Sticker Shock
Recapping the frenzied launch weekend of the Silicon Inside stickers.
On Saturday, February 15, 2025, I released my Apple Silicon Inside sticker collection, and the reception was far beyond anything I could have ever anticipated. Here's a reflection on that frenzied weekend to give you a behind-the-scenes look at how it all went down.
I've been quietly working toward this launch for a long time, investing both time and resources to bring it to life. It all started in October 2024 when I printed my first batch of Apple Intelligence Inside stickers. Unfortunately, the thick, uneven border didn't meet my standards, forcing me to scrap the entire shipment ($150 down the drain).
In November, I ordered my first batch of Intelligence & Basic Logo stickers.
A week later, I placed a corrected reorder, this time including holographic and standard Basic Apple Guy logo stickers. In December, I designed custom envelopes and seals, further adding to the investment. But by mid-January, preparations truly ramped up. I bought a PO Box, stocked up on protective sleeves and postage, and dedicated hours to preparing my website, which included updating the mercantile, adding inventory, and fine-tuning shipping logistics.
Photo from early January showing order fulfillment of the Intelligence & Basic Logo stickers.
The soft launch of my Apple Intelligence and Basic Apple Guy stickers on January 13 was a test run to gauge order fulfillment and expected volume. Initial sales were slow but steady: three orders came in on the 13th and 14th, followed by a gradual drop to single daily orders. Posting about the stickers on January 18 led to an initial wave of a dozen orders on the 17th and 18th but was quickly followed by a return to only a handful of orders on the 20th & 21st. It all felt manageable, so on the 23rd, I shared the stickers on social media, and things exploded, with over a couple of dozen orders over the launch weekend. But again, things quickly quieted down and returned to a trickle of 3-4 orders each day through the end of January and into February.
The Basic Tackle Box. I purchased this tackle box as a way to easily store and access all my supplies for fulfilling orders, including envelopes, seals, the stickers themselves, pens, pins, and postage. The tackle box later expanded to include my label maker, padded envelopes (for shipping pins), a postage sizing guide, and preprinted return address labels.
Knowing that I was preparing to launch my Apple Silicon Inside stickers and remembering that initial 2-day surge in orders I experienced with my Apple Intelligence stickers after posting to social media, I replenished my stock of postage, envelopes, and sleeves again, reasoning that I had created a several month buffer of materials for all the orders I should anticipate. The custom envelopes and seals take nearly two weeks to arrive, so I needed to think weeks in advance to ensure I had the packaging materials on hand to ship them out.
Just as I had done with my Apple Intelligence stickers on January 13 and 18, I quietly added my Apple Silicon Inside stickers to the shop on February 7 to gauge demand. After a week with no noticeable spike, orders remained steady at 1–2 per day. Given that, I felt confident that the Apple Silicon launch would see the same uptick in demand as I'd seen for my Apple Intelligence stickers.
The entire currently available M-series chip collection features a unique design on each chip.
I posted the Silicon Stickers entry on February 13 and saw a demand bump identical to my Apple Intelligence. At this time, I could still fulfill all the orders in around an hour, including very slowly hand-addressing each order. Again, everything was following the pattern I'd prepared for.
My Silicon Inside Tackle Box compartment for organizing and packing orders.
However, things took a turn when I posted the Apple Silicon Inside stickers to social media on the morning of February 15. The orders began to flood in, and they wouldn't stop. I was over the moon! I could slowly start recouping the thousands of dollars I'd invested into this project, and I was overjoyed with how positive people were about the project.
But excitement quickly turned to panic as I realized the magnitude of the task ahead. What I initially estimated as a manageable 3 to 5 hours of work rapidly ballooned to 10, then 15, then over 30 hours of packing if I had any hope of getting these orders fulfilled before the post office opened on February 18.
Adding to my stress was the realization that my carefully planned 3–4 month supply of envelopes would be gone within hours. I scrambled to reorder more, and while those printed, find an interim supplier to keep up with demand. This was particularly frustrating because I had taken pride in crafting a beautiful unpacking experience, and now I was frantically searching for anything that could get these stickers shipped.
At the same time, I was running out of postage, protective sleeves, and stickers. Everything was unravelling. And the orders just kept pouring in!
In addition to running out of supplies, I quickly realized I was running out of time. Although I loved hand-addressing each envelope, that method capped my pace at around 20 orders per hour. To speed things up, I invested in a thermal label maker, allowing me to import all remaining orders from a single Excel spreadsheet and affix labels directly onto envelopes. This move saved countless hours and effectively tripled my fulfillment rate. The thermal printer was also a lifesaver when I received orders with addresses in Korean or Japanese.
Fulfilling orders but hockey is life.
By Monday, February 17, what had begun as a frantic, caffeine-fueled, hand-cramping operation had transformed into a well-oiled machine. The workflow now looked something like this:
Prepare envelopes with return addresses.
Import the .CSV file into the thermal printer and print new order labels.
Affix the customer's address to the envelope.
Write the order number on the envelope.
Add an Air Mail sticker for international orders.
Gather the protective sleeve and the requested stickers.
Inspect each sticker for scratches, lines, or imperfections.
Place the stickers inside the protective sleeve.
Pass the envelope to my wife, who double-checked the order, sealed and stamped each envelope, and marked it as fulfilled.
Sort envelopes into Canadian, U.S., and International bags, then drop them off at the post office.
And by the end of the weekend, every single one of the hundreds of orders had been fulfilled. Thankfully, things have settled back to a much, much more manageable pace since that surge, and I have been able to replenish some of my supplies.
Dropping off all the orders received and fulfilled over the mid-February long weekend.
At the same time, it helped me gauge product demand and better anticipate product spikes. For example, I know that when Apple releases the rumoured M4 MacBook Air, I can expect a bump in orders, and I am much better prepared with the supplies to fulfill orders without any supply stress.
Loose Ends
Now that things have settled again, I am dealing with a very different part of the process: customer relations. I've poured so much effort into this product, and with people placing orders, delays in shipping or inquiries about order status are inevitable and incredibly disappointing. I want every customer to have a great experience, but the frustrating reality is that once a package is in the hands of the postal service, it's out of my control.
I've chosen to ship via letter because it provides much more affordable shipping, but at the downside of lacking tracking, so all of us are effectively blind to where this letter is once it leaves my home. Some orders arrive in under a week, while others take three, four, or five weeks—even to the same country. I know I have had only two items bounce back to me: one was to a country experiencing a temporary stoppage in postal service due to conflict (that has since been resolved), and one was for incorrect postage that was quickly fixed. But in saying that, adding tracking would significantly inflate shipping costs, anywhere from double to quadruple the current rate. And charging $12–$25 for shipping a single sticker would make the entire operation unsustainable.
I am working as hard as I can and responding to people who have reached out asking about their orders. Given the lack of tracking, I have worked on improving my communication in emails and on the order page about shipping times. I have also considered adding the option of a tracked shipping rate in the future because I empathize with people who are ordering and want to know that their package is safe and when it should arrive. The fact is, letter mail is often a lot slower than the parcels we get from other couriers.
In Sum
Sometimes my “helper” would join me and demand a lap to nap on while I fulfilled orders.
In my first year of blog, I focused entirely on writing. By years two and three, I expanded into creating wallpapers and selling merchandise through Cotton Bureau. I explored partnerships in years four and five and experimented with icon design. Each new step has been a learning experience, challenging me to develop my creative and business skills in new ways.
This year, I expanded into designing and distributing my own products. While I've been thrilled with the final result, I've also been overwhelmed by the detail and careful planning required at every stage. Managing supply levels, anticipating demand, and optimizing order fulfillment have been an intense challenge. Learning about packaging, the postal service, and trying to make the shipping of these products as economical as possible has been complicated. And so has customer relations. I want everyone to have the best experience, which is complicated by things outside my control (i.e., the postal service). But in saying that, I'll work with a few people when/if orders inevitably get delayed or lost to ensure they have the best experience possible.
Thank you once again for all your support!
Customer Photos
Below is a gallery of customer orders from around world! Email or tag me on social with your stickers and I’ll make sure to include it in the growing collection of Silicon Inside Buyers!
