Increasing your bench prices, why?

Jewelry Discussion
1

Dear all on Orchiddo not delete till you read this!!!

Look at your gold prices, they are now at $718.00+, your silver
prices now at $14.80+ the roof of the house is gone. What does that
say to your skill fees, restructure your bench costs. NOW!

Why just charge what YOU all were charging back when it was $400.00
per ounce. I telephone lectured a person on Orchid last night, that
person saw my point of view. What stock you still have in your
display tables are now old fashioned and antiquated. Even if you
still keep them at those low levels. Wake up!!! The suppliers will
be now increasing them, as the gold value goes out of sight. Which it
is!!! I am not asking you all to do this, I am just pleading with you
to look at reality, gold solder, gas consumption, findings, gold
parts to make your business flourish, don’t be worried for your
increase. Do you think you should be concerned for charging a few
dollars more. The retailers will be doing it, so should you.

I write and read articles on another website in America. Some guys
are melting down their stock or re-structuring their whole inventory.
If the stock is over one year old, scrap it, send it to a refiner,
you’ll be making more money that way, trust me. Even my good friend
on Orchid David Geller is re-writing his Pricing Book. Use his ideas
and his book as a guide. I make no commission on his sales, but he is
the ‘best’. Even beading stock in Toronto made from some very great
artisans are now charging OVER $500.00 per item. Please read our
newspaper, www.torstar.com in the Fashion page of the “Toronto Star”.

Sorry for my letter like this, its your money and I do care for you
all on Orchid. This place is my second home…:>)

Gerry Lewy!

2

Sorry, but you are Just Plain Wrong. Just as in the escalating real
estate business. Sure, you can sell your house, make a huge profit,
but where are you going to live? Why, in a new house that takes all
the money you just got (that’s after taxes take their bite) Yes, you
can melt your inventory and make a quick buck. But then you have no
inventory. So, you have to pay for new gold, new labor, etc. That is
that after getting 80% on your scrap, you need to pay 110% on the new
metal. Instead, why don’t you just do what everybody else in the
business does, and price your inventory by replacement value? So the
ring that you priced at $250 in the $400 market is now priced at $350.
Seems so simple, doesn’t it? Yes, it is true that one can liquidate,
but then you are liquidated, aren’t you?

3

My thought would be to take a compromise route. Scrap old inventory
that has been sitting around since “the year of the flood” and
reprice all the newer inventory.

We increased our prices by 10 to 15% and work that is not even
remotely related to what I’m doing now is going into the scrap
containers; even the old gold and rhodium plated brass work from 8
yrs ago. They are not even being shown- very liberating to toss them
out instead of the old thought- well… maybe we will take them to
the flea market to sell???