasantries exchanged with the Mayors wife, I breezed over the PIN shambles, I recounted my stupid grin. I mumbled ‘Merry Christmas’ and scuttled out, my sisters new phone peering over the top of my sack.
Next lovely Unwins for my seasonal cheer. A further two plastic bags rejected by me off I went to Woolworths, then Dorothy Perkins.
I cursed Unwins and their free Festive tasting session as I staggered home calculating in my hazy head along the way that I had saved at least 10 plastic bags which have an average life span of 12 minutes (Argus Article: Nov’ 10th 2007) and then take an unfeasible 500 years to biodegrade! Calculate that figure by approximately 40 million of the British population that participate in Christmas shopping and that is 400 million carrier bags given simply for one day of Christmas shopping.
Ps Note for my co-worker Christian... the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me ‘Twelve freekin' Drummers drumming!’
Rachel Watkyn -Tiny Box Company Founder
Due to me founding and running a recycled packaging company and being featured in the press I thought it a tad hypocritical to not practice what I preach so with a warm cup of cocoa inside me I launched into my quest of completing my entire Christmas shopping, that’s right ENTIRE Christmas shopping without using one single plastic carrier bag!
So off I trotted with my Bag for Life, I still could not get that pesky twelve day’s tune out of my head when I reached my first stop; – Broadleys (a local store in East Grinstead) for a sweatshirt for Dad. I spotted it and in his favourite colour too! I whisked it to the till. Then it happened… As fast as Santa Claus slugs his complimentary, out came the very first (insert dramatic music in your mind here!) plastic bag. With a completely stupid grin on my face knowing that the cashier did not have any idea of the mission I chose to accept, rejected it and proudly (and still smiling stupidly) placed it in my canvas bag.
Next stop – WH Smith for cards and books. And yes as sure as ‘nine ladies dancing’ follows ‘ten lords a-leaping, the next damned plastic bag arrived. My smile was not so wide but I was still looking stupid, as I forgot my flipping PIN number. After attempt number two failed I paid with cash and whispered; ‘No thank-you I have my own’ and promptly positioned my purchases neatly on top of Dads sweatshirt.
McKay’s next for that hideous purple and white polka dotted dressing gown for Mum. I know the department manager, she’s the Mayors wife don’t you know! All of a sudden she was manning the till… and then, like Paul Daniels on acid she produced a paper bag. ‘Hark the Herald Angels!’ I exclaimed. I paid for my purchase, exchanged seasonal pleasantries and then as I hid behind the underwear to spy, the mayors wife whom I exchanged pleasantries with scurried from the till, a young girl took over and as sure as ‘The three French hens would fight with the seven swans a-swimming’- she went back to the old reliable plastic.
On to Boots, for those stocking filler type things that you only seem to find in Boots. I seem to spend a large proportion of any shopping day in a Boots somewhere. It’s kind of like they bombard you with some kind of subliminal message as you meander the High Street that infiltrates your subconscious and tells you that no purchasing or browsing excursion is complete without an obligatory trip to Boots. I love them! But not the three plastic bags they tried to fob me off with. One would have done too. My recycled sack was beginning to look like I had kidnapped Dawn French.
Next Phones4U for my little sister, she had been blatantly hinting about the new Sony Ericsson. It’s as small as a RAZR but as sure as I would hate ‘a partridge in a pear tree’ in my stocking, out came the next large plastic carrier bag. I proudly told them of my tinyboxcompany.com, I bored them with the tale of pleasantries exchanged with the Mayors wife, I breezed over the PIN shambles, I recounted my stupid grin. I mumbled ‘Merry Christmas’ and scuttled out, my sisters new phone peering over the top of my sack.
Next lovely Unwins for my seasonal cheer. A further two plastic bags rejected by me off I went to Woolworths, then Dorothy Perkins.
I cursed Unwins and their free Festive tasting session as I staggered home calculating in my hazy head along the way that I had saved at least 10 plastic bags which have an average life span of 12 minutes (Argus Article: Nov’ 10th 2007) and then take an unfeasible 500 years to biodegrade! Calculate that figure by approximately 40 million of the British population that participate in Christmas shopping and that is 400 million carrier bags given simply for one day of Christmas shopping.
Ps Note for my co-worker Christian... the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me ‘Twelve freekin' Drummers drumming!’
Rachel Watkyn -Tiny Box Company Founder
Saturday 2 February 2008
hmmmphhhhh
Friday 1 February 2008
We argued today...
... about the fact that I was apparently being 'filthy' when I said that our new Tiny Box Company advert should just have a pair of breasts, which would be completely different and NOTHING to do with recycled packaging! She wanted something that 'stood out'... I obliged.
What's the freekin' problem?? Hmmmmm? I am a creative, and I was just erm... Being creative... and people would think, "whoever put that advert together is great!!"...
I am also getting stick for my email signature, apparently it's "massive and funny"...
Life in the Tiny Offices is never dull!
Oh yes, we resent out the stolen sample so all cool there!!! Phew x 5!!!
Christian
What's the freekin' problem?? Hmmmmm? I am a creative, and I was just erm... Being creative... and people would think, "whoever put that advert together is great!!"...
I am also getting stick for my email signature, apparently it's "massive and funny"...
Life in the Tiny Offices is never dull!
Oh yes, we resent out the stolen sample so all cool there!!! Phew x 5!!!
Christian
Rachel went to the post-office today with a load of sample send outs!!! She is distruaght as one of her parcels got stolen!! Busy day in the offices with Rachel finally mastering the 'Marshall 3'... that's our printing machine... I have made a vow to not go near the freekin' thing, I hate it and it hates me!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Today we ate the new Toblerone (fruit and nut) wooooweeeee that's a killer...
Oh and the small news that even though tinydifference.com has not begun any pr/marketing we got our very first order, so we are celebrating!!!
Oh and the small news that even though tinydifference.com has not begun any pr/marketing we got our very first order, so we are celebrating!!!
.jpg)
Christian
Oh the stress of it all!!! Hahahaaaaa it's great really, knowing that we are doing our tiny bit to help the environment and our tiny bit to help people who are poorer than me or Rachel...
We do actually have tiny offices 'cause we are squeezed in amongst our 100,000 recycled stock boxes and recycled bags.... Not wanting to use this as an advert but if you want to look at our stuff and funky pictures of Ethical superwoman (!!???) Rachel Watkyn then point your little cute browser to http://www.tinyboxcompany.com/ and if you want to help the people of Africa and Thailand live and restore their dignity then tiptoe over to http://www.tinydifference.com/ to see our pretty damn lovely (If I say so myself!!) contemporary range of Fair Trade jewellery!!!
Phew...
Christian
We do actually have tiny offices 'cause we are squeezed in amongst our 100,000 recycled stock boxes and recycled bags.... Not wanting to use this as an advert but if you want to look at our stuff and funky pictures of Ethical superwoman (!!???) Rachel Watkyn then point your little cute browser to http://www.tinyboxcompany.com/ and if you want to help the people of Africa and Thailand live and restore their dignity then tiptoe over to http://www.tinydifference.com/ to see our pretty damn lovely (If I say so myself!!) contemporary range of Fair Trade jewellery!!!
Phew...
Christian
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
