March 28th, 2013
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Comments:
• by Hillary
• General
• Inside Snugabell
We care about the environment here at Snugabell. We want to make sure our babies and their babies (and so on and so forth) inherit a healthy planet from us. We have been making changes to ensure that Snugabell is as environmentally friendly as possible.
Instead of printing a paper receipt to include with our products (a paper receipt that, let's be honest, is most likely immediately 
thrown into the trashcan or recycling bin), we email our receipts to our customers. It's a simple but effective way to reduce waste on every single sale we make.
When we do need to print something, we have recently made the decision to start using tree-free sugarcane paper. Paper made from sugarcane uses waste that would otherwise be land-filled; is cleaner to produce than traditional paper; and biodegrades more quickly. Being aware of whether or not something really needs to be printed and then printing on sugarcane paper (double-sided of course!) are steps we're taking to help protect our trees.
We also cut any white space off of paper that is headed for our blue boxes and create our own scratch pads from these trimmings. You'd be surprised at how much usable paper is diverted, at least for a while from our blue boxes. This of course, in turn, reduces the number of scratch pads we're purchasing from our office supplies vendor.
Here at Snugabell headquarters, we take our mission to be green seriously. We use only washable mugs and cutlery and have a recycling station set up to ensure that we are throwing out as little waste as possible. It takes a little more time and effort than using disposable kitchenware and throwing everything out but we feel it's our responsibility to be as "green" as possible.
What changes have you made to be kinder to the earth?
{Photo credit: Hillary Westover}
March 1st, 2011
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Comments:
• by Rebekah
• General
• Just for Fun
• Warm & Fuzzy
"A woman is like a tea bag – you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
In March of 1911 men and women alike gathered around to mark the very first International Working Women’s Day. It was such a popular celebration that it was soon expanded to a week and by the 1980's women were being celebrated all month long and all over the world.
There are many female pioneers throughout history: Rosa Parks, Amelia Earhart, Mother Teresa (just to name a very, very few) and I am always astounded by the strength and determination of women when faced with adversity. So let's celebrate women, shall we?
Tell us about a woman (or women) who has (have) rocked the world in your eyes – someone who has made a difference in the lives around her. It doesn't always take a major event to change the world we live in; sometimes it only takes a few ripples to reach an entire pond. Who is YOUR hero? Please tell us below.
Rebekah Joy Plett
January 17th, 2011
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Comments:
• by Rebekah
• General
• Humour
• Inside Snugabell
• Just for Fun
• Pumping
For those of you who don’t know me, I work with Wendy as her assistant/shipper/miscellaneous extraordinaire. We are coming up on our one year anniversary and when Wendy asked me to blog about my year learning about breastfeeding, breast pumps and the like I jumped at the opportunity.
My husband and I were recently married last year and have decided not to have kids yet. So when I started working with Wendy I came in as green as the spring grass. Sure, I have breasts but I’ve never used them. I knew that mothers could breastfeed but I didn’t know some mothers had a harder time doing that than others. I figured breastfeeding was as natural to a woman as ask-telling her husband to please, please, please for the last time would you put the toilet seat down and save me from a midnight dunk in the bowl?
So I’ve decided to write about the things I have learned in the last year and share some of my most epiphany-rific moments with you. Here goes:
1) Babies are alert when they are born and shimmy themselves up to the nipple and feed.
Wendy showed me a video of this happening. It was like seeing for the first time the pictures of the hippo and tortoise that are friends: I had some vague idea that in a perfect world it was possible for completely unrelated species to be kin but that it’s actually happening??? Mind = blown.
2) When a woman breastfeeds/pumps, the other boob thinks it needs to express too!
Talk about a dilemma unless you have more than one mouth to feed (and I’m not talking about the dog). And then Wendy showed me the Milk-Saver by Milkies. All I can say is that this is one less thing to worry about when I start having babies. Thank goodness for inventive moms because if I was the first woman to breastfeed I would be up a milky creek without a paddle (or a Milk-Saver), y’all.
3) Women can pump milk.
How did I not know this? Okay, I live a bit of a sheltered life when it comes to babies but this is kind of obvious; also that women who aren’t with child can pump milk. And give milk to other babies! Who need milk! Viva les women! Now, when breasts start producing burgers I will jump on that meal train.
4) Nestle makes chocolate bars AND baby formula.
I know the whole Baby Formula vs Breastfeeding thing is a bit of a big deal. I think when I have babies I will form a solid opinion (through actions) about how I feel on this topic. Until then, how I feel about Nestle making baby formula and chocolate bars is equal to how I feel about Dove and Axe Body Spray being own by the same company. In a word: suspect.
5) PumpEase is probably one of the greatest inventions I can think of when it comes to boobs and babies.
When my mom got her eyes fixed (lasered) she couldn’t watch TV, read a book, go on the internet, be where light was nor any ordinary daily thing for DAYS. This is the closest thing I can relate to being stuck holding the breast pump on your breasts while waiting… and waiting… and then more waiting. If the pumping bra had not been invented I would not doubt that future-child-bearing-me would probably be duct taping those suckers right onto my chest.
Thank you all for journeying with me through the last year. It has been a smorgasbord of enlightenment. I am so grateful that I’ve gotten to know Wendy and her fabulous PumpEase because it will help me when I decide to start having babies and it will hopefully keep me out of trouble (and duct tape).
Rebekah Joy Plett
November 26th, 2010
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Comments:
• by Wendy
• General
We're having a sale! Our very first BLACK FRIDAY SALE that will extend right through to midnight (PST) on Cyber Monday!
I'll be honest, I LA-LA-LOVE shopping in the US. I live about an hour from the border and thus head down a few times a year with a good friend of mine who is a master at spotting a wicked deal. Our last trip was a 12-hour, trunk-heaping-full, shopping extravaganza!
Because you have 10 times the people we have here in Canada, your selection is sooooo much better than ours and your prices are killer (which is doubly good when our dollars are almost at parity like right now).
Therefore, I've always been a bit envious (OK, a lot) of your BLACK FRIDAY. The closest thing we have is Boxing Day and quite frankly, I'm not getting up early to go shopping on the day after Christmas! After that last bite of turkey crosses my lips, I'm done. (So done.)
I think we should just cancel Boxing Day Sales, make it a day of rest and adopt Black Friday and Cyber Monday here in "The Great White North".
With that end in mind, I hereby launch Snugabell's first Black Friday Sale! WOOT!
Buy any regular-priced PumpEase or PumpEase Organic AND a Nursing Mother Goddess Necklace and save 25% off your purchase with the coupon code BLACKFRIDAY at checkout.
Shop 'till you drop BABY!
April 29th, 2010
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Comments:
• by Wendy
• Customer Service
• General
• Inside Snugabell
I don't understand why companies do it. They have a great product, build a great brand following and then they change something. From the consumer's standpoint, it is usually a change for the worse; for the manufacturer, however, it almost always means higher profits. All that work of building their reputation and brand and they throw it all out the window. I.don't.get.it.
Take for example Old Navy infant and toddler socks. You know the ones I'm talking about? The triple-roll socks that have rubberized writing on the soles stating the size (so handy when you have two little ones that are close in age). The ones that were/are $1.75/pair or six pairs for $10.00 (it's been a while since I've bought them, so I may be a bit off on the price). Well a few years back when my now five year old was a baby, we bought them by the bucket-full. Every colour under the sun and two each of the neutrals. And then my younger daughter wore them and then I passed them on to my sister and her daughter wore them. And they are STILL in good condition! I think I've thrown out maybe two or three pairs after 5-1/2 years and three kids!
They were all cotton with a bit of spandex. They faded a bit over time and even shrunk a teensy bit (such is the nature of cotton), but they LASTED and LASTED and LASTED. I recommended them to everyone I met that had kids.
Then I bought a couple of new pairs for the girls last fall as we were having family pictures done and we were all wearing black. I needed new inky black socks.
So I went to our local mall and bought two pairs - one for each of my daughters. They felt a bit silkier than before but looked the same. I noticed that they were now made with 81% cotton/17% polyester/2% spandex. Hmmm...
Six months later, I threw both pairs in the garbage because they had LARGE gaping holes on the balls of the feet - not even on the heel. I was choked! SIX MONTHS! I guess they added the polyester to prevent the fading or the minimal shrinking or perhaps because polyester is cheaper? Or maybe because they didn't have enough repeat customers due to the fact that their old socks lasted too long... ???
I will never buy them again. Ever.
I'm on a roll with the socks, so I will continue. I bought a couple of pairs of Calvin Klein ladies' black dress socks for myself eons ago (honestly, they're older than my kids). They are just now starting to wear thin, no holes yet, just wearing thin. Did I mention that I've had these socks for years? I think it is going on ten years. Seriously.
So seeing that they were starting to wear thin, I decided to go the The Bay (where I had bought them) and buy more. Of course, they didn't have exactly the same ones ten years later, but I bought what I thought were comparable socks. Two pairs each of two different styles - footies and anklets. Calvin Klein. After two months, they had holes in them. All eight of the socks had holes in them. And not on the heel or where the balls of your feet sit either. The holes were in random spots around the ankle where the knitting machine did the full-fashioning (shaping) to make the sock "bend" to go around your ankle. Random holes on my new socks. My background in the apparel industry tells me they are simply poor quality and/or they no longer do product testing and/or they have lowered their quality control standards. A lot.
Every time I'm folding laundry and start pairing-up the socks and see the HOLES, I get annoyed. AND then I see my 10 year old socks in the pile that are still in one piece!
What the heck is with the crappy socks???
Needless to say, I am choked. Again. And I need some answers! Where oh where can I buy decent socks? I just spent a good 10 minutes searching online for "cotton socks" and nothing really comes up!?! Update: I think I found the answer to my dreams (literally): Sock Dreams! Check them out!
But WHY do companies do this? As a business owner, I understand the desire to increase your bottom line, but are you not shooting yourself in the foot (pun most definitely intended) if your product becomes sub-standard and you lose customers?
I.just.don't.get.it.
I remember about a year ago, we received a bad batch of production from our factory. It was either 600 pieces and we sent back 400 or 800 pieces and we sent back 600. Yes it cost us twice as much in quality control to check every PumpEase two times. Yes it delayed our orders. Yes it was frustrating!!! However there was no question in my mind that they all get sent back to the factory. I couldn't even fathom sending out a sub-standard product and "hoping for the best". No way. Not even an option.
In my mind, my product, my company and my reputation are all very intricately woven together. If my company starts producing shoddy goods, that reflects on me personally. It's just not going to happen. I give you my word. And I am super-duper proud of the high quality that is reflected in our products. :-)
So, tell us... have you ever experienced a particular brand's quality decreasing over time? What did you do about it - just accept it or switch brands? Do you expect, as I do, consistency in quality when you are loyal to a particular brand? Please leave your thoughts below.
Tags: 'quality control', socks, 'sock holes', 'calvin klein'
