Breaking Down the Cost
The average time a salesperson spends per balloons is 3 to 5 minutes. (Including balloon selection, inflation, tying the balloon, tying the weight, and writing up the order if necessary.) The labor could be even more if you include issues such as High Float, extra ribbon, and the time for staff to get back to task. Added to the equation is the cost of the ribbon, balloon weights, shipping, and other variables that are often not accounted for in a balloon program.
In determining the profitability of a store's balloon program, labor is the largest unaccounted for cost.
Consider the following:
- Using an average of $10.00 per hour, the employees filling balloons for customers cost $0.17 cents per minute.
- A store employee should be able to fill a balloon for a customer in 3 minutes.
- 3 minutes at $0.17 cents per minute is an extra $0.50 cents per balloon.
- However too many times an employee can spend up to 15 minutes just to sell 2-3 balloons.
- A store could be paying between $2.55 and $3.00 in added labor for a $3.00 to $9.00 sale.
The human element also needs to be looked at especially when a retailer considers who is serving the balloon customer, bagging clerks, cashiers, produce clerks, etc. Too often $0.99 balloons accidentally have a 60-cent weight used, too much ribbon is used or wasted, or balloons are not filled properly and the retailer's supposed profits walk out the door.
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