Ok, obviously I need to buy more because people take their good ol' time returning the boards! Do you give a time limit for returning boards? How many boards do you own, baking from your own kitchen?
I have more cakes to do this week and I have no boards left...I guess I have to start calling people for them back 
When someone picks up a cake, I tell them it's $5 for the cake drum and if they bring it back soon, I'll give them the $5 back! That may sound tacky, but I'm tired of having to replace them - they are not cheap!! I did a cake this past Saturday and when I opened the front door on Sunday morning the cake drum was on my porch! LOL! How's that for a quick return?!?!
Are you reusing the lightweight foil covered foam cake drums? Are the cakes on anther cake board on top of that drum? Do you re cover them with new foil? Do they get damaged with repeated use? I have not purchased and of these thick foam foil covered drums yet because I though they were really nice but a little expensive to just use once and throw away.
No, I'm talking about the cake drums. I also have some thick heavy duty boards my dad made for me. That's another thing people tend to rip off all the foil even if it's in good shape. Do you recover each time? I don't use another cardboard circle on top of the drum. I only use those inside of my cake. I don't ask for them back. The drums cost like $10 a drum. I don't think people will buy cakes from me if they have to purchase that board. However I really like the drums because they are light weight compared to the ones dad made for me.
I would just include the cost of the cake drum in the overall price of the cake. Personally, the thought of re-using a drum sounds a bit unsanitary. Another member recently submitted a reply where she said that she uses large 1/2 inch foam core boards from the craft store to make drums (I'm going to try it myself). She said that you can get several from one sheet, and they are very sturdy. As a plus, you can use the 40% off coupon that they normally have (Michael's or Hobby Lobby) to get even more bang for your buck!
I just buy foam core from Wally World and double it or triple it depending on how heavy the cakeis. I add it in to the price of the cake. I can get a sheet for like $3........and get several boards from it. Hope this helps!
I also use the foam boards from Michaels for my drum board and they work great. I use the coupons and a great deal. They are lightweight and strong and I do get a couple of them out of one sheet. The last cake I did was a four layer wedding cake and it held up just fine. No need to get it back either.
I use masonite throughout my cakes (under every tier as well as the presentation board) and I build the cost of it into the cake as a consumable item. The only items I ever need returned to me are cupcakes stands (and they pay a hefty deposit so that if it isn't returned by the agreed upon date, I keep the deposit). Everything else (support, board, specialty separators, etc) are all charged to the customer and theirs to do with however they wish.
Reusing a cake drum is not unsanitary if it is recovered each time! I live in a small place so people should have no problem returning the drums. It's just laziness on their part! Trying to figure out a set time for retuns...like 1 or 2 weeks max. Probably should be one week like movies, lol! Late charges apply...LOL!
I use masonite throughout my cakes (under every tier as well as the presentation board) and I build the cost of it into the cake as a consumable item. The only items I ever need returned to me are cupcakes stands (and they pay a hefty deposit so that if it isn't returned by the agreed upon date, I keep the deposit). Everything else (support, board, specialty separators, etc) are all charged to the customer and theirs to do with however they wish.
Where do you get masonite? Is it easy to cut?
I would just include the cost of the cake drum in the overall price of the cake. Personally, the thought of re-using a drum sounds a bit unsanitary. Another member recently submitted a reply where she said that she uses large 1/2 inch foam core boards from the craft store to make drums (I'm going to try it myself). She said that you can get several from one sheet, and they are very sturdy. As a plus, you can use the 40% off coupon that they normally have (Michael's or Hobby Lobby) to get even more bang for your buck!
The foam boards are half off this week at Hobby Lobby. I bought a 22" x 30" - half an inch thick - for $2.50. It's light weight, but strong.
Where do you get masonite? Is it easy to cut?
Just google "masonite cake circles" and you'll come up with a bunch of places... you don't need to cut them. They come in all the standard cake sizes (although for custom boards for larger cakes and carved cakes I get it at Home Depot)
Reusing a cake drum is not unsanitary if it is recovered each time! I live in a small place so people should have no problem returning the drums. It's just laziness on their part! Trying to figure out a set time for retuns...like 1 or 2 weeks max. Probably should be one week like movies, lol! Late charges apply...LOL!
Here's the wording I use on my equipment deposit contract. Maybe you could adjust it to suit your needs. The reason I require the equipment to be returned within 3 days is so I'll have it available to me for the following week's cakes and also to prevent allowing enough time for them to forget.
"I agree to return the following items within 3 days of this contract, clean and in good condition, at which time my deposit will be refunded in full. If items are not returned within this time period, a late fee of $5.00 per day will be assessed up to 14 days. After 14 days, deposit will not be refunded."
Oh, yeah. No, I don't want anything back. Unless I used some sort of specialty something or other, it is worked into the price of the cake. I don't have the patience or the desire to keep track of this and that and charge deposits, and depend on something like that for someone else's cake next week. No way.
omg, if you're worried about a $5 piece of cardboard, just add it to the price of the cake. As a customer, I'd be aggravated to have to spend $7 worth of gas to return a $5 cardboard thing! I think that's nuts.
I also find it unsanitary to re-use disposable items. If you can't run them thru the sanitizer process to make sure they are sanitary, then don't re-use them! You have no idea what's been done to that board before you got it back. An earlier post asked about replacing foil ... if the foil isn't being replaced, I find that even more unsanitary.
In the overall cost of the cake, these are pennies, people. Price the cake right and you wont' have to worry about this stuff.
I don't even ask for my masonite boards back, on the rare occasions that I use them. It's part of the cost of the cake.
Amen! Cake drums are for people who don't want to take the time to cover their own cardboard with foil, so if you're going to recover a used one with foil, why not just start with a plain ol' cheap stack of circles that are disposable to begin with!
Thanks for all your input. So nobody using the drums and has them returned?? 
I do a lot of sheet cakes, so what do you use for disposable for them? It needs to be strong enough so the cake doesn't move to damage my edible images.
Don't want to take the time to cover their own with foil....it takes just as much time to recover the drums 
When someone picks up a cake, I tell them it's $5 for the cake drum and if they bring it back soon, I'll give them the $5 back! That may sound tacky, but I'm tired of having to replace them - they are not cheap!! I did a cake this past Saturday and when I opened the front door on Sunday morning the cake drum was on my porch! LOL! How's that for a quick return?!?!
I wouldn't appreciate that.... ants and all! I'd rather pay them an extra $5 to throw it away than to bring it back
)
I wouldn't appreciate that.... ants and all! I'd rather pay them an extra $5 to throw it away than to bring it back
)
Bingo! 
As I said, if you can't run it thru your dishwasher and/or sanitizing cycle, you have no business re-using it anyway.
I wouldn't appreciate that.... ants and all! I'd rather pay them an extra $5 to throw it away than to bring it back
)Bingo!
As I said, if you can't run it thru your dishwasher and/or sanitizing cycle, you have no business re-using it anyway.
Ok, I really don't get it, you thinking it's not sanitary when I would re-cover them with new foil. It's no different than covering disposable cardboards. It's new foil on whatever you choose to put it on! Right?!
Ok, I really don't get it, you thinking it's not sanitary when I would re-cover them with new foil. It's no different than covering disposable cardboards. It's new foil on whatever you choose to put it on! Right?!
I cardboards I buy are made for the purpose ofputting under a cake. I'm not recycling used pizza rounds and I'm not cutting rounds from the sides of photocopy boxes (which I've read that some CC'ers do and that REALLY bothers me).
If covering them is all it takes, then call your health dept and ask if you can save all the pizza boxes & cardboards and use those after you're done eating pizza. I'll just bet they say no.
ok, on cardboard...i have purchased new shipping boxes from wal mart to use as sheet cake boards, covering with foil or wrapping paper/saran wrap. would you do this? or should i break down and buy the precut ones specially made for cakes?
Ok, I really don't get it, you thinking it's not sanitary when I would re-cover them with new foil. It's no different than covering disposable cardboards. It's new foil on whatever you choose to put it on! Right?!
I cardboards I buy are made for the purpose ofputting under a cake. I'm not recycling used pizza rounds and I'm not cutting rounds from the sides of photocopy boxes (which I've read that some CC'ers do and that REALLY bothers me).
If covering them is all it takes, then call your health dept and ask if you can save all the pizza boxes & cardboards and use those after you're done eating pizza. I'll just bet they say no.
That's just it... there are disposable cardboards, meant to be used once and discarded.
My thoughts exactly on the re-gifted pizza circles!!! If the customer removes the messy icing foil before returning to you, and they find pizza goo or prior knife cuts on the drum hidden under your new foil, wouldn't you be embarrassed that you reused such a relatively cheap and disposable item?
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