u/SlightySaltyPretzel

Hey y’all! I’m looking into becoming a wholesale fireworks dealer in the IN/OH/KY area and would love to hear from people who are actually in the business.

A little background: I grew up around fireworks and my uncle used to sell them before he passed away 10+ years ago. I’m currently a Type 54 licensee and have been doing my local community show for the last 6 years my largest show so far has been around $9k.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading and digging into the wholesale/distribution side of the industry, but I’d really like to hear from people who have actually done it especially current distributors or people who have started their own wholesale operation.

I’m primarily interested in focusing on the 1.4G Pro market, although I’d eventually like to expand the product selection. My goal would be to sell B2C and with growth be a B2B seller, without having a traditional storefront. The idea would be more of a container-based operation similar to how 1.3g wholesalers operate.

One of the biggest questions I’m trying to figure out is whether it makes more sense to:

Import my own containers
The margins seem attractive, but obviously there’s a lot more involved with importing, logistics, minimum orders, etc.

Source from existing U.S. distributors
Less logistical hassle and potentially access to a much larger number of SKUs, but obviously with less margin.

For those of you who wholesale/distribute fireworks:

What did you wish you knew before getting started?
How difficult is it to build enough volume to make importing your own containers worthwhile?
If you started over, would you import yourself or buy from domestic distributors?
Are there any distributors/importers you would recommend talking to?

I’m not looking for anyone to hand over their secret sauce — just trying to learn from people who have already gone down this road.

Thanks!

Revenue Patch Service here!

Hope everyone out in the fleet is doing well. It’s been a while, and I’ve got some new stuff to show off at the shop (Link)

I’ve started branching into apparel! Shirts and sweatshirts are now available and are drop-shipped through Printful to help keep costs down for both me and customers. Right now there are two sweatshirt options:

Standard hoodie
Heavyweight oversized hoodie (basically feels like wearing a warm blanket)

If you have ideas for general Coast Guard apparel, I’d love to hear them. If you’re looking for custom unit gear though, I highly recommend Victor Sierra Gear, they’ve got a great reputation and make quality products.

For the nerd side of things, I’ve made Pokémon-inspired rate patches for nearly every rate, and I’ve also started making standalone Pokémon patches. I currently have 4 done, with 4 more in the works:

Umbreon
Flygon
Gardevoir
Metagross

(And yes, I understand the risks of making Game Freak-inspired art.)

I’ve also made a couple aviation-style awards that commands can hand out:

Golden Wrench — a semiannual award for the most deserving mechanic, comes in a pack of 5.
Eagle Eye — for someone who catches a safety hazard, finds a SAR victim, prevents an incident, etc. Comes in a pack of 10.

I’ll admit I’ve been slacking a bit on traditional USCG and rate-specific designs lately. I’m an AMT, so I don’t interact with the cutter and small boat fleet too much. If you’ve got ideas for patches, apparel, or designs, throw them in the comments and I’ll see what I can do.

And if my stuff isn’t your style, there are a lot of other great Coast Guard artists and creators out there worth supporting:

Appreciate all the support, and I’m excited to keep making more stuff for the community. If you would like to keep up with me my Instagram is Revenue Patch Service.

Fair winds and following seas.

. edit - a link died

Looking to get into 1.4pro wholesale fireworks

Patches, Apparel, Stickers, and Coins Oh MY!