Running a 4,000-Member Subscription Box on a Fixed Monthly Cycle

Everly assembled every box in a rented unit with temporary help. Each month's build took six to eight days, and the ship window kept sliding later — members were receiving "monthly" boxes on the 18th. Component vendors delivered on different dates, and nothing was reconciled until assembly day, so a short component stopped the whole run.

We split the month into receiving, building and shipping windows and held the line on each.

• Component receiving. Vendor deliveries booked and counted as they arrive, with shortages flagged the same day rather than on build day.
• Kitting line. Boxes assembled to a documented build sheet, with a first-article check before the run starts.
• Fixed ship window. The full run ships between the 3rd and the 5th of each month.

Six consecutive cycles have shipped inside the window. Member churn attributed to late delivery dropped from 6.2% to 1.4%, and Everly grew from 4,000 to 5,600 active members without changing anything about their operations.