DarcyD I think it might surprise people that it costs (me) around $6 to process every order. The materials (very small in comparison) and then the time for every single touch point. This value only considers the time it takes to bring it out of inventory to getting it into the mail system. No planting, growing, digging, dividing, storing, grading, sorting. This accounts for paying yourself (or others) a modest wage of $15/hr. There is no labor lollygagging when figuring out this cost. That's the real figure. $6 + postage is the real shipping cost.
Lots of people can argue that the labor and supplies should be rolled into the price of the product. Industries handle this cost distribution differently but this method is very common and is helpful for a small business to allocate the cost separately, especially if using seasonal help. For me it's helpful to mentally and visually see what the value of a product is and the cost of a seasonal process separately.
