We like to be open and transparent about how and what we do and with this in mind we have created a transparency page where we openly talk about common questions we have been asked and we attempt to be open about our business, we think some of these will come as a surprise but here are the facts.
Please note these are all real questions, we have been asked by telephone, email and social media.
The Shipping bit with a bit about money as well
"Why did you abandon free delivery, is this to push your profits up"
Environmental Reason
The Pure Option™ has been on a mission to minimise or eliminate our carbon footprint, which has included moving production to the UK to reduce shipping carbon, offsetting our server carbon, using low carbon delivery, recycling our waste, reducing excess shipping packaging (sadly this was a battle we lost as courier firms aren't always gentle with items sent) , using renewable energy, along with creating products designed to reduce carbon, but the real carbon elephant in the room is delivery carbon.
| Carbon per delivery | |
| Free Delivery | 884 grams per parcel. |
| Standard Delivery | 221 gram per parcel. |
|
Methodology |
Conclusion
Courier and shipping carbon is our biggest carbon footprints, and free delivery actually increased the volume of products we shipped.
Free delivery created a climate of little and often ordering, to put it simply, Free delivery removed the cost barrier so people ordered in smaller quantities more often, leading to 400% more shipping carbon per customer, which is one of the factors as to why we scrapped free delivery.
"Why do you use Royal Mail as a delivery partner, why not use a cheaper option?"
We have tried them all, and we do mean them all, and we have come to the conclusion that courier firms are the only industry where you can not provide the service and product you advertise, and still feel that you shouldn't refund the customer for lost or damaged deliveries, we have long given up on trying to navigate their time consuming systems to get 4 first class stamps , yes this really happened 4 hours spent chasing up a missing item and filling out a claim form and a missing order worth £32.19 for 4 first class stamps.
It's about reliability, we monitor our delivery partners for repuatation, environmental outcomes and how they handle the items we sent and Royal Mail score very highly.
| Courier | Delayed | Lost | Trustpilot score |
| Royal Mail | 8% | 0.013% | 4 out of 5 |
Conclusion
We won't name and shame here, but we previously used the delivery company with the highest score on Trustpilot , and their losses and delays was almost double that of Royal Mail, and they were also unable to send us a bill that was correct (not one correct bill in 18 months)
We will add that Scotland, Northern Ireland, Highlands and UK Islands, cost extra with the formentioned delivery company, so Royal Mail offered a much better all round service for our UK and International customers, so this was also a major factor in us choosing Royal Mail as a delivery partner.
The Financial Bit (which is also a bit that includes shipping)
The Pure Option™ was started with a completely altruistic approach to business, we wanted to solve a big problem, and make the world a more sustainable place, we wanted to share our profits with the wider community, but we can't make a difference if we don't remain in business, it surprises people but The Pure Option™ is not a financially successful business (more on this later).
So why do we charge what we charge for delivery.
| Shipping option | Price we pay | Price you pay |
|---|---|---|
|
Royal Mail 48 hour tracking up to 2kg. Packaging costs |
£3.59 £0.22 to £1.27 |
£3.69 |
|
Royal Mail 48 hour tracking up to 20kg. Packaging costs |
£6.65 £0.34 to £1.68 |
£6.75 |
Conclusion
Here is an an exampIe we look at an actual example (during our free shipping days).
A customer ordered 100 x N7 Paper bags at £3.49 and our profit on this order was £0.96, the shipping was £3.59 which meant we lost -£2.63 on each order.
This order was actually lost by Royal Mail in transit ( thankfully very rare but it does happen) , so we then sent a replacement by next day delivery, so this order turned into a loss £15.21 on this order.
We appreciate this is an extreme example but it wasn't an isolated example (more on this below).
I know get the fiddles out, we know that profits seem to be a dirty word in the UK, but to be realistic if we want to stay in business and use our profits to help national and local organisations and to enrich the lives of our employees, we had to find a better model.
So we think we have come up with the perfect model that works for everyone, we decided we would create a subsidised delivery model that encouraged people to make the change to a more sustainable option, but also encouraged responsible ordering, so we now part absorb the cost, if you use next day,
"Why do you charge so much for compostable products, is this because you want to fleece your own customers, your business is a licence to print money"
(yes this is a real question we were asked by email).
Our turnover by year
| 2018 to 2019 | - £150,115.37 |
| Losses expected due to set up costs and research costs. | |
| 2019 to 2020 | £6828,04 |
| Small profit due to reduction in research costs. | |
| 2020 to 2021* | - £53838.81 |
| Losses due to covid shut down. | |
| 2022 to 2023** | - £27395.34 |
| Losses reduced as some operations returned and Government assistance. | |
| 2023 to 2024*** | - £1292 |
| ****Losses due to the UK Plastic Tax encouraging customers to move back to petrol based plastic packaging which is exempt from the tax, without the plastic tax we expected to make a £32,500 profit for the year. | |
| 2024 to 2025**** | -£17065 |
| **** Loss caused by restructing away from materials that incur the plastic tax and implementing new non taxable materials. | |
Conclusion
There is a reason that Deb ( Our late Founder) called this "our expensive hobby" , as it's taken all the money made from the sale of Big Apple Drink Company, along with the money that Charlie made as a Business Advisor to keep it afloat, we feel that we have an obligation that goes well beyond our own financial enrichment, to make the world a more sustainable place.
I appreciate that people will be sceptical, as we have won numerous awards, and our business is seen as an example business, but that comes from perception, and not born from facts, as every year new competitors enter the market as they wrongly believe that sustainable packaging is a licence to print money ( as we've shown it isn't unless your outside the UK) and this drives the price down to unsustainable levels which then and drives them out of business (this happens every year).
It is also a factor in why the two biggest firms in the world (both British) have sold to overseas competitors and why we are the last UK man standing in the plant based packaging market (this may change as new companies come and go in the UK).
If your interested in why this is the case , look at the media attention for straws and disposable cups, it's all barrier approach "You must not use a straw and most take a reusable cup with you" , see if you can find a single media outlet telling you about the plant based options, it's all barriers and no solutions.
The other issue is the Plastic Tax , a great idea implemented badly , do you know we pay the tax and companies that insert 30% recycled plastics in their products don't, it has actually increased the amount of plastics in the UK.
It's also worth pointing out the UK Government is actually thinking of banning or restricting a number of our products, it's a "we have a problem, let's throw the baby out with the bath water approach"
Essentially we solve the problem and we get taxed or banned out of existence, so no we don't do this for money we do this for a desire to change the world.
Charlie and Deb would also like to add that they haven't had a holiday longer than a weekend in 6 years and haven't paid themselves for 2 years, so profiteering is absolutely not the motive.
Profit Margins (the bit everyone is scared about talking about)
When we started this business, we started with a mission and the mission was to replace single use plastics with a plant based alternative, but we also started with another mission that we don't tend to talk about, and that is about socially empowering our work force and using our business as a driver for socially responsible corporate practices, this included sharing our profits with the wider community and our employees, well this hasn't gone as well as we were expecting as we sadly have only had one year in profit since we started ( we just weren't expecting the UK Government and the devolved Governments to be so hostile to what we do), so profits haven't really shown their head but in the interest of corporate transparency, here is the profits part.
We should also point out that when we started we had a profit margin (gross) of 80% , this is now a maximum of 40% , this is because the tax from the Plastic Tax is part absorbed by us and the increase in the cost of materials we use have increased and we have partially absorbed these increased costs.
"Can I invest in The Pure Option, as your profit margins must be amazing"
Firstly I should say this is also a real question and we have been asked this quite a few times, in fact if I open my emails I will have a few emails about investing or buying The Pure Option™.
Profit margins vary , we monitor our prices twice monthly to stay competitive, so our profit margin can sometimes be slightly more, but this is our usual profit margin.
| Profit Margin* | Tax** | Average discount | Maximum profit |
| 39.7% | 34.2% | 12.8% | -7.3% |
*Average profit margin
**Including Plastic Tax, VAT we pay and don't charge, EPR is coming into effect but we haven't worked out quite yet what this is going to cost us.
Not exactly the licence to print money that people think it is, when you break it down.
If you have any question you would like us to answer, we want to be transparent, so send your questions here.
So I wanted to end on a what next way of thinking, we can't continue to lose money so we are changing the way we do things, we are reducing our range to allow us to create more of our top selling products at a lower price, we are reducing the bulk discount amounts we offer from a maximum 40% to 20%.
There is no denying that the UK is a challenging place to do what we do, which is the reason so many of the companies we work with have left the UK, but we are hoping that the new changes we bring in will put us back in the black for 2026.
Thanks for reading and if you have any other questions you want us to honesly answer, please click the link below.
Charlie
Managing Director
Send a transparency question here
Updated - 16/05/25