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 and we have paraphrased these questions without correcting a grammatical issues.
Shipping
"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, 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 shipping in smaller quantities, which greatly increased our carbon per order.
Free delivery created a climate of little and often ordering, rather than our current model, which is more sent at less carbon footprint, to put it simply, Free delivery meant that their was no cost barrier so people ordered in smaller quantities and ordered more often, leading to 400% more shipping carbon per customer.
Financial
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 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 but the reality is we need to make a profit to make a difference).
So is free delivery good for business, the facts speak for themselves.
| Shipping option | Price we pay |
| Royal Mail 48 hour tracking |
£3.45 Shipping Packaging £0.18p Total = £3.63 |
| DX Next Day Delivery |
£6.22 + VAT = £7.46 Fuel Surcharge - £0.95 Minimum Standard Charge - £1.18 Shipping Packaging - £0.18 Total = £9.77 |
|
Methodology |
Conclusion
If we look at an actual example , a customer ordered 100 x N7 Paper bags at £3.95 and our profit on this order was £1.58 and the shipping was £3.63 which meant we lost £0.44 on that transaction and then to add to our loss Royal Mail lost this order, so we then sent a replacement by next day delivery, so this order turned into a loss £12.47 on this order.
We appreciate this is an extreme example but it wasn't an isolated example (more on this below), even if this order wasn't lost in transit, we would of still lost 44p on this order.
So to stay in business we decided we decided we would create a subsidised delivery model that encouraged people to make the change to a more sustainable option and we do this by part subsidising our deliveries and we will continue to provide free UK mainland delivery on orders over £74.99.
We still lose money on delivery but not as much as when we had free delivery, if you think about it, there is no such thing as free delivery, it always costs, its more about who pays the cost.
"Why do you use Royal Mail and DX, when they have a terrible reputation on Trustpilot"
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.
So to address the Trustpilot point, DX and to a lesser degree Royal Mail , do score highly on Trustpilot ( when you take away the complaints about the RM strikes) , so here is the actual late missing and lost stats.
| Courier | Delayed | Lost |
| Royal Mail | 8% | 0.013% |
| DX | 0.33% | 0.004% |
Conclusion
DX
We won't name and shame them here, but we used a lower scoring on Trustpilot well respected competitor and their losses and delays was almost double that of DX and they were also unable to send us a bill that was correct.
We will add that Scotland delays with DX are 12% (no effect on lost rate) and we are looking into this ,along with ways to reduce or replace DX in Scotland if this rate continues, we are hoping for a fix, but if needs be we will find another carrier for Scotland.
Royal Mail
We use Royal Mail as we can send international with Royal Mail at a rate that international customers are willing to pay ( you should see the price increase when sending orders above 2kg by courier, sometimes this is 300% more) but we also use them for national orders under 2kg because we can send your order at a cost effective and traceable service that is usually reliable standard.
We have also tried the cheapest option (you will know who we are referring too) and their loss and damage was Delayed 27% and lost 8%.
Profits
"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).
Our turnover by year
| 2018 to 2019 | - £57899 |
| 2019 to 2020 | - £18977 |
| 2020 to 2021 | - £72421 |
| 2022 to 2023 | - £16244 |
| 2023 to 2024 (predicted) | £4198* |
*this is a result of decreased UK sales since the plastic tax came into effect, but greatly increased international sales, previously international sales pre 2023 was 2% but has now risen to 21%.
Conclusion
There is a reason that Deb ( the Finance Director) calls this "our expensive hobby" as its taken all the money we made from the days when we sold Big Apple Drink Company , and all the money that Charlie made as a Business Advisor and we still haven't made a profit.
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 competition comes along, drives the price down and then goes out of business and this happens every year, it is why the two biggest firms in the world (both British) have sold to overseas competitors and are no longer British owned ( as far as I am aware we are the last plant based compostable only UK based company).
If your interested in why this is the case , look at the media attention for straws and disposable cups, its 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's also worth pointing out the Welsh Assembly Government is actually thinking of banning a number of our products, its 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 isn't going on.
We will shortly be added the profit per product to show how much money we make by product (to follow)
If you have any question you would like us to answer, we want to be transparent, so send your questions here.
Send a transparency question here