Just wondering, now that the 8th is here, are there going to be any changes in your operations? Will the contests, reward points, be affected? Hopefully, for now at least, things will run along pretty smoothly for you.
FDA Deeming Regs
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Sorry for the delay in answering your questions but I was not sure how to respond.
1) Things are not running pretty smoothly for us. Our sales are down by 75% and we have gone from 31 employees to 18. Many of our wholesale accounts (mostly brick and mortar stores) have or are in the midst of going out of business. Virtually all our wholesale customers report a drop of at least 50% in sales starting in June.
2) In preparation for August 8th we launched two new brands of e-liquid. Carolina Premium and RTS E-Liquid.
3) We must stop the contests that giveaway free rewards points.
4) We are in the process of adding about 150 FlavourArt, The Flavor Apprentice, Flavor West and Capella's concentrated flavors in the next 2 months. These flavors have been on sale by the manufacturer and other companies prior to August 8, 2016.
5) We will be launching a vastly renovated website on September 1, 2016.
Randy
Truly sorry to hear this Randy. I hope that your business can find it's "level" and continue on.
Why are so many B&Ms going out of business? I get it that some are worried and uncertain about the effects of the deeming, but nothing has really happened yet and litigation is pending that may make the whole thing go away. There must be other factors.
Hope you are able to hang in there despite what storm may come.
Always very satisfied with everything from your business.
Because their heart wasn't in it. They were only after the quick buck and rode the wave as long as they felt comfortable and now are moving on to the next "thing". It's about money by and large. If you have $200,000 worth of inventory you knew you might not be able to sell in 3 months, would you keep buying more or scale back your purchases and see what happens?
@randyith I'm sorry to hear about your current situation. I've bought many times from RTS Vapes and was always pleased with the service, I thank you for that.
Hopefully some of the sales drop in August is because of the stocking up many did before 8/8, due to the uncertainty. That should rebound a bit, but I suspect many nic vendors are seeing a similar decline post 8/8. I hope things rebound soon!
State regulations are also forcing vape shops to close. Look at Indiana, Utah and now in my state of Pennsylvania, unless a miracle happens 99.9% of vape shops will be forced to close due to a 40% floor tax.
First, I'm a satisfied RTS customer. The number above that's most surprising is shops reporting 50% declines in sales since June. I'm trying to understand that one. The few shops I visit seem to have most of their business from regulars. How does that decline suddently 50% in many many shops? My guess is the number of vapers is still increasing, not decreasing. Eliquid ingredients are consumed by people who vape. That can't have declined 50% so suddenly. I would have thought the 8-8 event might increase retail sales, not the reverse.
Very sorry to hear business is down. I am a satisfied RTS customer as well. Product, price & service are top notch! 
Wow, Randy. This makes me very sad to hear this. I have been with you from the start and may just be your number 1 fan. RTS nicotine is the only one that I will use and has been since you started selling it. Luckily I am very well stocked with enough to last me a very long time.
I do know that once the regs were announced, after the initial shock came fear for most people. I saw people all across the net rushing to learn how to make their own juice. This included brand new vapers.
Many were afraid that they would no longer be able to buy premade liquid and felt like they were forced to learn and stock up on supplies whether they wanted to do so or not. The shear number of vapers that I saw doing this would had to have hurt juice vendor sales eventually. I would not think that it would have happened so quickly though.
Plus, I know that many vendors are closing their doors. Some have been forced to by their state laws and others have had to fear for their future. We can't put blame on them as they have families to support and no matter what that always must come first. So please, give that fact some thought before we start calling them traitors and just in it to take the money and run. Nobody here knows the personal situation of another so please be fair and refrain from passing judgement.
I do know that once the regs were announced, after the initial shock came fear for most people. I saw people all across the net rushing to learn how to make their own juice. This included brand new vapers.
Many were afraid that they would no longer be able to buy premade liquid and felt like they were forced to learn and stock up on supplies whether they wanted to do so or not. The shear number of vapers that I saw doing this would had to have hurt juice vendor sales eventually. I would not think that it would have happened so quickly though.
Plus, I know that many vendors are closing their doors. Some have been forced to by their state laws and others have had to fear for their future. We can't put blame on them as they have families to support and no matter what that always must come first. So please, give that fact some thought before we start calling them traitors and just in it to take the money and run. Nobody here knows the personal situation of another so please be fair and refrain from passing judgement.
I was looking thru the new revamped web site this morning, and I like it better than the old site, good job on that.
Hopefully your business will survive, even if it's on a smaller scale than before, and hopefully some of the rough spots will smooth out over time.
I'm truly wishing you some good luck in the time ahead.
Hopefully your business will survive, even if it's on a smaller scale than before, and hopefully some of the rough spots will smooth out over time.
I'm truly wishing you some good luck in the time ahead.
Sorry, I reread my post and it seems kind of harsh.
Never the less, had it not been for one particular shop in my area I probably would have given up on vaping right away. The other shops in the area was very unfriendly and unwelcoming. Truly ironic, considering their business. The first shop I ever went in to sold me a mech mod (clone at authentic price) with an artic sub ohm tank. Like the noob I was, I puffed away at it carrying spare batteries with me everywhere. Then I discovered the SMOK M80 with the internal battery and thought I was in heaven, and I was for about a month before the battery stopped working and the store refused to help me. But the persistence paid off and I found a different shop that was not only helpful, but honest and more fair with their prices.
I've since moved, and the shops in my new location are the same as the very first shop I went in to. Misleading customers to the point of being dangerous. Not friendly or welcoming. More of a "what do you want" instead of a "how can I help you" attitude. I continue to patronize the shop that helped me, I just have them ship me the items now.
May be I understand now. RTS has a lot of shop customers who mix in the store and a lot of them are giving that up sooner rather than later and that hurts revenues and for some of them may be without that there isn't enough revenue to pay the rent.
I had a problem with the post office messing up an RTS delivery. They returned to sender. I eventually got that package and RTS was patient and reassuring every step of the way. I'm still an RTS customer with things to buy from you so stick around.
I had a problem with the post office messing up an RTS delivery. They returned to sender. I eventually got that package and RTS was patient and reassuring every step of the way. I'm still an RTS customer with things to buy from you so stick around.
@Daddy , I don't know that you are necessarily that far off the mark. I don't think it is the case with RTS and I don't think you were lumping Randy in your point.
I used to travel a lot and always made a point of visiting vape shops. Generally, the closet ones that I could easily drive to from my hotel. A definite better idea than getting drunk in a strip club and dancing with the girls...
I know there was an owner in the background, but most attendants were very young, making the minimum, and the shops weren't the cleanest. Their are professional business-persons that go from hot thing to the next hot thing, just writing off business losses...or making a profit. It is about knowing what is going to be hot next and finding cheap resources. Not all of them, though.
Anyway, it is all way overboard and saddening. I hope the best for all.
I used to travel a lot and always made a point of visiting vape shops. Generally, the closet ones that I could easily drive to from my hotel. A definite better idea than getting drunk in a strip club and dancing with the girls...
I know there was an owner in the background, but most attendants were very young, making the minimum, and the shops weren't the cleanest. Their are professional business-persons that go from hot thing to the next hot thing, just writing off business losses...or making a profit. It is about knowing what is going to be hot next and finding cheap resources. Not all of them, though.
Anyway, it is all way overboard and saddening. I hope the best for all.
Frenchfrie1942, I agree with what you have said is part of the reason for some Vape shops closing. We have nearly 36,000 repeat customers. About 18 to 24 months ago there was explosive growth in new Vape shops. I know that many of these new shops were started by professional business investor\operators. Most opened more than one shop. Most pay no more than minimum wage with no health benefits to their employees and expect them to work 10 to 12 hour days. They are not provided with training and are not helpful to customers.
Our sales team has reached out to the owners of many of the closing vape stores and found no desire to fight the FDA and risk more money. They want out of fixed expenses such as store rent and will write off their losses in 2016 although the laws will not force stores out of business until October 2018. We are truly amazed by their unwillingness not to hang in their.
However, there were and are many well established vapes stores going out of business because of the lower prices of the competitor stores owned by business investor operators. We constantly hear vape store owners saying their customers come in to get information and advice from them but buy from cheaper stores a mile or two away that offer no service or purchase online.
That is factually what our experience has discovered regarding vape stores.
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