Huge Price Increase on MacBaren Tins
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Much easier said than done.
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Absolutely. I enjoy some of the Mac Baren blends and I'd much rather see a price increase rather than the alternative... out of business. It's a business, and they're not here to make everyone feel all warm and comfy with steady prices that never increase. Either deal with it, or purchase from another blender. All in all, it's till a reasonable price for pipe tobacco and nothing to get your shorts in a bind over.
Mac Baren is a privately held company, has 140 employees. I have no idea what there financials are, but to say that they
HAVE to raise prices to survive is pure speculation on your part............. EVERY company can trim some fat here and there. Kinda sounds like the Government saying "we HAVE to raise taxes to survive...... BULLSHIT!! I say raise the price some and cut costs some..... Raise the price too much, you die anyway.............. The market will decide a fair price in the end........
HAVE to raise prices to survive is pure speculation on your part............. EVERY company can trim some fat here and there. Kinda sounds like the Government saying "we HAVE to raise taxes to survive...... BULLSHIT!! I say raise the price some and cut costs some..... Raise the price too much, you die anyway.............. The market will decide a fair price in the end........
Yup! I bet we have members who believe the blenders are making millions and enjoying the sweet life at their expense.
That is exactly why a price increase is so risky and usually not undertaken without a lot of thought. And, usually only imposed as the last option.
Edit: It is in no way similar to government raising taxes. The government does so at the point of a gun with little or no risk. Private enterprise raises prices and risks everything when it does so.
That is exactly why a price increase is so risky and usually not undertaken without a lot of thought. And, usually only imposed as the last option.
Edit: It is in no way similar to government raising taxes. The government does so at the point of a gun with little or no risk. Private enterprise raises prices and risks everything when it does so.
At the end of the day I guess the market will tell them whether they made the right decision or not. They don't owe their customers an explanation for such a significant increase, but it sure would be an exercise in good customer relations to offer some form of expanation for such a rapid and significant hike, particularly when the pricing of their major competitors is largely staying pat (for now!).
By the way, Klondike Gold is still $10 a tin when I looked yesterday. I think it is just as good and maybe better than Capstan. Just throwing that out there.
I would say in this case, being a privately held company, that does't have to answer to shareholders-- yes, they(the owners, not the guys actually doing the blending) are probably making millions....
They are free to do what they need to do...... I agree with Peck, the market will decide...
I only smoke a few of their blends- Capstan and The Solent once in a while....... I've got a bit in the cellar, when its gone I'll probably not replenish at those prices.......... :
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That's what I said in the post of hours ago. Raising prices is serious and the decision would not be made capriciously. One doesn't get to be a millionaire by making dumb business decisions. This is especially true in a little mom and pop with only 140 employees.
Agreed.
I just wonder if there was a change in leadership at the top? A 33% price increase seems ballsy, or naive....
Maybe the grandchildren are now running great grampa's business and don't have a clue? Who knows.....
I've seen these Mom and Pops come to an abrupt end when that happens..... Time will tell..... :
:Like Woods said, Folks there is a new day dawning........... :
:Beefeater opined:
And you just found out that the government is going to require that you submit each of your blends for testing, if you wish to continue selling them. The projected cost is $30,000 be blend. Where will you make the cuts to pay for this? Answer: There is nowhere to cut. You are rapidly approaching the point at which your business is no longer profitable.
This scenario is a real one. At some point, the doors close and don't reopen.
Shall we make a list of defunct pipe tobacco companies? It's a long one. Believe me, they didn't close because the owners wanted more facetime with the house in Cancun.
While this statement is blatantly false, let's entertain it as if it was true. OK, so you are the President of Amalgamated Pipe Tobacco. Your material costs, labor, taxes, utilities and distribution costs have pushed your product costs up 12% in the last quarter. You must respond or risk the future of the company. You survey your tiny kingdom and come up with some difficult measures that will cut costs enough to compensate for the increases. But after this, there are no more cuts that can be made without impacting the company's ability to stay competitive. You can cut R&D, which at this point is one employee doing some blending on his lunch hour, but then you will have no new blends in the pipeline. You could lay off someone in production, but you are already in a backorder situation due to a bottleneck in that department. You could cut advertising, but that's eating your seed corn.
And you just found out that the government is going to require that you submit each of your blends for testing, if you wish to continue selling them. The projected cost is $30,000 be blend. Where will you make the cuts to pay for this? Answer: There is nowhere to cut. You are rapidly approaching the point at which your business is no longer profitable.
This scenario is a real one. At some point, the doors close and don't reopen.
Shall we make a list of defunct pipe tobacco companies? It's a long one. Believe me, they didn't close because the owners wanted more facetime with the house in Cancun.
I stand by that statement. Why not pull manufacturing out of Denmark? Corporate taxes there are 23.5%... Great Britain is 20%, Odd, Jersey is 0%.......... Germains isn't putting out a new blend every 3 months either.... maybe they could scale it back(cut), and take out their worst sellers(Modern Virginia anyone???).... Stick to what sells, yes, CUT Back.. Its a business strategy that works--- look at Germain........
You don't know what the Mac B owners are making any more than I do....... Its a private company, so yes, the owners could want more time in Cancun........
I went back and scoured the forum for the old thread from last year that first hinted a MacBaren increase was coming and found it. Check out this thread:
MacBaren Price Increase?
MacBaren Price Increase?
Beefeater, I like how you assume the worst in people. You have absolutely no idea what lies behind Mac Baren's business decisions, so you assume greed, then move on to detail just how they really should be running things. Then you make an apples-oranges comparison to Germain, another company that you (and most everyone else) know nothing about.
Who knows, maybe I'm completely wrong. Maybe you'll get a phone call in the morning, offering you a consulting job. Maybe.
Who knows, maybe I'm completely wrong. Maybe you'll get a phone call in the morning, offering you a consulting job. Maybe.
Does anyone else have some insider track on MacBaren that I don't have? Some pretty passionate statements on both sides.
Interesting that Rich at 4noggins is now selling the same tin of HH Latakia for $20.82, notwithstanding his prognostication in the thread beezer included above. Clearly he did not expect this magnitude of a price increase 10 months ago.
By the way, the bulk does not seem to have gone up much at all. Looks like it went up by about $3 a pound. I wonder if the economics of tinning have changed for the worse. Just speculating.
And by the way yet again, it looks like JRcigars still has cheap pricing on the 3.5 oz tins. A 3.5 oz tin of HH Vintage Syrian for example is still $12.35 at jrcigars.com.
If I was in the market, I would jump on those prices.
If I was in the market, I would jump on those prices.
Peck, that's what I thought while reading the old thread.
Whatever the cause, a 50g tin is now a bit more than Wessex and a bit less than Solani. Life goes on imo.
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