You would think that making a planner would be a fairly straightforward affair: design it, print it, and sell it. But there’s a nefarious catch (maybe you’ve already caught the gist from the title of this post)—they expire.
Like broccoli? Nearly.
You see, a dated planner is good for exactly one calendar year. Whether you've used every page or barely opened it, when the year ends, so does the planner.
On top of that, it takes about six months to make one: a month to design, three to four months to produce, and another month or two to prepare photography, logistics, and everything else needed to actually sell it. Which means we have to predict demand for our planner the spring of the previous year to launch it in the fall and have it in everyone’s hands by the new year.
Over the last ten-plus years that we’ve been making planners, we only nailed our production quantity once. Every other time we’ve either made too few or too many. Too few and people miss out (and we hate to let you down), so more often than not we’ve made too many.
And it’s (very) painful to have to recycle all those unused planners. We put so much care into making these tools. The last thing we want is for them to go unused.
So we've decided to do something about it.
Starting in 2027, we're retiring our annual dated planner and introducing the Dateless Planner.
You can start the Dateless Planner any month. Any week. Any day. Whether it's January 1 or August 17, you get a full year of planning. No wasted pages. No expiration date. It takes just fifteen minutes to set up, and then you're set for the remaining 350,000 waking minutes in a year.
And because the Dateless Planner doesn't expire, we'll be able to keep it in stock year-round. No more guessing demand a year in advance.
Is this a permanent shift? For 2027, yes. Beyond that, we'll be listening to your feedback and planning (pun intended) accordingly.
Thanks for giving the Dateless Planner a shot.
Joey Cofone
Founder & Designer