Hello Orchidians:
Much as I like the work of AJM, I can see no good to come of this.
This will be skewed that will skew the marketplace, much
like the infamous salary review that another trade rag publishes.
Who wants this trade shops or retailers? This will do
to repair margins exactly what the RAPP sheet did for diamond sales.
Commodify repairs and eventually these prices (which will have little
bearing on the real cost of repairs) will be in the public domain.
Perfect opportunity for a large entity or an internet venue to come
in and muck up the market. I say, let trade shops and retailers
alike get their own education via the market place. Price too high,
you go out of business. Price too low, you go out of business. My
price list shall remain confidential between me and my trusted
accounts, thank you.
David L. Huffman
Dear Orchid members,
AJM is planning to send out a pricing survey to retailers and repair
shops. Our goal is to collect as much data as possible and report on
average prices per region in the US. In addition to publishing this
data, AJM will interview jewelers about their pricing strategies.
The intent of our survey is to help AJM readers–the bulk of whom
are manufacturing retailers and small shop jewelers–compare their
prices to an average in their regions. This is not intended to become
pricing doctrine, but rather a journalistic report of our findings.
To ensure that this isn’t misinterpreted, we will report the number
of responses that we receive from each region.
AJM’s goal is to help our readers succeed, not to skew the
marketplace. By publishing a survey of repair prices, we intend to
keep you informed of what others in your field are charging to size
up a ring, repair a link in a chain, or retip a prong.
Anyone interested in receiving a survey form, please contact me at
tinaw@ajm-magazine.com.
Best,
Tina
Tina Wojtkielo
AJM Magazine, Editor
Tina,
I suggest the naysayers are incorrect. I understand their concerns
but I feel they are overly concerned. You folks will NOT hurt the
marketplace with your survey results. Go for it. I say this in part
with empathy for my two big “repair” trade shop clients who are
losing out to their customers-Big Retailers who command far larger
market influence that any survey will ever have.
My clients dilemma- Their key customers will not allow them to
adjust pricing for the gold or Pt market- Its all fixed rate. Both
these guys have been told that if they raise their pricing , even to
merely reflect the escalating costs of solder and wire stock, the
contract will be terminated. OUCH! I’m hoping this is a local
phenomena and your survey will fill me in on the truth of the matter.
Anything you do to restore sanity to the trade shop biz is welcome to
me as a supplier to those trade shops I mentioned and others. No
Fear.
Daniel Ballard
Sales Mgr Precious Metals West
Unfortunately, I don’t think this phenomenon is all that local.
Maybe not too common, but I have had and heard of a few situations
that are similar.
1 - a major retail chain store that demanded the following: twice
per week pickup and delivery (all of our other customers were on 1
week turnaround and used the mail or brought it to us). preferential
treatment prioritizing work. Their approval on all pricing.
absolute guarantees on anything we touched (ie, if we sized a ring,
we were now responsible for broken prongs, lost stones, etc, for the
life of the piece. This directive supposedly came down from at least
a regional level. WE terminated the deal.
2 - any number of trade customers over the years telling us what the
terms were. This would include payment terms, pricing, turnaround
time, etc. A good customer is a good customer, but when the demands
get too ridiculous, perhaps it is time to reassess the value of that
customer. Cutting off one of them was the start of a long downhill
slide for a previous business venture of mine, but I still feel I am
better off. When customers like that win out, it cuts your profits
drastically, puts enormous detrimental pressure on your time and
takes any pleasure out of doing what you do. I could probably go on
at more length, but no need, I’m sure you see the point. My
experiences, as related above, are the combined result of 6 years of
working in a trade shop, followed by 5 years of owning that shop
myself, with a sprinkling of experiences of a friend who also had a
trade shop.
Jim