[Jewelry making - Article 00523] - Re: [Orchid] The cost of holding out

[David L. Huffman]

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    Hello David; 

>         Dear David You sell wholesale. You are not trust sensitive,
>     your business is indeed price sensitive. 

    Actually, to some extent, it is.  My accounts are MY customers.  But
    you are right, not so for the end user, which I do not deal with
    directly. 

>         That's why I dropped trade work within 3 years of doing it. You
>     can't win. You will work your butt off to make a living in trade
>     work. 

    You are quite possibly right about that.  And I have to grow a new
    butt nearly every day.  And  that's why trade work is probably not
    the last step in my career track. ;-) 

>         My post specifically was related to retail repair and also
>     some design. 

    I realize you were writing about retail repair.  But that still does
    not dispute my observation that customer's are concerned about what
    they pay for repairs, to the extent that they will get quotes from
    different retailers. I know that it is happening.  I agree that
    customers place a very high value on the trust component of repairs. 
    If you'd ever read the introductory letter I send to my prospective
    accounts, you'd read about that in the first paragraph.  It's a
    document I produced long before I ever heard of Orchid or your own
    work on pricing.  I think the issue, finally, as Ron Mills has
    pointed out, and that I also wish to reiterate, is that one has to
    choose their price based on many factors.  How trustworthy the
    service, how prompt and thorough, and price, and other aspects.  And,
    then the question of how competitive do your prices need to be, and
    finally, isn't it important to be fair (alright, generous) to the
    customer.  Should we charge them as much as the market will bear, or
    shouldn't price be competitive and "attractive"? Meanwhile, I
    appreciate that you are probably doing a free service for folks like
    me who will, in the long run, benefit as prices for repairs
    increase. I also doubt that repair work will go overseas, at least
    not much of it. But what's your take on the new kid on the block, the
    "repair retailer" like the various "quick-fix-mall-kiosk" type
    ventures?  If retailers continue to balk at the idea of paying bench
    people wages that reflect their contribution to the store's income,
    maybe they'll begin to lose repair business all together if guys like
    me decide to retail repair service at somewhere between wholesale and
    your suggested prices.  Not too many people fix shoes that sell them
    any more. 

David L. Huffman



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