It’s great that 2020 is finished, but passing into 2021 won’t be like flipping the “normal” switch back to its usual setting. Ontplates.com didn’t have a super year, but it was by no means a record low. Still, we have absorbed additional shipping costs from rate increases and postal pick-up fees. Our web hosting bill rose substantially last year. Our usual sources of paint are not presently available to us. We’ve been able to source more of the same type, but from a more expensive supplier. Our profit margin is already small; but in 2020 it was smaller still.
Ontplates.com presents itself as a smooth operator from the outside, but it’s important to realize that it is a small, independent, Ontario-based business. It takes substantial time and effort to offer our goods for sale. Ontplates.com is a sole proprietorship with no additional employees. The guy who restores the plates is the same guy who rebuilt this web site. It keeps the overhead low, which was helpful in riding out the year 2020.
2021 marks the twentieth year that the Year of Manufacture program has been available to classic car owners in Ontario. 2021 will also be our eighteenth year in business. It’s essentially a labour of love that pays for itself, with a bit left over after taxes.
We’re in no trouble, but you can still help this small business thrive in a few different ways:
- Follow us on Facebook and Twitter so you can promote our services to your fellow classic car owners (see bottom of this page).
- If you have a counter in your shop for clients to take business cards, we’ll gladly send you some. We also have glossy 8 ½ x 11 mini-posters.
- If you have plates to sell, contact us. Our business is only as strong as the raw materials that we restore.
- If you have a classic car and are thinking about plates, ask us some questions. Just like you, we don’t like aggressive sales pitches. We educate first, and allow people to make up their own minds.
- If you’re a past customer, send us a fresh picture of your vehicle wearing its plates. We may ask your permission to Tweet it or include it on our Client Vehicles page.
- If you’re not a car owner, and you simply enjoy licence plates, check out The Back Bumper.
Happy New Year!