CAMPING SEASON - Think Small, Think Light

This blog entry is from our Director of Operations, Barry Maultasch:

With camping and hiking season fast approaching, it is time to break out the gear and plan ahead. As an avid camper and hiker, I went nuts looking through the Minimus.biz warehouse when I recently joined the company. I’ll take a moment to share some of my findings.

• The Bug Button is great. I personally can’t stand lathering up with insect repellant. Now, I just pin on the button, and I get effective bug protection without the mess.
• For our backpacking trips, okay, “trip” (I wish I had more time for it), one of the neatest items is the Oral-B Brush-Ups. Imagine, 7+ days worth of brushing, 14 brushes, weighing only .8 ounces! If you’re like my son, it’s even less. I’m working on him.
• Condiments galore. Nothing makes the taste of freeze-dried food taste better than hot sauce. We have Texas Pete’s, Frank’s Red Hot Hot Sauce, and Tabasco Brand in a packet and a bottle.
• There is a large supply of first aid items so I can make my own first aid kit without having to buy large boxes and break them up. We also sell pre-made kits, which is the way I plan to go.
• Check out the Charmin To Go and the Bounty Paper Towels in travel size dispensers.

There really is no way I can describe all the space and weight saving items here at Minimus.biz. This is a backpackers dream come true. Remember pack out what you pack in. Leave only footprints.

See you in the great outdoors. This year, we are debating between Sequoia and Yosemite for a little backwoods backpacking trip. If you have done both, let me hear your thoughts.

Barry Maultasch, Director of Operations

At Barry's suggestion, we're offering a coupon for 5% off the Bug Button from now through the end of April. Just use the coupon code BUGBUTTON at checkout.

Categories: Products, Camping, Backpacking, Hiking

CSI: Minimus.biz

I received this interesting email from one of our customers who placed an order over the weekend:

"As a forensic scientist, I am often called out to crime scenes. From convenient sized sun screen to munchies to insect protection, minimus.biz has everything I need to create my own "crime scene kit." Thank you minimus.biz for providing such great products. As golf season approaches, I'll be sure to fill my bag with minimus.biz goodies." -- Dan R.

Categories: Customers

GUEST BLOGGER: Got Milk...

From Joel Shrater, Co-Founder & VP of Business Development at Minimus.biz:

When we started Minimus we knew that individual size cereals was a must product for us - different flavors, different manufacturers, and different serving configurations. It is a staple in many folks eating habits. It is nutritious. And it is convenient. We carry over 50 varieties.

But then I started thinking about all of those trips I made. Staying in motels and hotels with no refrigerator. I had my cereal but no milk.

Sometimes I went to a nearby convenient store (when there was one) and paid the high price for a container of milk only to throw more than half of it away. It was also not that convenient having to get dressed and go out in the cold, dark morning before having breakfast.

Sometimes I bought (or brought with me) some dry milk. But I didn’t need the giant sacks they come in. So, I knew that individual size dry milk was something we needed to offer our family of customers.

Fortunately, we were able to find a manufacturer who supplies such a product. It is an 0.8 oz sealed package that makes an 8 fluid oz serving and has vitamins A & D added. Each package contains USDA graded instantized (for easier mixing) non-fat dry milk with a shelf life that exceeds one year.

And it even goes good with the individual size cookies we carry.

Categories: Products

TABASCO VS. FRANK'S RED HOT SAUCE

I have seen people almost come to blows over which hot sauce they thought was the best. Everyone has their favorite. One of the tried and true brands of hot sauce is Tabasco. For those of you who've been to New Orleans, you might have visited the small island where Tabasco was born. We actually offer two sizes of it, individual packet sized Tabasco, and mini bottle Tabasco. The mini bottles are a huge hit with our customers -- perhaps it is the "cute" factor.

At Minimus.biz, we've put a bunch of individual size packets of your mainstream name brand hot sauces into our lineup, and we're actually looking to add more. One of the sauces that caught my eye, having sampled it a local fast food establishment (and, no it's not Tapatio, although that it the gold standard in Mexican food), but it's Frank's Red Hot.

I love sweet things. To me, a dessert is not a dessert unless it is chocolate, and I mean a lot of chocolate (FYI, for those of you who haven't tried it, the Chantico at Starbucks -- basically, a drink comprised of melted chocolate -- is amazing). What does this have to do with hot sauces? I have no idea. Actually, in the world of hot sauces, there are a myriad of flavors. I like the ones that are sweet-spicy and not the ones that draw beads of sweat on my forehead. So, for me, it's Frank's Red Hot. If you haven't tried it, and you are a sweet-hot-sauce fan like me, I urge you to check it out. And, to spice it up a little, here's a 5% off coupon for Frank's Red Hot. Just use the code FRANKS5 at checkout. It'll be good until March 31st.


As always, if you find an interesting product on our site and want to write in about your experience with it, we might post it here.

Categories: Products

EMERGENCY SUPPLIES

Some people call it the 72 hour emergency kit, an earthquake preparedness kit, or simply emergency supplies. Minimus.biz has partnered with the world-renown Survivor Industries to offer a couple of their emergency kits individually to the consumer. Governments and companies around the world buy these exact same products in huge quantities either in preparation for potential natural, or other types of, disasters. Or, in many cases, these same kits are air-dropped into war-torn areas or disaster sites. They are rarely available for public sale to the individual consumer, but under special contract with the manufacturer, we're now offering them to you at special discount pricing. While it's not totally in line with our travel size concept (although most of things in it are pretty small), we couldn't pass up this opportunity for a unique type of product offering.

Categories: Products

UNIQUE PRODUCT - The EZcarry

The EZcarry is slowly being introduced around the country, and later this month, the EZcarry will be featured on QVC. What the heck is an EZcarry? Well, it is a soft grip handle mainly used to carry grocery bags. It alleviates the problem of the plastic bags cutting into your fingers, and it can carry up to 50 lbs, so you can carry more bags at a time. Also, you can set your bags down and pick them up again without having to re-grab all the plastic bag handles. While one can argue whether such modern conveniences are turning us into a lazy society, in the meantime, I own four of them -- two in the car and two at home. And, man I am I upset when I forget to use them. Once you use an EZcarry, you can't go back... It's even great for people with arthritis (or just plain old gadget freaks like me).

Through a special arrangement with the manufacturer, we are currently able to offer you the EZcarry on sale -- cheaper than any store, catalog, or QVC price.

From the manufacturer's website:

Statement from Dr. Jay Finkelman, Ph.D.(Board Certified Professional Ergonomist) on the ergonomic advantages of the EZcarry:

"I have reviewed the design for the EZcarry and provided professional input into its development. It is my opinion that the use of the EZCarry provides significant ergonomic advantages to traditional carry methods for grocery bags, department store bags, etc. I am particularly impressed with the merits of the soft grip since it has appropriately spaced places for fingers to rest comfortably. Most users will benefit from its design and it should provide a more comfortable carrying experience.This innovative product could also be particularly helpful for older people or those suffering from joint discomfort or stiffness in their hands. The design of the EZCarry distributes the weight of the load of groceries, or such, more comfortably.I am impressed with the elegant simplicity and functionality of the EZcarry. I hope the target population benefits from its use and I applaud the HappyWares Company for delivering this product to help people." -- Dr. Jay Finkelman, Ph.D., C.P.E.

Categories: Products, Shopping

ST. PATRICK'S DAY - Lucky Charms Coupon

Would you believe that we've had a ton of people (and companies) ordering our little individual serving Lucky Charms boxes and bowls to prepare for events and parties surrounding St. Patrick's Day? We thought this was such a curious and fun idea, that hidden right here on the blog, I'm going to put in a coupon for 5% off as many Lucky Charms as you want! Just use the coupon code LUCKYBOX for the boxes, or LUCKYBOWL for the bowls, at the checkout. Coupon codes expire 3-17-05.

Categories: Products

GUEST BLOGGER: Product Expansion

I'd like to introduce today's guest blogger, Joel Shrater, a co-founder of Minimus.biz, and its VP of Business Development. His post follows:

One of the features we instituted when we launched Minimus was to ask our customers what products they would like us to carry. After all, why should we be so presumptuous to think that we knew what everyone wanted – although we thought they would want small sizes, and they did. But which ones that are wanted is a much bigger and more demanding question.

So we placed a button on our web site asking our shoppers to tell us what they wanted. The response was overwhelming, educational, interesting, and in some cases even amusing. It ranged from quite standard products like special brand shampoos, to foods without certain ingredients to which they were allergic, to extremely esoteric products that we are still trying to figure out what they are.

While we tried to answer all of these requests personally, and to procure them to add to our product lines, it became very overwhelming. We still read all of the inquiries and act on as many as we can. We keep all of them in file and continue to investigate sources of supplies.

Many of the suggestions have already been added to our product lines and include: diet jellies, hand warmers, Degree deodorant, lite mayonnaise, and regular Miracle Whip, just to name a few.

Because several products have been requested over and over by many shoppers and which do not appear to be available in small travel sizes, Minimus is engaging in ventures to expand its operation to include packaging, or re-packaging, of those items.

Stay tuned.

Categories: Products

EXCITING PRODUCTS - Shout Wipe

From time to time, I'll post on here some of the more exciting products that we carry -- especially the new ones. None of these are paid endorsements by the manufacturers, but simply products that we are excited to carry. To kick it off, I'll highlight a popular seller and a personal favorite... the Shout Wipe Stain Treater Towelette. Offered for $.59/ea, these little flat rectangles are lifesavers. We've had customers stock up on them, claiming they are going to have some in their car, some at their desk, some at home, some in their purse -- because you never know when that greasy burger or chicken parm sandwich might spray those horrifying droplets onto your clothing. On more than one occasion, they've saved me from embarrassment. If you have a bad stain story (on a date? before an interview or big meeting?) post in the comments here... we'll send the winner 6 free Shout Wipes.

Categories: Products, Travel