MerchButler Resources — guides, calculators, and playbooks for buying merch in bulk
Fun Run Giveaways: A Decision Tree, Not a Listicle
Somewhere around week six of planning a fun-run, someone suggests adding a photo booth prop, a branded koozie, and a custom trucker hat to the swag bag. That suggestion usually comes from a well-meaning sponsor or a volunteer who found a…
Race & Walk Organizer5K Shirt Size Calculator: How Many of Each Size to Order (Free Tool)
Most race directors order shirts by gut feel or a generic online calculator, then either run out of mediums on race morning or haul a bin of unworn XLs back to their garage. Neither feels great. Here is the math that actually accounts for…
People Ops SwagCustom Moleskine GO Pen for New-hire onboarding kits: A Buyer's Take
Moleskine notebooks make sense for onboarding kits, but only if you have enough budget runway and enough calendar runway to pull them off. Get either of those wrong and you're either overspending or scrambling to find a substitute the week…
How to Collect T-Shirt Sizes from a Group
The problem is not that people do not know their size. The problem is that you sent the form in a Slack channel five days ago and the people who matter most to you have not opened it. Now it is Wednesday, the order locks Friday, and you…
How to Run a Walk-a-Thon (A 6-Week Playbook)
A walk-a-thon is the easiest "5K-shaped" fundraiser in the playbook. There is no chip timing. There is no permitting drama. The course is a parking lot or a school field. And the per-walker gross is often higher than a 5K because the…
Recycled Cotton vs Organic Cotton vs RPET: What Each Is, What Each Costs
The three materials your sustainable-swag vendor will most often offer are organic cotton, recycled cotton, and RPET (recycled polyester from PET bottles). They are not interchangeable. Each comes from a different process, performs…
Inclusive Sizing for Org Swag
Inclusive sizing for org swag is talked about a lot and explained badly. Most "inclusive sizing" content online is either a corporate-policy abstraction or a fashion-retailer's marketing page. Org buyers need a working reference. Here it…
Conference Swag Bag Ideas (with Per-Attendee Cost Math)
The swag bag at a conference is a different problem than the booth swag in the exhibit hall. As the conference organizer, you are buying for every attendee, not just the people who stop at a booth. The economics shift accordingly. What…
How to Plan an Onboarding Kit (Role × Remote × Budget)
The onboarding kit is the new hire's first physical interaction with the company. It sets a tone. The kits that land badly do too much (a 12-item box of branded keychains that says "we have a swag budget") or too little (a generic tee and…
Remote Employee Welcome Kit: The Operational Logistics
The thing nobody warns first-time People Ops folks about is that a remote welcome kit is 80 percent operations and 20 percent product selection. Pick the wrong fulfillment model and a great kit arrives 4 days late. Pick the wrong sizing…
Nonprofit Golf Tournament Swag: A Sponsor-Tier Framework
A nonprofit golf tournament is an unusual fundraising event because the swag is genuinely part of the product. A $300-per-player tournament is paying for a round of golf, lunch, and a tee gift bag. If the bag is junk, the renewal rate…
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