To everyone, I wrote in a recent post that I hadn’t read or did
not know what the pricing structure would be for this idea that
Mr. Gellar had. i also wrote that I didn’t think it could
possibly be a good idea at all. Well I read The Why’s and How’s
of Profitable Design and repair. Now I have to say that the
repair end of the idea could really actually be a great way of
indeed weeding out the butcher’s and hacks from the system all
together… Those who can’t handle the work and work fast keeping
the quality at the highest level will soon fizzle out… To be
totally honest after I read the idea on paying the bench jeweler
22% I was floored… I could have been rich when I was doing bench
work… Like Mr. Gellar the place I worked at kept 300 to 400 jobs
at a time… We too had our own polisher and I was able to do on
the average of 25 to 30 sizings an hour. Cut the piece out and
solder one after another or cut put a piece in and solder one
after the other… I would do as many as I could grab, then as I
soldered them let em’ cool, pickle, smooth out the solder joint
or the piece that was put in, file, sand, rubber wheel, off to
the polisher it goes… Once you get a rhythm you can’t be
stopped… As for chain solders, pretty much the same way, but I
was never one to let a chain go out with an inch of solder in
the thing like alot of butchers out there… My chain solders were
very clean, and no stiff areas… So with all that said I could
have made a bunch of money with his system… As far as the custom
jobs, well I know for a fact that the waxes I carve could not be
done nor would I even consider doing them for $15.00 an hour…
Nor do the waxes I carve take an hour to carve, some yes but most
of them take longer… Doing a wax with azurs in the channels or
doing a wax for 15 to 20 prong set stones with an under carriage,
and or some scroll work… You couldn’t pay me $15.00 dollars an
hour to even start that. Not every jeweler knows how to do these
things. That’s why I do it… So I make sure I get paid for it…
I won’t get into how much I charge for my waxes but I know my
pricing is lower than most others’ with less skill… At any rate,
I think the system for paying bench jewelers that Mr. Gellar has
come up with makes a great deal of sense… Good job David… and
once again I have to disagree with the custom pricing…and
remember, just because a person orders amounting from a catalogue
and solders some settings to it, doesn’t make it a custom made
piece, (in my book anyway…) For all who read my first post about
not agreeing with it… I was wrong… But I still think there are
way to many butcher’s on the loose with a jewelers torch some
pliers that call themselves jewelers, making a mess out of
something that someone has spent a great deal of money on… Marc
Williams http://www.marccogold.com/