I thought about getting a ja certification but I didnt think it
would really help because unlike a gemologist who needs a piece of
paper to prove that they know what they are talking about a bench
jeweler can prove it by showing his work and it is immediatly
obvious to everyone if you dont have a clue. I have seen jewelers
come in to try out and they are gone before lunch. I suppose you
could have a test for a gemologist. A gemological degree might be
handy for a store owner or a gem buyer but most sales people really
would hardly use it, all the places where I have worked the sales
people brought all the stones to the jeweler to find out what it was
and if it could be worked on or if it was safe to put in a ring or
better for a pendant… In europe they still have the traditional
journeyman master type system I think somthing like that would be
nice here that way not every hack and his brother could call
themselves goldsmiths but that would be un american.
Hi larry i agree I think that bench jewelers should value thier
skills and should be compensated for them. Some of my jeweler
friends here in Tucson have formed a loose sort of union we have
fixed the price of wax carving and casting to our accounts so that
they are not shopping around trying to get us to fight for the jobs
we set the price at a hundred bucks for a basic wax and at first we
hadd alot of grumbling but they now pay it because we wont go down.
I dont do repair but the others have been setting the price for ring
sizing at 15 bucks for a womens small going down and more to go up.
Their are some jewelers who will work for less but the better stores
dont use them mostly just the malls and alot of their jewelery isnt
worth fixing.
Kevin
Well, I am going to throw my two cent hat into the ring on this
discussion. I have worked in the industry for over 10 years. Before
that, I worked my way through school waitressing. Anytime there was
trouble with an order, people always blamed the cooks in the kitchen.
The hidden people behind closed doors make for easy scapegoats.
Now, what do do. Do we complain, or do we take action? Some have
branched out, quit their jobs, some are better off. So for those I
say thank your lucky stars you were so mistreated because it gave you
the kick in the butt you needed. For the others who suffer in
silence, well, maybe there is a solution. Restaurants solve their
problem by having kitchen managers who organize and troubleshoot
orders making for less late, cold, or 86’d items. I managed a very
good custom jewelry store for a number of years, and when the
situation occurred with a late or misplaced job, we all played the
blame game. I decided that instead of complaining or worrying about
it, what we needed was a better system. I put into place a simple and
effective project management system that easily and without
computers, tracked the custom jobs, troubleshooting potential
sticking points, and assured deadlines being met. It took a few
minutes just after take in to do and seemed to solve most, if not
all, blame problems. I suggest that the employees who want less
blame and more streamlined work environment suggest or implement this
in their workplace. Remember, work smarter not harder. Project
management is not just for large companies that only do one or two
major jobs at a time. It can be a system that can track 2-100 plus
jobs at a time.
Anyways, just wanted to put out that for every problem there are
solutions!
Mary Linford
Blue Star Wax Carving
mary@bluestarwaxcarving.com
While I'm not JA-certified, I am a GIA G.G., and my guess would be that the problem you're addressing is publicity.
Hello James;
You have a point, publicity will have to reach the employers. If
you’re talking about independent retailers, JCK and Professional
Jeweler would be a place to start. The bigger problem, as I see it,
was in the concept of certification as it occurred to JA. In the
worlds of other skilled trades like those of plumbers and
electricians, certification is a prerequisite to licensing. That
would be pointless in our trade because we have virtually no unions
and no government regulation except the FTC rulings on gold content
and disclosure, etc. Certification, if it meant qualification for
union standing, would amount to negotiated parity in pay and working
conditions. But this country has lost respect for the Union Label,
and there will be no government regulation of our trade. It would
take a lobbying force the equivalent of the American Medical
Association to pull that off. If there is any hope of selling the
idea of certification for bench jewelers, the only enticement I see
short what might come about as a result of long term marketing would
be some sort of qualification for insurance. Suppose you could
advertise that your certified jeweler was, because of his
qualification, able to offer the public some sort of quality
assurance backed government testing with the customer being able to
resort to some agency for grievance. Maybe Jeweler’s Board of Trade
or Jeweler’s Block, entities the retailers are more aware of, could
be involved. The downside of all this is, once there is public
awareness and preference or demand for certified jewelers, there
will be a lot more of them, which will dilute the exclusiveness of
the qualification. At least if will clean up the neighborhood.
Possibly some attention by Consumer’s Report might help. But we know
how the public is. It has to hear about something over and over
before it sinks in. I think we’ll need to see the rudiments of some
sort of guild system develop. Again, our industry will resist this
intently.
David L. Huffman
I’ve never been a bench jeweler, but I have worked in high end
retail sales. Maybe it’s different in jewelry, but I wonder if those
disgruntled, buck-passing sales people are making enough to live
on–especially after spending half their salaries on the expected
elegant wardrobe.
I know one Bay Area jewelry store owner who seems to have solved
this problem. He hires art school graduates (preferably with at least
one semester of “metals”), teaches them design and customer relations
skills, and expects them to build personal relationships with "their"
clients, as well as with the bench jewelers. He also pays them a
really good commission on all custom work and they stay with him for
quite a while. Even during the darkest economic times, his shop
always seems to be doing well.
Of course, these sales people are also young, slender, gorgeous
models for his jewelry…I know a very talented woman who he wouldn’t
hire because she didn’t fit the mold. I certainly wouldn’t call this
sales strategy fair, but so it goes.
Lisa Orlando
Aphrodite’s Ornaments
Elk, CA
I put into place a simple and effective project management system that easily and without computers, tracked the custom jobs . . .
Hi Mary;
You’ve got my attention. Why don’t you see if you can put that
system of yours into print and sell it? I suspect there are books on
project management, probably college degrees in it, but here in our
“fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants” world, it’s a novel idea. You can
send me a free copy for giving you the idea, eh? 
David L. Huffman
Sales people are trained to never take the blame, and no matter what
the problem is, salvage the account. They need to save face, so they
can remain the trusted jewelry rep. If the customer still buys after
there has been a problem, then they have done their job. But if they
blame the jeweler for something they have done to management, those
are fighting words making them sleazebags.
I for one would love to see a jewelers union or a guild system but
you are right it would take an act of congress to make that happen.
Kevin
Some of my jeweler friends here in Tucson have formed a loose sort of union we have fixed the price of wax carving and....
Um, Kevin, price fixing is illegal. You might not want to announce on
an archived, international, public forum that you’ve done something
illegal.
Just my 2 cents.
Elaine
Elaine Luther
Metalsmith, Certified PMC Instructor
http://www.CreativeTextureTools.com
Hard to Find Tools for Metal Clay
Maybe simply a truly poor choice of words … could, we as a
crafts-producing community discussed the value of our work and have
come to an observation that to under cut one another price-wise is
to devalue us as aethetic persons and observe a simple pricing
scheme that since we all agree on we all adhere to … is that
illegal in the US of A, or Canada for that matter (don’t know how
these things work here yet, just working on the business plan now).
David Woolley Fredericton,
NB, Canada
Aww shucks. I try to break the law a little bit every day just to
keep it at arms length they will probably pick me up for not
registering my car for the past five years first, or better yet
having no drivers licesnse. Anyway it is just my way of keeping it
real (ha ha).
Sincerely Kevin