Ok… first off, I love dealing with Stuller. They treat me well and
I know I am one of the “little people” that orders from them. But I
have to laugh everytime I get their packages with the little Dum-Dum
suckers in them! I always wonder if they are including that as a
"thank you", or if I’m a “dum-dum” for always ordering more supplies
and things I may not really need!!! LOL!!
Catherine,
I too thought of that possibility. However, I have been dealing with
them for 20 years now, & I can tell you they were doing this back
then too. I personally would like for them to use the Hershey
miniatures. For all the business I’ve given them they ought to start
including some gift certificates to Olive Garden, or Ruth’s Chris
steak house. Next time I get one of their survey cards I’ll put in my
2 cents worth!
Walt
American Goldworks
Great Falls, MT
I must say that Stuller has always been very helpfull to me. I have
always been able to rely on their next day service. I have had them
cast for me in platinum and have had excellent results.
During the last gem show Andy took care of me and I got an air
filtration system I have been looking at for a couple of years. I
had talked to Andy in Vegas and Tucson about the filter and was happy
to make the purchase this past year. I purchase tools, mill products
and findings from Stuller and have always been taken care of and
very pleased. I am not a big purchaser by any means but the anount of
my purchases never seemed to matter to them which I really
appreciated.
My employees always would fight over the DumDum and I like the
psychology behind that touch as well as the candy. Come to think of
it I should adopt that and put a piece of candy in my shipping.
Sam Patania, Tucson
Although I am a hobby jewler and have no dealings with Stuller, I am
from the town that they are located in and I can tell you that
Dum-Dums are a local staple, loved by all in the area. I have to
believe that this is a goodwill gesture and not an acusational in any
way. From what I can tell you about the company itself from before I
was involved in jewelry, it is a major benifit to the area, paying
good wages to the workers, demanding professionalism from all their
employees. There is high application rates for any position opening
at the company and they do give back to the local community.
Standard disclaimers apply, I have no buisiness, person, or any other
dealings with Stuller, just happen to live nearby.
Chad C. Wicker
Systems Engineer
Petrocom
The dum-dum topic reminded me of a situation with Stuller that
happened just this week. I have been doing business with them for
almost 20 years, and in no way am I complaining, because they are the
best at service. Alot of places could stand to take a lesson or 2
about customer service from them.
Anyway, my wife faxed an order to them Friday evening, and part of
the order was 1 dz 14 k Yellow 5mm spring rings. She has a form than
has all the blanks on it so that she doesn’t forget any pertinent
info like karatage, color etc… On Monday morning, there was a
message on the recorder asking ‘what quality’. My wife checked her
fax form, and all blanks were filled in, in particular karat/color.
So naturally we were curious about the ‘quality’ question. When my
wife returned the call, I was standing nearby, and I told her to tell
them ‘good’ quality, as a smart aleck remark, since she already had
the necessary quality info (14kY). When my wife said this to her,
she said she would be right back , and , realizing her brain fart,
she never returned to the phone. Apparently , this clerk was either
new, or had snuck too many of those dum-dum suckers. Needless to
say, when we called back in a few minutes, the next person handled
the situation without somuch as a blink, and said they would ship n/c
shipping since it was their problem. So remember, when ordering, to
always tell them the quality that you want- poor, good, or best! LOL!
Ed in Kokomo
Hello all,
Sam Patania, I second your statement. I’m an even smaller fish than
you, but the Stuller folks take good care of me and my modest needs.
I’ll never forget when I first ordered from them, I explained I was
just getting started, so the order was pretty small. The lady
taking my order said something like, "Then, we’ll help you grow."
Where do they find such personable staff!!??
I am always awed by their speedy delivery (Hmmm wasn’t that line on
Mr. Rogers?).
No affiliation, etc. Just a long-time satisfied customer.
Judy in Kansas
Being a hobbyist, who cannot buy from Stuller, may I aask what a
Dum-Dum sucker is? Obviously it is something special, that I never
heard of before (perhaps due to being from the west?)
Margaret
Hi All,
I know a lot of the folks from Stuller and for some time too. My
wife Donna Ballard was the very first manager the LA Service Center.
The Dum Dum is an indicator of two things I really like in a big
corporation (Even if we compete in some ways:) One I love candy, and
a little something extra is always welcome. Two- I really love the
display of personality it represents. Have some fun with your work!
I recently saw an old poster from Stuller. Modern day marketers from
big corporations may shudder at this but it shows a white rabbit and
a half eaten carrot. Behind the rabbit is a trail of 14kt gold
casting grains. The implication of course is the Stuller bunny ate
the carrot and we could see the trail of the resulting product…
ROFL! Now that’s personality and confidence to put out such an ad. Of
course you can manage to be offended I suppose but I admire that
style.
While it would be awful to deliberately offend any segment of our
readers or customers, I think many shy away too conservatively in
fear of offending someone somewhere somehow. PC is a balance folks
not an absolute.
Did anyone yet post the suggestion that Stuller send SMARTEES™
instead of DUM DUMS™ ? Too bad chocolate can be tricky to ship.
Ask yourself- Would you do a poster or ad as daring as the Stuller
Bunny rabbit? If not ask yourself why not?
I’m Daniel Ballard and I approved this Message 
WWW.Pmwest.us
Kraftwerks Director
All,
I’ve been dealing with Stuller for over 20 years now and have never
received a package without finding the dum dum there. Its gotten so
I LOOK FOR IT! Kind of like an addiction I guess but I know I would
be disappointed if it wasn’t there. To me its a sign of
personality…of caring and a way to being a small smile to the
receiver’s face. Candy is no longer on my diet (South Beach) but my
wife has no problem appropriating the little dollop!
Cheers from Don at The Charles Belle Studio in SOFL where life has
been very busy lately and where simple elegance IS fine jewelry!
@coralnut2
Dum Dums are small lollipop often given out by banks.
Elaine Luther
Chicago area, Illinois, USA
Metalsmith, Certified PMC Instructor
Studio 925; established 1992
@E_Luther
What would be the best idea in customer appreciation is if they
would note down and send your favorite flavor(s)! (Butterscotch for
me!) Although I must admit I too would love it if they gave
chocolate… Can you imagine their orders going up, Up, UP if
they gave a small box of Godiva chocolate at $1000 or more? It would
be soooo easy to increase a $500, $600 order to $1000 or more! (It’s
a bird…no, a plane…it’s STULLERman to the rescue with that
custom order.)
Seriously tho, their customer service is OUTSTANDING! I had a rush
order for a custom made ring to be made with 5 large matched diamonds
for a 50th wedding anniversary. The husband kept going between our
shop and a major mall store, finally placing his order with me on a
Tuesday night just after 5 PM. The party was on Saturday. With
Stuller’s help, I was able to have it here complete and perfect in
all its glory on Friday morning.
In appreciation to their fabrication and setting departments, I sent
some home grown Adirondack maple syrup and they had a Friday
afternoon ice cream party. And I have a very loyal customer who now
comes to buy all their jewelry gifts from us.
Judy Shaw, GJG (GIA)
Jasco Minerals
I visited Stuller a few years ago for the tour. There’s one guy
throwing dum-dums into boexes, ready for shipping to put findings in
them.
Stuller told me they called the Dum-Dum company and said “We want
STULLER” on the wrappers.
The Dum-Dum company told Stuller
"Sorry sir, we can’t make your covers different. You’re a large
customer, but you’re less than 2% of our TOTAL SALES.
Lots of dum-dum lovers out there!
David Geller
All of this talk brought back my fondest memory of living in NJ as a
child. You see there was a show on ABC from NY that featured Mr.
DumDum. It was a typical hosted cartoon show of the 60’s.
There was a contest and all the child had to do was send in their
drawing of Mr. Dum Dum. So I did… and I won…wow. I got a huge
amount of dum-dums and I got to appear on the show.
So now that I am a professional fine artist it seems kind of funny
my first best ‘juried’ show was for Dum-Dum pops. Best win of a
lifetime!
They never put enough of my favorite flavor coconut in those bags!
Teri D
America’s ONLY Cameo Artist
http://www.cameoartist.com
David, a perfect example of the need for creative thinking. Stuller
should have accepted the original wrappers from the maker of Dum-Dums
and merely added a nice hang-tag, saying "With Love, From Stuller."
Perhaps it’s not too late !?
Pat
Pat
Stuller should have accepted the original wrappers from the maker of Dum-Dums and merely added a nice hang-tag, saying "With Love, From Stuller."
Nice idea. Have you any idea how many packages they send? When I was
at Stuller 5-7 years ago they were doing $100,000,000 per year (yes
100 million)
David Geller
JewelerProfit
510 Sutters Point
Atlanta, GA 30328
(404) 255-9565
www.JewelerProfit.com
David, if Stuller has an elf to sort the flavors for someone who
doesn’t want root beer, an elf could stick on a tag. Mind you, I’m
one who has never used a sufficient amount of gold to qualify as a
Stuller customer. Must get my Dum-Dums at the bank .
Pat
if Stuller has an elf to sort the flavors for someone who doesn't want root beer, an elf could stick on a tag.
Somehow I’m thinking this is just a lucky coincidence. Besides,
with the volume of materials that Stuller ships each day, imagine the
extra cost involved in hiring someone to add the cute hang tags. More
cost (hang tags, “elf”, delay in shipping, etc.), higher prices…
Nope, just toss me the dumdum!
Betty
www.thecyrusco.com