2009/9/14 WereSpielChequers werespielchequers@googlemail.com:
With only about 30 members the UK chapter is at a very early stage with a limited internal market. If you had 3,000 members you could get some economy of scale and order say 100 T shirts, but with a market of 30 you can expect the price per item to be exorbitant. Producing ties, mousemats, cufflinks and presumably monogrammed bathrobes for the minority of those 30 who want such things is at best a distraction and at worst a drain on resources. Not least because selling stuff at cost means you have to invest the capital to buy the stuff hoping that if you sell all of them at full price you will recover your capital. That ties up capital and sooner or later you will make a loss when you discover that fewer than ten of your thirty members want a mousemat.
That is an excellent point. Without a profit margin you are guaranteed to make a loss if you don't sell everything. Since, as a charity, we can't take significant risks that means we have to make very small orders, increasing the price even more.