I have to agree with you. I met a woman who does her outsourcing in
Addis Ababa. She told me that she has a doctor on her staff - which
makes her employees among the rare privileged class that gets health
care. She pays the manager of her plant $100/month - which is a
royal sum. The other employees make more than anybody else in their
village has ever made. So, she is doing a service while cutting her
costs.
I understand the notion of doing whatever it takes to feed your
family. What bothers me is the way that they are treated - and that
it is tolerated by the “Kathie Lee’s” of the world.
Being in LA (and from NYC) I am all too familiar with the
sweatshops. My godfather was watch commander of the Chinatown
precinct when I was a little girl (in the 60s). He’d talk about how
hard it was to take care of the immigrants who were being kept in
virtual slavery at the sweatshops - and how impossible it was to
communicate with them because in spite of how horrible the conditions
were, where they were was so much better than where they had come
from.
It just amazes me that some of the same people who are adamant about
using “cruelty free” products (that don’t use animal testing) will
look the other way when it comes to the treatment of human beings.
Go figure…
cc
I understand your point. Please do not interpret my comments as
passing judgement on you or any other small businessman who seizes an
opportunity that is there to be seized.
However, consider this point - we have millions of people living in
this country whose employement opportunities have vanished with NAFTA
and GATT. When we close a factory in the US to move the work
overseas, American children starve and go without shoes or medical
care. We may try to console ourselves with the notion that there are
government programs and welfare, but those programs are full of
loopholes and don’t always deliver.
Oddly enough, I am comfortable to live with the double standard that
finds no fault with an independent small business operator sending
work overseas - while finding great fault with huge American
corporations that do the same thing.
I have been offered a number of opportunities to expand by hiring
"these girls from Guatamala" who will “work out of your garage” for
"a couple of bucks an hour." I just can’t do it. So, I continue to
make everything myself and keep my business small.
Finally, I should point out that I am all too familiar with the
plight of struggling for every cent you can to feed your children.
Fifteen years ago, my first son was injured by medical malpractice at
birth. His bills totaled $1.1 million dollars. Private insurance
paid $868,000. and dumped nearly a quarter of a million dollars of
debt in our laps. Overnight, we went from being yuppies (I was a
successful television writer) to selling our furniture to keep from
being homeless. We lived on pasta for years, because we could only
afford to buy enough meat and fish and fruit and vegetables to feed
the kids. And we never got a cent of public assistance because we
fell through every loophole in every government program. That’s how
I got into jewelry, by the way - I was looking for something I could
do that would enable me to earn an income while being flexible enough
to care for a child with multiple disabilities and his two younger
brothers.
Maybe that’s too much but it might explain why I have
such a heightened sense of outrage over social injustice of any kind.
cc
All, Daniel’s assessment of the true cost of selling a stone through
a chain or department store is very realistic…assuming, of
course, that the stone has to be outsourced. Moreover, it occurs to
me that here is another example of how difficult it can be for the
large corporation to effectively compete with the small operator.
Those of us who cut our own stones can be quite self sufficient when
it comes to marketing loose gems. Large stores would have a hard time
stocking and securing loose stones and they would have to tie up
capital to do so. Furthermore, it would suggest that the salesperson
be much more knowledgeable…something that might require them to
pay more for their help ( Gawd forbid ! )
Ron at Mills Gem, Los Osos, CA.
Dear Tim, When I started this string on consumer education I never
once even hinted that there should be regulations or controls put
into place. But, I have regularly suggested that all of the Jewelers
associations should take a much more active role in educating the
consumer. I do not think that they should be the direct educators.
Rather, I think that they should provide pamphlets and other media
to jewelers who can use them to educate their customers. A good
example of what I propose would be a little pamphlet which describes
the advantages and disadvantages of the various popular chains,
usages which damage chains ( wearing chains while sleeping, etc. )
and life expectancies in given usages.
Apparently Jewelers of America is addressing these problems through
its membership. The obvious problem here is that they are an
exclusive organization whose membership constitutes a minority of
American jewelers.
I totally agree with you that the front line of consumer education
is the individual jeweler, but I also think that a great deal could
be accomplished through a jeweler’s organization that actively
disseminated informative articles to the popular media. The jewelry
industry is in the dark ages when it comes to public relations. I
think Rick Hamilton would agree with this.
My favorite idea is the one of setting up a museum type display in
my shop which traces the steps, methods and equipment which go into
making a piece of jewelry. We frequently perform jewelry services
while people wait. A display of this type would be a welcome
diversion for a person who is captively waiting. BUT, what a
wonderful way it is to heighten the awareness and appreciation of
the potential customer for the skill, labor intensiveness and
complexity of creating jewelry ! I am sure that a person would have
to have a much better appreciation for the cost of jewelry when he
becomes aware of its painfully intensive creation !
Ron at Mills Gem, Los Osos, CA.
Ron, before I was a buyer at the Dept. store, I was a jewelry
department manager (my second ‘industry’ job after graduating from
G.I.A.) I spent much of my time trying to educate my employees, and
improving their jewelry knowledge. However, the store management
seemed to consider ALL employees fungible. I finally left that
business when they insited that a) I (personnally) had to have all
the required to run ANY department in the store, despite
my Graduate Gemologist training and jewelry sales experience; and b)
that when my regular employees were not there, anyone from another
department was equally acceptable to replace them.
Now I have a MUCH more intelligent boss: David Barzilay
Hello Ron, et al Orchidland, You’ve brought up another good thought
... a little pamphlet which describes the advantages and
disadvantages of the various popular chains, usages which damage
chains ( wearing chains while sleeping, etc. ) and life
expectancies in given usages.
Logical. Let people know the appropriate applications and the
limitations associated with various designs and materials. No
matter what a consumer is purchasing, the first point in the
decision tree is how the item will be used. If you’re wanting a
vehicle to transport kids to soccer practice, you don’t buy a
pick-up, you buy a van. If you want a chain you can wear
constantly, you don’t buy a fine herringbone, you buy a sturdy wheat
or curb chain.
The main problem I see is how to be both comprehensive, yet short.
A series with each brochure covering an area is how most folks do
it. I would be curious to see the Jewelers of America’s materials.
Guess I’ll have to find someone locally who is a member.
I haven't given up on composing a short hand-out on selecting
well-made jewelry, with my logo and info on it. Now I also want to
include a little about matching use to design/materials. Thanks Ron
for your thoughtful ideas. Also thanks to Hanuman for his ongoing
dedication to these exchanges through Orchid. Judy in Kansas, where
we’re again needing rain. The farmers are losing both hair and
sleep over the weather!
Judy M. Willingham, R.S.
Biological and Agricultural Engineering
237 Seaton Hall
Kansas State University
Manhattan KS 66506
(785) 532-2936
Hmmm, a thought… Are any of you members of MJSA? It seems to me
that if you aren’t finding JA responsive to your needs, as
manufacturers (however small), the logical next step would be to talk
to the association that represents your interests. MJSA offers a
Guild membership specifically for small, one, two and three-person
shops, which is much less expensive than what the big guys pay, with
access to most of the same benefits (including a subscription to AJM
magazine, where I’m a contributing editor.) Because their membership
includes small jewelers/designers/artists, they should be interested
in helping you meet your needs, including your need to educate your
customers.
MJSA also has expanded its publishing division in the last year or
so, and is certainly positioned to be able to produce the types of
brochures or books you’re talking about. If you’re a member, why
don’t you give MJSA a call and ask them about it? (Come to think of
it, if you’re not a member, call them anyway; they need to hear from
this segment of the industry so they can better meet your needs.)
I’ll forward this message to Rich Youmans, MJSA’s director of
communications, as well. If you want to add your two cents worth, you
can e-mail him at ryoumans@mjsainc.com.
Things to think about: Would you only be interested in brochures of
this type if they were free, or would you purchase them for
distribution to your customers? (Assuming the price were reasonable,
of course.) If so, how many a year, do you think? If there were
enough interest to cover the potential costs, I think MJSA would be
inclined to consider such a project.
There have been a lot of good ideas posted in this discussion: let’s
share them with MJSA and see what they say.
Suzanne
Suzanne Wade
writer/editor
Suzanne@rswade.net
Phone: (508) 339-7366
Fax: (928) 563-8255
Retail Orchidians,
We educate our customers while we are showing them what they
are
interested in looking at. It is personal and directly related to
what they are considering purchasing.
We, as a society,seem to be inundated with and
advertizing nowadays, I think it is overwhelming to add to it with
another piece of paper that someone has to read, and read the part
that applies to them at the moment. There are brochures I have seen
about how to buy a diamond that I think are good, and someone else’s
sales tool helped me when the customer knew that I knew what I was
talking when I explained the same thing to them that was in the
brochure they had from another jeweler. I am not saying not to do a
brochure, I think it should be secondary to your personal attention.
When you are talking to your customer, it is a natural process to
converse with them and establish a rapport by giving them
about what they show interest in. They also recognize
that you are taking time with them, and my customers recognize that
and thank us for spending time with them.
Some of our time spent doing this is for a $10 silver chain, or
some other small sale. Sometimes it is very frustrating when I have
an important job to finish and I keep getting interrupted for
seemingly small inconsequential sales. Myself and my staff have to be
very patient and then go in the back and vent after they have left.
The word of mouth advertizing over the years has built us a loyal
following and high volume of repeat business. How about one woman
who comes in every Tueday for literally months and spends $200-300
each time, and there are multiple “addicted” customers.
Knowledge, skill and as much patience as I could muster regardless
of how I felt has make my business a point of destination.
Richard in Denver
Richard, I can sympathize with you on the hours spent selling low
price items. I could not estimate the hours spent where I have
worked with cli ent’s asking, " should I take the $10 chain or should
I take the $12 chain?". I have seen a lot of sales people leave
scorch marks on the carpet headin g for the backroom when a client
heads for the silver counter. This makes me wonder about the stories
that fellow orchidians have about that cheap sale that turned into a
gold mine. Your writing about a ten dollar chain
reminds me of a story before I struck out on my own. I sold a silver
chai n to a young guy for about ten dollars as he had just bought a
cheap penden t from a street vendor. I recall the pendent was for no
special reason, it was just an “I love you” sorta thing. I must have
spent over an hour wit h him as he AGONIZED over his choices. later
this list looked like the fol lowing:
Him : engagement ring, pearl necklace, ruby pendent(see below). Her :
diamond earrings, gold chains, omega necklace. both : bridesmaid and
groomsmen gifts, grooms mom gift,wedding band for her ring and plain
bands for both. her father : remake her mom’s wedding ring into a
pendant and enhancer co mbo. (her mom had just died of an agreasive
cancer).
This was the first and I suspect the only time I will have the
opportunit y to argue with a client (her dad), “that I did not want
more money as the estimate is more then enough to do the job of
making what you want”. He and his wife had decided to redo her
wedding set with a budget of $10,000
days before she fell ill and that was the budget he gave me and it
was ab out 2X the estimate.
This set of client were easily worth over $25,000 to the owner for
sellin g a cheap piece of silver. I left this company to sell my own
designs short ly after this last sale and I will always remember these
clients who had bec ome friends.
I would love to read stories like this from others, it would be a
nice co unterpoint to the nightmare client stories.
I have been setting up at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show for many
years. One year two ladies stopped by and were admiring my pieces
of pottery. One lady picked out several pieces that she wanted to
buy and asked her friend what she thought. Her friend said she did
not think they were sterling silver. No matter how much I affirmed
that they were sterling silver that had the backgrounds oxidized to
bring out the detail the lady kept saying they were not sterling. I
spend about 2 hours with the, "its sterling, no it isn’t debate."
The ladies finally left without any pieces of my work. The next year
the lady interested in my work and her husband returned and bought
several pieces of my miniature sterling silver pottery. She was
very apologetic about her friend. They were regular customer for
several years until the husband passed away. I never expected that I
would have seen her after the first encounter.