Well Done... East Bay.
I too, order extra shirts for every job I print.
Most of the time I'll print the extras and give them to the customer for free.
I've never had a customer tell me they are "short" one shirt.... they know they got more than they paid for.
If I miss a defect... again, no problem, they've got an extra.
It may cost me $20 in profit on a job... but it's one of those factors that keeps a customer coming back.
They perceive it as "free shirts", but it's built into my prcing structure.
I stock Black, White, Sport Gray... so at any given time I have about $2k in inventory.
About 75% of my business is black, white, gray.
And, about 90% is Gildan 2000 style.
I always get free shipping... because I can add a case of shirts to any order to meet the free shipping minimum.