HMP Survey
With increase prices for shipping, printing, and labor, as well as the potential loss of our work study editors and more study manuals being sold second hand, we need to find a way to balance our rising costs. Please help us navigate this difficult situation with your insight and guidance.
The cost cutting measures we are looking at include eliminating free shipping, eliminating the annual order, increasing prices, or eliminating discount packages.
Which of the follow is the best option for you?
Survey Comments
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Thank you for your gracious comment. We are pleased that our products have had some value for you.
Gary Piscopo, ND, LAc
CEO
Healing Mountain Publishing
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| After reading the comments and responses I just wanted to say thank you. You are the only naturopathic board study material out there that is organized in book form comparable to the USMLE materials. Clearly it can be a pain in the ass and obviously as you said your budget has to remain razor thin. I just wanted to let you know that it is greatly appreciated.
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Web Flashcards:
We have considered both online and electronic forms of our materials for years. There are a few issues involved that currently makes this impossible. The first is the significant level of pirating that already occurs, which would be even easier with electronic forms.
The second is that there is a significant secondary marketplace where our study materials are resold. This reduces our sales, which undermines our abilities to provide new products or new product forms.
Finally, because we understand the financial constraints of our customers, we operate on a razor-thin budget due to the low cost of our products vs rising expenses. Making materials available in electronic form is a significant investment and the size of the naturopathic marketplace is tiny. This means there is a finite amount of money students will spend for any product, in any form, despite the increase in options available to them.
Therefore, these two realities combine such that there is no way to recoup the investment we would need to make in order to offer electronic or online materials. Large companies could perhaps write this off as a marketing expense, but we do not have that luxury.
Gary Piscopo, ND, LAc
CEO
Healing Mountain Publishing
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| I think it would be awesome to have flash cards available in a web form.
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Quick response to your comments:
1. We have representatives at all of the schools, including CCNM, except Boucher and Bridgeport. They are not "student reps," however, and therefore not high profile because some campuses charge exorbitant fees for that privilege. If you don't know who your representative is, please use the Contact Us function here on the website and we will let you know.
2. We used to do bulk orders at one time, which was a logistical disaster. Why? Let me count the ways. First, no one wanted to take financial responsibility for the hundreds of dollars worth of products being shipped. In one case, we lost a moderately sized order. Who do you think paid for that?
Second, it was time-consuming and stressful for the representatives to deal with the demanding behavior of their peers. We had to pay them more and even then some just quit - once right in the middle of the order process.
Third, the students complained about every aspect of this program: that they couldn't use credit cards, that they couldn't get the books immediately, that the pick up times were inconvenient, etc.
Fourth, no one wanted to pay for shipping costs and in addition expected large discounts because, "we are ordering in bulk!"
Almost universally, students like the new web-based system better. Because our overhead is lower we can do free shipping, students can use a variety of payment methods, order fulfillment is faster, and access to the products is conveniently 24/7.
3. Again, we did at one time have Canadian pricing and US pricing. Again the complaints and logistical headaches, as well as increase labor costs due to increased staff intervention. In order to handle the free shipping aspect, we streamlined everything as much as possible to reduce our overhead. That is why there is now a one-price system.
Hope that helps. Thanks for your comments.
Gary Piscopo, ND, LAc
CEO
Healing Mountain Publishing
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