Six notes from the desk
Each piece is a cost layer makers leave out until the sticker is already printed. Open one. Then cost the SKU.
Unit math
Materials is not the unit.
Wax and a jar are the start. Labor, waste, and Saturday still sit on every candle.
Read the note
Labor
Your time is a cost layer.
Forty minutes at the bench is not free. Put an hourly number on it.
Read the note
Markets
The booth fee belongs in the bar.
An $85 table split across 40 soaps is $2.12 you never put in the soap.
Read the note
Wholesale
Wholesale is not half of retail.
If the shop needs 50 percent, you start from a real unit, not a copied sticker.
Read the note
Packing
Shipping supplies are not overhead.
Mailers, tape, and kraft paper sit on the unit. They are not a studio expense you ignore.
Read the note
Waste
Waste is a line, not a shrug.
Failed batches and the jar that cracked still cost you. Put them on a line so the units that sell can carry them.
Read the noteCost one SKU after you read.
The Costing Workbook walks materials, labor, overhead, waste, fees, and packaging until you have a number that holds up.
