Muliple Underbids

[lucas kreft]

i would charge 100/h in my case.
The best was when I was going to architects in my city one wanted to do 50 glass windows, from the dimensions and what I could remember, I said something like $500(5-8 hour laser time/piece).
He said that was a little too expensive, 50 a window, I kinda laughed.

[Dan Hintz]

The best was when I was going to architects in my city one wanted to do 50 glass windows, from the dimensions and what I could remember, I said something like $500(5-8 hour laser time/piece).
He said that was a little too expensive, 50 a window, I kinda laughed.

Was a laser the proper tool for the job? Unless it had very fine detail that only a laser could have done, a sandblaster would have been significantly less expensive in terms of time. Even then, though, I would have laughed at $50/window, too, unless the design was something like a big circle.

[Mike Lassiter]

In many areas we see prices remain the same, but the quality becoming less and less. It seems generally speaking that for different items there is a set mental price that people are willing will spend, and beyond that sales suffer. For example we purchased Christmas stockings from Walmart starting in 2001 when we got our commercial embroidery machine. We could sort through their stock and get only the best ones, and didn't get any that didn't meet our standards. The material was very thick, they were good stocking for the price. Every year the price has remained the same, but the thickness of the fur has gradually became less and less. Now they have to put a piece of heavy paper inside the stockings so they will sort of look like a stocking when you hold it up to look at it, and will not droop too bad. I have some of these over the years as our own family has grown (grandkids) and it is an eye opener to compare the same item, purchased from the same store over about 5 years and see the quality first hand of them all side by side. They do have a better stocking for triple the cost, but it isn't that much better either. I notice those don't sell very well, the cheap crappy ones are still the ones that continue to sell each year. That reason was what motivated us to start making our own stockings and buy our ILS series laser from ULS.
The material we use comes from a mill in Wisconsin, and cost us more on a roll than what the finished stockings were costing us when it is all calculated out. I have a vastly better quality stocking than what we were able to obtain to embroider on. We make them ourselves from "scratch", and have ask the same for them as what we were asking for the lesser ones. NOT made in a factor in China, but in a small building in West TN; and it has been a challenge to sell them. We got into this part just as the economy dropped. This has been pretty frustrating to say the least.

Next thought is about how prices remain the same as with the stockings and you continue getting less. Look at candy bars, fast food burgers, etc. I ate a honey bun this morning that was perhaps 1/2" thick and about 1/3 the diameter of the ones I remember from days gone by. I see TV ads showing us the burgers with the meat hanging out of the bun all the way around - that's cute because that's not what I get when I buy one! The standard fast food hamburger bun now resembles a biscuit is size, and the meat still is hide by the bun on what is sold around here. What choice do we have as consumers for it is the same everywhere? What choices do we have as businesses trying to compete against those that sell by lowest cost and those only interested in the lowest cost? Look at how Walmart has became the largest retailer, and how many mom and pop businesses that are no more because they couldn't compete on price against Walmart. They probably did give better service, but it seems generally speaking most want the cheapest thing.
While in Hobby Lobby I was looking for a specific spray can of paint that was referenced by members here. Hobby Lobby had it for $4.97 a can. I bought the SAME brand, same size, exactly the same can of paint at Walmart for $3.97. That's roughly about 20% difference for the same exact item. We are guilty of wanting the best price too -and comparing apples to apples is a good way to do that. However, we can't source our items from India, and all the other countries where people make nothing for a wage. We have people see a shirt in Walmart embroidered all over for $19.99 and a plain shirt with no embroidery for $14.99. Look at the tag, and they both come from India, and several other countries I can't spell. Who in the US can embroider on a shirt for $5 much less all over front and back AND profit doing it? It seems what is expected of all is having your cake and eat it too. We think we should get super quality and the lowest cost together in the same item. When we were getting laser and other things for our home business, I tried to source American suppliers because I believe we are sending our jobs overseas by thinking only about the lowest cost. People here work and generally speaking make a decent wage. That's why the products come back here to be sold. The people making the products would have to work weeks to be able to afford one shirt oversea. I wanted to do my part to help keep fellow Americans working. As Rodne said about machine cost and product cost, the more expensive machine cost more than the lesser one. It is a big factor in trying to make a living when (in my area anyway) everyone thinks Walmart is making "a killing" and became the largest retailer. They surely are making a lot of money, so they think you should be able to sell to them for less than Walmart for similar items. The truth is, some of the items we have sold locally came from the local Walmart store. We find we can't buy small quantities that we can afford to spend for items any cheaper "wholesale" then have to add shipping cost on top of that.
Sorry for length - I'll shut up now.