213 messages · last: ANDREW LEE, 2026-10-09 11:13
Busy week driven by two threads. (1) Rush stickers: Andrew opened a direct line to Sticker Mule on 10/5 for 6 SKUs x 500 = 3,000 3" circle stickers needed Oct 17 at Atlantic City, set up account andrew@mentumsupplyco.com with wholesale cert uploaded, and after several failed Drive links finally shared artwork C6X9RTB01_ART_v01.ai plus a mandated color profile. Over 10/6-10/7 he approved two die shapes, locked finishes (holographic glossy; rectangle design gold gradient on matte since metallic isn't offered; remaining circles matte), required individual cuts (not on a roll) in blank Sticker Mule packaging, corrected billing to 502 W 7th St STE 100, Erie PA and ship-to to the UPS Store at 7 S Essex Ave, Margate City NJ for pickup near the show, pushed repeatedly for net $0.15/pc, and closed with "It is fine as is" plus a request for completion photos. On the client side, invoice INV-C6X9RTA11_03 went to Kunal 10/5 with ACH/wire instructions and countersigned copies were exchanged and acknowledged 10/6 — payment itself still not in. (2) GO2 pop-tops: quote R5X8N2A18_v01 issued 10/8 for 45,000 labeled ORANGE tubes (art 4F3V2R06 approved) with 60k/75k price breaks, valid to end of month, payment options 50% Net 30 / payment plan at 75k / pay-in-full discount, 8-10 week total lead time and a mid-December CNY cutoff. On 10/9 Andrew escalated under new case R5X8N2A19 with visual timelines showing 45k leaves GO2 4-7 weeks without packaging, recommended adding +25,000 units to hit 75k (better unit and shipping breaks), and confirmed samples were already ordered at no cost to speed the decision; payment plans to be discussed 1-on-1 with Kunal. Custom Cones saw only a courtesy note: paper cost and stock life acknowledged, material fee still sitting with the end client unanswered.
Quiet week on our side — everything came from Andrew at Monarch. Tyson2.0 (7R4K8) is shipping early with a stateside ETA of Oct 8th, tracking to follow once loaded on a truck; Kunal's payment-schedule choice is still open. On cones, Andrew told John at Custom Cones the client is locked on tea leaf (not hemp), and he asked Eshan at Cones Factory whether the COA documents any dye findings, saying he'll revert after briefing the client that no natural-ingredient-derivative claim can be made. He re-issued case sheet R5X8N2A17_v03 for the GO2 tamper-evident pop-top tubes (label art received, warning-copy typo fixed, free custom color injection since MOQ is met) and is still blocked on tube color (Black/Orange/Light Grey), artwork version (4F3V2R05_v01 vs 4F3V2R02_v02) and order qty before pricing; samples still need testing/QC. A new Cheesesteak Fridge Magnet thread (4N7QZM) opened for Kunal: the referenced 3D magnet is out of production, so three enamel iterations plus 3D renders went out at 500<1000 pcs, then a raw-brass vs black-outline comparison, then the 4N7QZMC00_v01 pricing deck on 9/30 covering six artworks at 500<2000 pcs on 3"-wide magnets; Andrew confirmed price breaks scale with SKUs/qty (rule of thumb: 3 SKUs @ 1,000 pcs) and asked what other items (pins/magnets) to get ahead on. Biggest time pressure: the rush stickers for the Oct 17 NJ dispensary takeover — Andrew sent branded-only pricing (C6X9RTA03: $0.720/$0.650/$0.500 per unit at 500/1000/2000 per SKU across 3 mix-'n-match SKUs) and a combined 6-SKU brand + strain package (C6X9RTA05: $0.680/$0.620/$0.525 per unit, totals $2,880/$4,800/$7,620 incl. shipping), with strain artwork now attached. Order deadlines are Oct 5 for free shipping and Oct 7 hard cutoff, and no selection has been made.
Light week, driven almost entirely by Andrew's email replies. On the cone-sourcing front he pushed back hard on both suppliers: Jiwacones (Victor) got a direct price benchmark — the client currently buys from Futurola at $0.35/cone — and a question on what volume gets under that, then a flat rejection of Victor's 9/22 reply as not answering our questions. Custom Cones (John) was told the client wants a true no-dye/no-coloring product first, with dye isolation and 100%-natural-derived ingredients as fallback; "food-grade"/"food-safe" language is explicitly not what they want, and Andrew asked for the terms behind the 100k set-up fee plus the adjusted MOQ. The biggest concrete movement was on the GO2 tamper-evident pop-top tubes: a new case sheet (R5X8N2A17, brand R7Y, client 35024) with PDF R5X8N2A17_v02.pdf went out after Andrew's call with Anthony Hagman — GO2 label art is in hand, custom color injection confirmed at no extra cost because MOQ is met with this SKU, and two license/warning artwork variants (4F3V2R05_v01 recommended vs 4F3V2R02_v02) were presented. GO2 now owes tube color (Black/Orange/Light Grey), artwork choice and order quantity for pricing; samples still need testing and QC approval. Andrew also acknowledged Urja's scheduling link but has not booked yet.
The week was dominated by the undyed/dye-free cone investigation across four supplier threads. Andrew sent Franklin's (Ryan) the completed RFQ 6M2R8ZA19 on 9/15 with full TRG dyed and undyed pricing for both sizes (84/26: $0.155/$0.135 dyed, $0.145/$0.125 undyed at 30k/50k; 109/26: $0.185/$0.165 dyed, $0.175/$0.155 undyed), noting TRG confirmed it can produce without added dyes while GVF still owes undyed pricing, and recommending a separate "Naturals"/"Raw" SKU rather than a full pivot. With Cones Factory, scope was fixed to unbranded brown tea-leaf cones; Michelle confirmed a $3k PO minimum and static pricing regardless of dye, and supplied only carton counts (900/carton for 84/26, 800/carton for 109/26, 6 boxes per master case) — unit pricing, colorant ingredients, undyed photos, CBM, pallet configuration/weights and 50k freight to Hazleton PA all remain open, and a direct contradiction emerged (Michelle says the sampled Brown Tea Leaf is undyed, Eshan says food coloring is used), so Andrew asked for a full spec sheet and escalated the zero-colorant / all-natural-colorant question to Eshan on 9/18. Custom Cones' John acknowledged the 84/26 30k/50k pricing and is researching whether the food coloring is 100% natural and whether undyed wraps are producible, plus the 84/26 undyed price delta. A new supplier thread opened with Jiwacones (Victor Chempinsky): samples were received and sent out for heavy metals testing, with requests for undyed/raw feasibility, a full ingredients/colorant list, EXW pricing at 30k/50k for both sizes, and CBM. On 3PL, the Thursday-morning intro call with Bryan Martsching (Logic Warehouse) was finally locked in after Andrew reported not receiving the invite and shared his direct cell.
Quiet week with Monarch, dominated by Andrew's open asks and an email-deliverability scare. On 9/8 Andrew confirmed Tyson2.0 - RED / Hybrid Pre-Roll Pouch [7R4K8] production is complete and the order is being prepped for shipment, with a precise ETA still to follow. On 9/10 he sent the same two client requests to both John (Custom Cones) and Michelle (Cones Factory): (1) can cones be produced without added food coloring/dyes, and (2) reseller pricing for the 84/26 size at 30,000 and 50,000 pcs. Neither has been answered. By 9/13 Andrew fired off five blank/'test' emails and then asked 'did this email go to spam?' — he is clearly worried his messages aren't landing, which reads as a nudge on the silence since 9/10. Nothing has been sent back from our side all week.
Quiet week dominated by cone sampling logistics and ingredient documentation. Andrew re-sent the Hazleton PA ship-to (572 W Broad St, PMB147, Hazleton, PA 18201) on 8/31 and, on 9/1, formally circulated the Franklin's alternatives sample dispatch under case 6M2R8ZA13: 270 pcs total (100x 9MQ2T-4N8Q5T01, 70x R6K8N-2K7L8R01, 100x 6R8KX-7P4X9N01) in 84/26 and 109/26, UPS 1ZE4C6760315738469, ETA Thursday 9/3, with identical packages to both Hamilton Farms and Franklin's. He confirmed material origins as Brazil and Indonesia and set next steps: product qualification (flavor, burn, filling automation, QA) and establishing order volume/frequency before formal pricing. On the Custom Cones/Cones Factory side, samples are now with the end client for testing and the client asked for a complete ingredients list; Andr\u00e9 supplied BOM/material info plus third-party test references, and Andrew closed that thread out with "we are set for now." On 9/4 he opened the same question to Eshan at Cones Factory — full ingredients list plus whether the material uses added dyes — which is the live unanswered ask heading into Monday. No pricing, orders or payments moved: Tyson2.0 payment selection, the 510 spiral tubes decision, matchbook quotes, COA label samples and FLWRCRT items all stayed silent.
Quiet week dominated by Andrew's 8/24 sample-arrival announcements — all three shipments moved under one UPS tracking (1ZE4C6760316019163). Custom CR glass tubes for Hamilton Farms (7 pcs, Item KP38T, Brand 7G8) landed for the Blackbird single/multi-pack pre-rolls, with a note that a production order will need slight artwork adjustments and that the factory refined cap-side printing. Twelve tamper-evident pop-top tubes (4 SKUs x 3) from the improved mold arrived for GO2 evaluation, pitched as a better seal than AE Global, with a 15,000 MOQ on custom color and pre-kitted labels. Franklin's alternative blunt cone samples (9MQ2T x2, R6K8N x2, 2Z4XP x10) arrived for discussion only — the 200+ pc testing quantity is still not dispatched and has no tracking. On 8/27 Andrew followed up on the Jiwacones thread confirming Chamomile Tea Leaf is the material required for the immediate sourcing inquiry and asked for samples of all available products plus a catalog. No responses from our side landed this week, and nothing moved on Tyson2.0 payment, the 510 spiral tubes decision, matchbook quoting or the CO-202696 sample cones.
Very quiet week on the Monarch relationship — the only traffic was two emails from Andrew on the Method CRM thread. He clarified (twice) that the trial was started by signing in directly via Google with admin@mentumsupplyco.com, not the monarchpkg.com address, and reported that they have "arrived to a solution" on the bundling system, which unblocks the Items database question about nesting Parts into Kits from QuickBooks. He did not describe the solution and did not respond on a second demo call. Nothing moved on the cones sample run (CO-202696 ship date), Tyson2.0 payment selection, matchbook quoting, COA label samples, 510 spiral tubes decision or the distributor program — all still sitting where they were.
A quiet, mostly follow-up week from Andrew at Monarch. On FLWRCRT, Andrew made the formal email intro between Gary Bryman (FLWRCRT/Solopipe) and Dan at Cannabis Creative for brand/creative support, and separately asked Leo for a 15-minute PWF creative call — Andrew confirmed Tuesday morning works and is waiting on our calendar invite. On the Cones Factory sample run, Andrew chased Michelle on the invoice on 8/12 and then confirmed payment sent via ACH the same evening; we still owe him confirmation of receipt. On CO-202696, Andrew pushed John for a sample status update, noting the client wants to test immediately; John replied and Andrew acknowledged, but no committed ship date is visible. On Method CRM, Monarch has started its trial and is blocked populating the Items database — Andrew asked twice (8/13 and 8/14) about the recommended Assembly>Component / Kit>Parts workflow, flagged that some parts are sellable items on their own, said they can't nest Parts into Kits in QuickBooks, gave the account admin@monarchpkg.com, and asked whether a second demo call would help. No movement on matchbooks, COA label samples, 510 spiral tubes, Tyson2.0 or the distributor program. Two stray connector test emails on 8/14 are noise.
Quiet week dominated by the Cones Factory sample run. Andrew locked the 300-pc sample split — 100 pcs of 109/26 and 200 pcs of 84/26 — asked whether pricing is consistent across materials/colors, and requested an invoice so Monarch has it on hand when their client greenlights a color. By Thursday he picked the BROWN colorway and asked what differences to expect in flavor, burn and other performance criteria between colors ("color and flavor are key here"). On Custom Cones CO-202696 he acknowledged John's answer to our open question, so that thread is unblocked; the ~200 mock-up samples still need to be produced. Tyson2.0 saw only a heads-up from Lu at Hamilton Farms — Kunal's payment-schedule choice ($1,814.75 + $777.75 due Aug 26) is still outstanding. Andrew pushed his client call and now expects to make the Cannabis Creative intro mid-week, and he dropped a light SOW into the FLWRCRT Friends & Family investor thread with Gary. Friction point: he escalated on ACH, saying our reply "does not address my question" and demanding to know why the transfer took longer than expected. No movement on proposals, FLWRCRT logo files, matchbook artwork or the 510 spiral tube 10k/15k decision.
Quiet week on quoting, busy on two fronts. Tyson2.0 pre-roll pouch (7R4K8) moved to commercial terms: Andrew confirmed Monarch will absorb the extra tooling cost for the art revisions and put two payment options to Kunal at Hamilton Farms — one full payment, or 70/30 Net30 ($1,814.75 deposit / $777.75 due Aug 26, 2026). He then sent the production AI art file to Dora on 7/28 (Case 7R4K8NA02, Item 8R3XK, CMF 5T8K3R02) and chased twice for confirmation of receipt — still unacknowledged. On Cones Factory, Andrew asked that the inquiry start with product samples, raised the sample quantity to 300 pcs so he can send to 5 different testing facilities, accepted Michelle's recommended option, confirmed samples for BOTH sizes, requested an invoice, and set 572 W Broad St, PMB 147, Hazleton PA 18201 as the default ship-to on file. FLWRCRT went backwards: the ceramic shipment arrived on 7/30 with only a single Elektra unit and zero FLWRCRTs; Andrew sent a photo of the contents on 8/2 and is waiting on an explanation. The Cannabis Creative Group intro call was pushed from Tuesday 11:30 to Thursday, 30 min between 1–3pm EST. Andrew also flagged he was tied up until Thursday and expects to send proposals end of week — nothing received as of Monday.
Busy inbound week from Andrew (all activity driven from his side). On Custom Cones USA, the mock-up was approved (CO-202696), Andrew accepted a 3–4 week lead time and asked for ~200 pcs (approx. 40 per grow) so his client — who is eager to swap suppliers — can test; he also asked for country of origin on the wraps and, still unanswered, whether they are chamomile tea leaf wraps. On Cones Factory, Andrew clarified the target is matching Futurola non-tobacco blunt cones in 109/26 and 84/26 (tea-leaf wrap, per the Futurola 1Q 84/26 SKU), confirmed there are no performance complaints so the pitch is supplier-switch rather than alternative material, and on 7/23 came back with estimated annual volume of 900k cones (600k of 84/26, 300k of 109/26); an intro call with Michelle is to be set after his travel. FLWRCRT moved forward with phone calls Monday/Wednesday and a request for a dozen ceramic FLWRCRT samples to be shipped to 572 W Broad St, PMB 147, Hazleton PA 18201. Maryland Match matchbook art is promised "in a couple of days". Andrew also reconnected with Dan Serard at Cannabis Creative Group and locked a Tuesday 11:30 EST intro call. No movement on 510 spiral tubes, FLWRCRT logo files, or the distributor program. Andrew is travelling next week.
Quiet week on our side — every message came from Andrew at Monarch, and nothing was answered in writing by us. Andrew opened a new thread with Michelle at Cones Factory (reintroducing himself post-Budder Creative) asking about their distributor/partnership programs and, more urgently, whether Cones Factory can match Futurola blunt cone SKUs on geometry and material in both 109/26 and 84/26 for a client evaluating alternatives. On the existing Custom Cones thread he pushed to get 84/26 samples moving ("let me know what you need") and asked that they be added to the testing procedures; John replied and Andrew acknowledged. On matches, after Jeff's note he asked whether white matchbook samples can be produced. Finally, he opened a COA batch label request to Lu: 3–4 printed samples per SKU/label variant across Hamilton Farms, Phenos, Tyson 2.0, Franklin's and GO2 (misprints/voided fine), plus a compiled digital folder of files/dielines; Lu agreed, and Andrew confirmed shipping to MONARCH PACKAGING LTD, 572 W Broad St, PMB 147, Hazleton PA 18201, with digital assets as a zip or G-drive link. Still no Monarch decision on the 510 spiral tubes (10k vs 15k, DeForest WI), no final FLWRCRT logo files, and no final matchbook artwork.
Andrew at Monarch drove two tracks hard this week. On Custom Cones, he pushed past photos ("not reliable references for color") to physical testing: after asking for 3 dozen, he accepted John's recommendation and confirmed 1 full retail box plus a variety pack, and asked that custom crutch examples be included to show brandability. He confirmed the 5,000-unit MOQ for custom lengths is acceptable, noted lead times (6-8 wks branded / 5-6 wks unbranded), asked about 86mm, and then sent a Futurola tobacco-free blunt cone link (84/26) requesting tiered pricing at 10k / 20k / 100k, with a note on whether custom lengths still pack 400 cones/carton. He also attached Monarch's Wholesaler Certificate. On matches, he ran the same brief to both Jeff (Maryland Match, after a phone call) and Joe (Strike Matches): a custom matchbook at 68mm x 50mm, 2 rows of 7 stems (14 total), art still in development, asking for feasibility, lead times and costs; to Strike he clarified the products would be modified and kitted into a carton. No movement on FLWRCRT, the 510 spiral tubes decision, or the distributor partnership call.
Andrew Lee (Monarch Packaging) was active on several fronts this week, but most of the ball is in our court. He confirmed receipt of the FLWRCRT packaging direction deck ("Chat then!") and acknowledged Gary's FLWRCRT Friends & Family investor overview, saying Monarch will review it and look for ways to accelerate. On the Spiral Tubes thread he finally sent over Monarch's resale certificate to Tariq on 6/30 and acknowledged Tariq's follow-up document the same afternoon — no client decision yet on the 510 spiral tube 10k/15k DeForest WI quote. A new workstream opened with Custom Cones: Andrew is sourcing an alternative to Futurola 1¼ 84mm blunt cones and now wants both 84mm and 109mm; he asked for photos, a dozen samples for confirmation, and clarity on whether the wraps can match the Futurola reference (he flagged the ones shared differ in material and color). He also formalized Monarch's correspondence address (572 W Broad St, PMB 147, Hazleton PA 18201) and asked again — for both Chubby Gorilla and Custom Cones — for a standard distributor/affiliate program and assets. Finally, on 7/5 he opened a brand-new inquiry to Match Group about a matchbook distributor relationship plus an urgent custom-dimension matchbox order under the Monarch brand, with specs to follow once we connect.
The 66k-unit Hamilton Farms spiral tube deal is lost — Andrew confirmed on 6/23 that the end client went with Cannazip, apparently at or below our cost, which kills the revised quote, the pay-in-full/2-3 Net 30 terms discussion, and the pending PA REV-1220 resale certificate. Andrew took it in stride and immediately pivoted: on 6/24 he asked to become a distributor partner for Chubby Gorilla products and requested any program assets/collateral. He was boarding a flight and proposed a call for Thursday 6/25, which still needs to be scheduled on our side. No movement this week on the 510 spiral tube RFQ (10k/15k to DeForest WI) or the FLWRCRT POP carton logo files.
Busy quoting week with Andrew Lee at Monarch. On the original Spiral Tubes RFQ, Monarch locked the spec — SKU CGST1-65MM-OBK-OBK, black-on-black, thicker wall, non-510 cap — shipping to 1501 Oakland Ave, Suite R, Millville NJ 08332, and asked for pricing/freight at 15k and 20k, then escalated repeatedly to 50k/125 cases, 60k/150 cases, 66k/165 cases, and finally a mixed target of 100 cases white-on-white + 65 cases black-on-black. Andrew's end client is Hamilton Farms; he issued them a 20k black-on-black quote on 6/16 (re-exported after a bad PDF) and then a revised quote on 6/17 for 66,000 units (26,000 black / 40,000 white) with two payment options — pay in full (recommended, shipping ex Chubby Gorilla TX warehouse) or 2/3 Net 30, since volume passed the 50% Net 30 threshold. Monarch wanted to order by Wed 6/17, but that slipped as quantities kept moving and the PA REV-1220 resale certificate is still not issued (Andrew submitted the application and extra business-name documentation this week). A second, separate RFQ opened: SKU CGSC1-510R-CNL-OBK at 10k/15k units to 7208 Gene St, DeForest WI 53532 — we sent the SO with tiered freight plus a 25-case/10k freight figure on 6/18, and Andrew is waiting on his client. On FLWRCRT POP Packaging, Andrew sent the cartridge tube quote (then added the missing 10k option, noting ground freight is pallet-based so identical for both tiers) while the POP carton is still in design pending final logo files. We also sent Monarch the tiered pricing guide with per-SKU CBMs and quantities per case, which he confirmed received.
Only one substantive exchange this week on the Spiral Tubes RFQ. Andrew Lee at Monarch Packaging replied on Jun 13 to our Jun 8 message, saying Monarch is still in the process of registering for its Pennsylvania Sales and Use Tax license and expects the number within the next few weeks; the REV-1220 resale certificate will follow immediately after. He asked whether we can proceed with their first order in the interim or whether we'd prefer to wait for the certificate. No quantities, pricing, or specs were discussed, and no documents were exchanged. The ball is with us to decide on the tax-exemption/first-order question.