So How Long Do Glyphs Take?

In terms of a glyph industry, that is.  I was wondering about this, and decided to see how much time I put into it each day.

1. Cancel unsold glyphs
   4 minutes
   (There was 821 unsold today)
2. Collecting unsold glyphs, part one
   9 minutes
   (This is the Priest/Rogue/Shaman/Warrior/Warlock glyphs. The 50-mail-at-a-time limit slows things down quite a bit here, as does the delay between emptying 50 and waiting for the next 50 to arrive)
3. Back to the bank to change equipped inscription bags
   1 minute
   (I list so many glyphs that I can only work with half of them at a time.  It’s a little unwieldy, but I’ve made it work for me.)
4. Collecting unsold glyphs and sales, part two
   12 minutes
   (This is DK/Druid/Hunter/Mage/Paladin glyphs.  See #2 for mail server delay complaints)
5. Log onto Mingle, do Inscription Research, craft 10 of the new glyph
   2 minutes
   (Yay, I discovered the last Druid glyph!  Anyway, I only make the glyphs if they’re profitable – most glyphs discovered from Northrend research are, thankfully, so it’s then just a matter of finding out if they actually sell)
6. Check Bingle’s inventory levels and queue glyphs needing to be restocked.
   24 minutes
   (Thanks to the BankItems addon, I can see Bingle’s stock levels from the tooltips in Mingle’s crafting list.  I also record sales in a handy Excel spreadsheet, which adds to the time it takes – however, the extra information is well worth the extra time invested)
7. Brief interlude in Wintergrasp on Fingle with timer paused.
   - cue elevator muzak -
    
   (Yay!  Plus we won Wintergrasp back, so I scored three Marks)
8. Start crafting, and mail the glyphs to Bingle
   4 minutes
   (57 glyphs today)
9. Log back onto Bingle and perform a full scan with Auctioneer
   5 minutes
   (Not forgetting to set price levels for the new glyph I learnt and enable it for batch posting)
10. Start batch-posting the first glyph set
    15 minutes
    (Fortunately I can go AFK to make myself a nice cup of tea while this runs.  Unfortunately I have to remain in the auction house while this runs, and it takes quite a while with the numbers I’m posting currently.  I’m currently listing 4 each of 120 glyphs, so it takes a while.)
11. Back to the bank to equip the other bag set, the back to the AH to list the second half
    18 minutes
    (There’s fewer glyphs in this group, only 4 each of 112 glyphs.  Total glyph listed, 928)
12. Profit!
    (Or at least, there will be tomorrow)

So, 94 minutes later, that’s how it’s done.  That’s 61 minutes where I have to pay attention to the computer, and 33 minutes (while batch-posting goes on) where I can do other activities (such as catching up on my daily browsing).  It’s not the quick and efficient setup that, say, Gevlon uses, but it turns a regular and respectable profit for me for an affordable investment in time.  (I use lower price-points than he does, which is why my stock is so much larger, and the result of larger stocks is more time spent managing it – I suspect I’d do well to rethink my approach at some stage)

At this stage I can calculate how much gold/hour glyphs make me (which I’m curious to actually work out – up until now I’ve just collected my gold without thinking about it).  I think I’ll be reducing the range of glyphs I’m making soon (again), as I didn’t realise just how much time the lower profit glyphs are costing me (and also how much they’ll be cutting into the profit from my higher-valued glyphs).

So I think what I’d taking away from this exercise is that a little careful analysis of your gold-making activities has the potential to save you time (and increase your profits).  But of course, YMMV.

For now though, my dailies are waiting.

/wave