Janelle Irwin Taylor
Political consultant Nick Hansen launched a website selling personal protective equipment (PPE) to anyone who needs it.
The site, OrdernowProducts.com, has stock and is delivering supplies throughout the nation.
Within its first seven days, Hansen’s new endeavor received and filled more than 100 orders.
The site offers two types of masks and will begin delivering hand sanitizer Wednesday.
Hansen, who runs Poli Solutions Consulting based in Pinellas County, launched the PPE site after discovering shortages and hearing from government officials and others frustrated with bogus “companies” offering products that never show up.
Hansen’s site is different. Unlike many suppliers that require minimum orders unsuitable for families or small businesses, his site offers three-ply face masks in orders of 10 or more, rather than high-quantity boxes. KN95 masks can be ordered just four at a time, suitable for a family who only plans to use the products on a limited basis.
Orders ship same-day and are received in two to three days for in-state orders and 3-5 days out-of-state. Priority two-day shipping is also available in some cases.
“In early March 2020 I was let go as Vice President of government affairs at MedMen, a job I left my firm for and had held for a little over a year. I decided it was time to pull my five kids out of activities and prepare to hunker down,” Hansen said.
It was then that he began mulling new ideas. He and his wife decided to blend their extended family and weather the quarantine together, leaving him with the primary duty of schooling his children, but also to work with his older brother Nate on finding logistics and management solutions to get crucial PPE to hospitals and government agencies.
His brother, Nate, spent his entire career as a medical device sales director, paving the way for this new endeavor.
“With all the focus on securing PPEs he was called in to help procure PPEs in large quantities using his vast network of contacts,” Hansen said.
“I began to notice that there were few reliable sources for small quantities of PPEs for families and small businesses, and the idea for OrderNowProducts.com was born.”
“We quickly learned people are desperately trying to buy affordable PPEs but are very weary of the online scams and fraud,” he added.
To make matters more difficult, Google doesn’t allow companies like his to advertise, leaving marketing to email and word of mouth.
“This isn’t a huge moneymaker for me, but it has been a welcomed distraction during the quarantine,” Hansen said.
Better, he has used the launch as an opportunity to teach his older children — he has a 10, 7, 5, 3 and 2-year-old — about “supply chains, building websites, fulfilling orders, and helping people by providing something useful and in demand.”
The masks are shipped from overseas and ordered from a U.S. company at wholesale, Hansen said.
Hansen launched the website with a $20,000 personal investment used to purchase initial inventory, build a website and market products.
Three-ply masks are available for $1.25 per mask (minimum of 10) or $44.95 per box of 50. KN95 masks are $5.50 each with a minimum of four per order.
Hand sanitizer gel is $9.95 for an 8 oz. bottle or $14.95 for a 16 oz. bottle. The gel contains 62% alcohol, meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on effective sanitizing.
Shipping costs are nominal. An order that would supply a typical family is $3.99.
2 comments
Bob Schultz
May 20, 2020 at 7:19 am
“shipped from overseas” Why don’t you tell us just WHERE “overseas” these masks are made.
Cherie Pulen
May 20, 2020 at 8:38 am
Looking on the Internet, KN95 masks are made in China to China’s standards … they are not the masks recommended by the CDC (Center for Control and Prevention).
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