My name is Gary Jacobs. I am the owner and operator of
this business. I believe in integrity and honesty and I am not going
to try to convince anyone that I am a big company. I operate literally
out of my garage so I am not going to show you a store front or a picture of
a big warehouse. I plan on growing larger and handling more and more
products but I don't use a drop shipper. I find the products I want to
sell and look for the best prices so I can pass on those prices to you.
Because I stock what I sell, my growth will be based on my ability to
accumulate stock.
My Background
I graduated from Washington State University with a bachelors
degree in Mechanical Engineering in January 1972. I have worked as an
engineer in the following industries: agriculture (drip irrigation systems)
product handling (palletizers), plywood industry (lathes, patchers,
stitchers, etc.), nuclear industry (designing handling systems for a laser
isotope separation plant that never got built), and aircraft-aerospace where
I spent the majority of my engineering career working for THE major
aerospace company in the Seattle area of Washington State. I was a
design engineer and engineering manager for my 21 years at that company and
the last five years were spent as a consulting engineer in China as they
ramped up to build major airplane parts for the company. In addition
to my engineering career, I have owned and operated two other businesses.
On a personal note, I have two children, and six
grandchildren. I currently live with my wife Lesleigh of 38 years in
the little town of Moxee near Yakima Washington. I am here primarily
because of family. Because I need to stay in this location and because
there is essentially no work in this area for my background, I have decided
to start this business as an extension of my hobby and passion, rocketry.
It seemed like a natural since I already had a rocketry website that has
been seeing a good growth in visitors. My intent is to supply products
to the high power and experimental rocketry hobby market but hopefully will
cater to a larger cross section of people as the store grows and I am able
to add products.
During the years of my first venture into business, a
hydroponic greenhouse, I and a friend started a model rocketry 4-H club in
the late 1970's. At the time, Washington state required a license to
buy even small model rocket engines. I got involved, took a class, got
my license, then taught classes for others to get licensed. It was a
disappointment in a way when the state finally rescinded the law so no
license was required. I then went on to experimenting with making my
own black powder rocket motors, wrote a manual and sold it through the
classifieds in Popular Science magazine and others. That manual is now
available free on my rocketry website (see link at right).
Business Goals
One thing that has been an irritation to me purchasing
products from other websites is that I often don't feel like I know exactly
what I am getting. If I could buy the same thing locally, often I
would because all that is provided is a a few words for a title for the
product and little else. This is not universal. There are many
web stores that offer extensive descriptions and this is what I love.
All too often, especially on the smaller rocketry web stores, there is not
much information available. I often need to know the thread size, the
outside dimensions, the electrical characteristics, power, etc. Other
irritations are shipping costs that are obviously inflated over the actual,
or no options beyond fixed rate USPS, mandatory priority shipping, etc.,
poor communication, slow order processing, and inflated prices.
My goals in running this store are:
The best prices I can offer and still make a modest profit.
Too much information rather than too little about the
products.
Handling and shipping costs that reflect actual costs of
shipping material and actual shipping costs. Or when I can, I'll
absorb some or all of the shipping costs myself. I will ship the
cheapest and best way taking into account the customers time frame and
desires when possible.
Same day or next day shipping depending on time of day of
order.
Quick, honest, and responsive communication to solve any
problems. My goal, as should be all merchants, is to have happy
customers who will not only return but who will recommend others to my web
store.
To maintain my honesty and integrity in every aspect of the
business.
One other BIG irritation I have is with people who sell
ebooks or information that is 98% filler to take up space and that gives the
buyer very little if any useful information. That is why you will find
on my rocketry website a ton of information, all free. I may in the
future provide more specialized information in the form of ebooks but when I
do, they will be worth the money and provide details beyond what is readily
available other places. I'll leave the fluff and garbage rhetoric to
the unethical scammers out there in cyberspace, who unfortunately exist in
disturbing numbers. I will continue my direction of providing free
information on this website and provide links or information relative to the
products whenever I can.
I still am a believer that a person can make an honest days
wages for an honest days work and that honesty and integrity will eventually
pay off.
