What's the point of being rich if you can't buy what others can't have?
Is Pipe Tobacco Currently Threatened in USA?
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Whatever... owning brands and manufacturing them are completely different things. There are hundreds of brands, maybe thousands. I've said my piece, now go squaller in your bullshit misunderstanding of how this works.
Capitalism is exploitation, and before anyone gets their nickers in a twist, IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE! We can argue about degrees of exploitation, sure, but it' s still the fairest, most efficient method of distribution ever invented.
Cosmic can price as he wants, whether I can afford it or not.
Cosmic can price as he wants, whether I can afford it or not.
I advise everyone to get a copy of Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell and read it, before we "deconstruct" the shit out of capitalism.
I was being jocular, by the way. I don't really know how much his tampers are, but I doubt they're really expensive.
In a way, that certainly worked for me. When I started out as a freelance matte painter I charged an amount that I thought would give me a decent return on my time, labor, and expertise. I was getting some business, but not much.
The eye opener came when I finished a commercial and turned in my invoice. The producer asked me why I was charging so little. I told him I was keeping my prices moderate in order to build a client base and get credits. He told me I was hurting myself by doing so, then tore up my invoice and had me resubmit it at 3 times the amount. He also told me to make that rate my new rate.
Business boomed. If I was charging "x" rate I must be good. I was turning away potential clients because I was booked months in advance. This made some of them more desirous of hiring me, even when I sent them to someone else who I thought would take good care of them.
An ex girlfriend worked in interior design, repping a number of commercial fabric manufacturers, all of whom had factories in India. They all had several lines of fabric, high, mid, and low markets. The fabric itself was exactly the same stuff, rolling off of the same line, same materials, same designs, but given a different brand name. Brand "X" would sell for $25 a yard. Brand "Y" would sell for $50 a yard, and brand "Z" would sell for $100 a yard. And all three were exactly the same product. Brand "Z", at four times the price of brand "X" would sell better.
Perception beats reality most of the time. People largely have no or only the most general idea about what they're buying.
This doesn't mean that everything made in every area is the same. Of course there are better made and designed products and there is crap. Sturgeon's law applies. But few people really know the difference.
Ha ha! Well, I am constrained by the price pf sterling. Anyone wonders how much my actual labor costs, they can weigh them, subtract that from what you pay me, and you’ll see that I don’t make that much.
For my eyeframes... I was selling them for $600+ whatever stones or extras they wanted. I was only moving about 12 a year till Angel Enterprises saw my work on the news and set up a meeting with the manufacturer for me. After the meeting, I ended up halting my eyewear production and selling him my designs to be sold under a new artisan line of frames. Mostly it is my nose pieces and hinge designs. I went for the cash in hand over being involved with the process, but I get checks and annual reports, and I don’t have to sweat worrying about whether they’re selling or not. It’s happily out of my hands now. Thank God!
But, economics is not a clear cut science. I think every book about it starts off stating that no one fully understands it.
What do you mean by threatened? More regulation is definitely imminent. Smoking is culturally less popular, though pipe smoking is less common so maybe less stigmatized; many people are still amused to see it. I think pipe smoking will be around for the next fifty years in some form, but maybe more truncated, the pipe and tobacco businesses slowly more marginalized. Eventually, it may be like snuff, still a "thing," but somewhat rare. After that half-century mark, it could be a historical artifact, like bone corsets and top hats.
They are. Then you bring in lenses, which has nothing to do with the frames, and the brands that have nothing to do with the manufacturing. Now, if you wanna hash out wire rims from plastics thats just taking what I was talking about to stupid levels to try to discredit the main point. And, if you want to bring in the differences between medical eyeframes and sunglasses then that is ridiculous.
The main point was about marketing and its economics. The point is that sometimes raising prices moves merchandise more than lowering it.
Michael, your words were "all eyewear", not all eyewear frames. I can only go by what you write, I'm unable to read your mind from 600 plus miles away.
I wouldn't. I did just this and my business soared.
I want some of that folly. I'd be out of debt in a jiffy, even if most don't buy my pipe pouches.
I forget what this thread was first about...
Not really sucker. Again, we must go back to exclusivity: paying to have and show away something most can't have. It's the suckers who can't afford it: I can, ergo I'm no sucker. Yet again, it's class market, not mass market.
This is exactly why there are billions of companies that will stay at the bottom of the fish tank. Just look at what swarovski is doing. The regular news is perplexed that they are closing all retail and pulling contracts with all of their big box and retailers, and tripling their prices. Meanwhile the business news is using them as the model for getting out of the crapper. They make and sell glass crystals. They started out being priced like gemstones and fell to shit when they started bringing their product to the everyday person. By making themself more exclusive, they return to the luxury market they once commanded.
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