ShineOn

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ShineOn Handles Holiday Order Surges While Cutting Q4 Overtime by More Than $300,000

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ShineOn is a print-on-demand custom jewelry manufacturer that gives entrepreneurs the products, resources, and tools they need to build their own online stores. ShineOn manufactures and fulfills each personalized order, allowing its customers to focus on selling rather than managing production.

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That business model creates significant swings in volume throughout the year. Demand rises around Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and especially Christmas, but maintaining enough full-time employees to cover those peaks would leave the company carrying unnecessary labor costs during slower periods.

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“As you can imagine, I mean, we wish customers were buying gifts all year round, but of course, we've got five major holidays where we really do have a crunch. Of course, some of those things like Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, and then especially as we gear up towards the busiest season, which is the Christmas Holiday. As you can imagine, for us, it's it's not economical to keep labor around full-time year-round.”

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ShineOn needed a way to increase production capacity during holiday surges without building its permanent workforce around the busiest weeks of the year.

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Responding to Orders Within Hours

ShineOn works within narrow shipping windows. Stocked products generally ship within one to three business days, while made-to-order products ship within three to five days.

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Orders drop twice each day, including at midnight, which means the operations team often makes labor decisions based on volume received during the previous 12 hours. A delay in adding capacity can quickly affect fulfillment speed and the customer experience.

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“We're having the chance to adjust that labor volume based on the order we see coming in in the recent twelve hours. So depending on the timing of that, it can obviously help us forecast that staffing need as well to bring in additional labor to really help us get across that finish line to get it out in as quick as possible. And every hour counts that trickles down. If we don't have someone there to fulfill the order, then the order takes longer to get out, and then longer the order takes to get out, the less likely we're gonna have a repeat customer.”

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By using Veryable’s on-demand labor marketplace, ShineOn can add support after incoming volume becomes visible rather than relying entirely on longer-range forecasts. This gives the team more control over labor decisions while there is still time to protect shipping commitments.

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Maintaining a Lean Core Workforce

ShineOn keeps its full-time workforce closer to the level required during normal operating periods and uses Veryable when volume exceeds what the core team can reasonably handle.

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This allows the company to avoid carrying peak-season headcount throughout the year while reducing its dependence on overtime when demand rises.

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“Now where we found the most benefit for using the Veryable service is the fact that having the ability to number one have the quick turnaround but number two, really just have that functionality piece, just knowing that it's available for us. So for example, right now we have a full-time headcount that I keep at a lower end of scale, but the reason for that is because I have this in my back pocket too.”

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Overtime also gives the team a clear indication that more capacity is needed. Rather than continuing to extend employee schedules, ShineOn can increase the number of operators supporting production until the operation returns to a sustainable level.

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Building a Labor Pool That Already Knows the Work

Many of the operators who work with ShineOn return for additional opportunities. Once they understand the facility, production process, and expectations, they can contribute more quickly when volume rises again.

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“It was very easy to just be able to post something up and have people come in. And, a lot of the times, those people really enjoy coming back. Once you meet that person, you make that connection. It's nice being able to, like, okay, at least we know when we need somebody and they're available, like, they can just jump in and they already know what to do.”

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That continuity reduces the burden on supervisors during peak periods and gives ShineOn access to additional capacity without rebuilding the workforce each time demand increases.

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The company has also found that some operators meet or exceed the production rates of full-time employees, helping reinforce performance expectations throughout the operation.

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“Again, coming in day rate, doing a great job, and they're even passing up some of the rate of our full-time people. That's what I love right? Because then they're able to demonstrate that not only can the goal be met, but it can actually be exceeded by someone who's wanting to come in and make a good impression. They continue to help us raise the bar.”

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Reducing Overtime and Protecting the Core Team

Before incorporating Veryable more fully into its peak-season strategy, ShineOn spent approximately $350,000 on overtime during Q4. The following year, that figure fell to approximately $30,000, a reduction of roughly $320,000.

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The savings were significant, but the change also reduced the strain placed on employees who had previously worked extended schedules throughout the holiday season.

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“We've reduced that cost tremendously, which don't get me wrong. Hey there's certain times a year that people appreciate a little bit of overtime. But when folks are working a sixteen, a twenty twenty-four hour overtime on top of a regular schedule, and that's consistently after week, our bigger concerns are safety, getting them back and forth to work, Are they having enough rest between shifts? It's just the greater good. Right?”

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By distributing peak workloads across a larger labor pool, ShineOn could maintain output without repeatedly asking the core team to absorb demand through overtime. This helped address fatigue, safety, transportation, and burnout while preserving production capacity.

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Lowering Labor Costs as the Business Grows

ShineOn estimates that the shift away from multiple traditional staffing providers reduced its overall labor costs by approximately 10% to 15% compared with the prior year.

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As sales and order volume increase, labor requirements naturally increase as well. The difference is that ShineOn can now add capacity when demand requires it and reduce that capacity when demand returns to normal.

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“The neat thing for us as a business model, right, is that as our volume continues to increase, obviously, the labor is gonna increase, the sales are gonna increase, it all kinda coincides. Right? But what we found for us is that through the efficiencies of not only the labor pool, but more importantly, the opportunity to drive, I'll call it the better value, We've seen a decrease anywhere between ten and fifteen percent, and relationships are overall cost from last year.”

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This keeps labor costs more closely connected to actual sales instead of leaving the company with fixed expenses after a holiday surge ends.

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Launching New Products Without Overhiring

The same flexibility helps ShineOn manage uncertainty when introducing new products.

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When the company prepared to launch a new acrylic category, it expected demand to increase but did not know whether the new line would add 500, 1,000, or 1,500 orders per day. Hiring a large permanent team before seeing the market response would have created unnecessary risk.

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“Got a couple more full time just in case, but what we're gonna rely on the fact of is using the Veryable service, right, to continue to as we something spike to, let's say, an additional five hundred to a thousand orders per day, or maybe even fifteen hundred orders per day. Now, our goal is fulfilling that with the temporary pool because we don't understand how that market works yet. And knowing that we have that flexibility to partner there as part of that process is what it's all about.”

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Rather than committing to headcount based on an unproven forecast, ShineOn could add production capacity as actual orders arrived. This allowed the company to pursue the new category without allowing labor availability or premature hiring to become a constraint.

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What Changed

By building Veryable into its operating model, ShineOn gained the capacity to respond to holiday surges, daily order changes, and new product launches without maintaining peak-season headcount throughout the year.

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The company reduced Q4 overtime expense from approximately $350,000 to $30,000, lowered overall labor costs by approximately 10% to 15%, and reduced the fatigue and safety concerns associated with sustained overtime.

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ShineOn can now adjust labor based on orders received within the previous 12 hours, bring back operators who already understand the work, and add capacity for new products without hiring ahead of uncertain demand.

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“We do have an advantage... because we have this hidden gem in our back pocket.”