Do You Know The Cost Of The Oil in Your Alabaster Box?

I don't think anointed oil is a product that should be sold for profit. If there is any money exchanged, it should just be enough to cover cost (this does include labor costs if needed and shipping) but no profit. That's just one of my many quirks.

Several "Christian" stores sell anointed oil for ridiculous amounts. A 1/4 ounce bottle of one particular oil cost about $5. I had to check out the label and see what exactly one was getting for five bucks. Olive Oil and Fragrance. That's it. Ponder this, I can run to the nearest Dollar Gen and get an 8.5 oz bottle of (food grade) olive oil for $2.  That's not the worst of it. Olive Oil has an extremely short shelf life. The stuff goes rank after about 3 months. Most people will not use that bottle of oil up before it goes rank. 

I did a rough calculation of what the oil cost to make (based off of what supplies would cost me at non bulk rates). The most expensive item was the 1/4 ounce glass bottle and that cost 36 cents.  7 cents worth of olive oil and a generous 8 cents for fragrance for a total of 51 cents per bottle. Ok, I'll give the company 30 cents for shipping, so 81 cents. That's a 600% mark up. INSANE!

That said...one of the services we offer at Frugal Fragrances is the production anointed oil. Saturday, I completed an order for 50 bottles of anointed oil. We use fractionated coconut oil because it has a much longer shelf life (2+ years) and is non-staining.

For the anointed oil order I just completed, I made fifty 1/2 oz. bottles for $ 40. That included the cost of the bottle of fractionated coconut oil ($16), 50 plastic 1/2 oz bottles ($0.18/bottle), and $15 dollars shipping. That's 80 cents a bottle. Twice as much oil and an oil that will last at least 8 times longer.