Found Collection

Since the first posting of  the 40% price increase on MLI's designs we have
heard from folks who purchase the designs as well as those who sell them.
But we haven't heard from the designer.  Why the 40% increase?  Is it due to
an increase in business expenses?  A decrease in sales?  Enquiring minds
want to know.

40% does seem a breath-takingly steep increase. I'd like to know the
reasoning too, though I'm unlikely to buy them in any case -- not that I
think they aren't lovely and not that I think they're too expensive, just
that they aren't something I would stitch ... and that only because I know I
would be unable to do them justice.

OTOH, have we not seen things like the Angel Procession (ack, my brain is
mush, I _think_ that's the title) chart go for upwards of $30-$40 in the
secondary market? (And note that the designer gets not a cent of that!)

And did I not just spend $46 for that "Told in a Garden" lithograph just
auctioned on ebay? (I did. And am pleased as can be to have it -- it's
gorgeous, though it's been in a shipping tube so long that it's all curled
up. I've been trying to figure out how to straighten it without damaging it
so that I can frame & hang it. And, as an aside, I wonder when the
lithograph was first issued and what it originally sold for ... again noting
that whatever the difference is between what I paid and what the original
price was does not accrue in any way to the designer. And yah I know that's
the way it works but it does seem unfair. At least it seems so to me ...
YMMV, as always.)

--Rosaleah, it's late, goin' to bed now  ;)

I wouldn't be surprised if it's due to the fact that so many people copy charts
and give them to friends and other such practices.  If you think about the time
and work that goes into creating the design, then charting it, not to mention
the talent involved, and then the overhead costs (packaging, etc.) I think she
deserves to make more money.  Let's face it, how many of us can come up with a
design like that?  People who possess a talent are entitled to be compensated
for it. That's just my humble opinion.  : )

Karen M  x x x x x...../
"A stitch in time, is time well spent"  

I bet she is busy getting Celtic Banner out.

The Wren

I have had e-mail privately from Marilyn a week or so ago, so she is alive and
well.  

At that time, she expected Celtic Banner out around mid-November, which is all
that I am authorized to say about CB until that time.

--
Finished 10/11 -- 12 bookmarks
WIP: #1 - getting my health back
California Sampler, Holiday Snowglobe, America the Beautiful (Nimble Needle),
antique green doll (Vervaco), Xmas cactus
Don't risk your on-line privileges!  I report all Spam.

I certainly have no problem with Marilyn getting more money - I just can't
believe how many other people make money off her work.  It just doesn't seem
right - she seems to make less than anyone, or am I out to lunch??

Donna S

Hiya Donna...

What do you base that opinion on?

I personally wonder how any of them can be doing well.

Sally

Hi Sally.  In a post a few months ago, Marilyn advised us she made $.60 per
pattern.  Now, that is crazy when we are paying $15.98 per pattern in
Canada, so who is making the money.   It seems to me that the creative
person who originates the pattern should be making the most on the pattern
(I'm not in the business, so don't know all the costs involved), but someone
is making money - it sure isn't Marilyn.

Donna S

Lavender and Lace, Butternut, and Told in a Garden is a world-wide business.
Patterns are available from catalog companies (like Nordic Needle), chain
stores (like Michaels) and your LNS.    When a product is available in large
quantities and certainly world-wide would be a large quantity it is
distributed.  The distributor negotiates a price with the original producer
to handle distribution.   Payment to the producer ends their transaction.
The producer has made their sale and taken their profit.  They don't have to
wait until the product is sold to the end user.

How many Lavender and Lace, Butternut, and Told in a Garden patterns do you
suppose are floating around the world?  Thousands?  Whether they are being
stitched, sitting in a warehouse or*** on a LNS wall.

I have a Lavender and Lace pattern.  It is labeled Sweet Dreams and is
distributed by SLS Arts.  I found it in a clearance basket.  I paid $1.50.
MLI made $.60.  The distributor had already made their money. The retailer
was the loser here.

Lots of people are making money - the distributor, the bulk shipper, the
LNS, the printer, the photographer, the baggie stuffer, the landlord, the
electric company, the insurance people, the water and trash collection, the
phone company, the long distance provider, the bank, the model stitcher, the
accountant, the office staff, the agent, the lawyer, the post office, the
materials suppliers, the Internet Service Provider, the airlines, the office
supply store, and the list goes on and on and on...

How many of these costs have gone up in your area in the past 5 or 10 years?
How much? Housing in my area has increased 30-240 percent in the past 8
years, depending on the area and type of housing. The cost of propane
(heating) doubled this year alone. Postage has increased. The phone bill
goes up every 4-6 months. My insurance costs increase as the demographics of
the area change and my medical insurance has skyrocketed. Fuel cost
increases are passed along on everything that is shipped in a truck or
aircraft (so unless you strap it to a mule or walk it over yourself that's
about everything). All the people I know who are self-employed (needlework
designers, shop owners, CPA's, Lawyers, photographers, model stitchers, and
so on) would like to receive a cost of living increase at the very least,
and occasionally might want a pay raise for their troubles. That's where the
increased 40% is going right off the top.

People who design widely distributed patterns are a lot like authors. They
count on bulk sales to make the pennies add up into dollars. A few cents for
each sale eventually adds up to enough to pay the bills. If Marilyn was
making 60 cents per pattern sale before, the 40 percent increase will now
bring her 84 cents. Now divide the extra 24 cents up between all those
people in line for her own personal money whose costs have been increasing
consistently over the years. Without a pay raise other than increased sales
for several years, it may be that her sales have reached a "steady state"
and the volume alone is not enough to support her operating costs.

Fair enough. We all deserve to make a living - I'm just happy that some
people make thier living doing things that provide pleasure to others.
Needlework may be an ***ion, but it's artistic at it's core and purely a
luxury. Prices in every sector have risen over the years, no reason
needlework shouldn't also.

As far as I'm concerned, it's just not that big a deal. The volume of stock
in a needlework shop is incredibly expensive, no matter what individual
things cost on any particular day. If the price of Sampler Threads or Caron
goes up from the distributor, the retail price goes up in the shop. There's
a bit of a short term speed bump to absorb the difference the first time you
reorder, but it comes right back as soon as you sell the thing, assuming you
passed the increase along in traditional retail style. So for shop owners to
totally freak out seems silly. Everyone's prices go up. It doesn't matter if
it's a pattern or a fiber or fabric. That's the way of the world. Yes, it's
abrupt, but consider that they have been living off a "loan" from the
designer who has waited this long to increase wholesale costs and bearing
the burden for them. They've been making their money - she's not.

And if shop owners choose not to stock items that stitchers want then
they're losing money and probably customers, no matter what the chart cost
is (that's another rant entirely). If your customers want MLI's at the
higher price, then you better stock them at the higher price, otherwise
they're going to do what I do and shop from another LNS that does stock what
I want, and as long as I'm buying the chart, I might as well buy the
supplies, and as long as I'm placing an order, I might as well get the rest
of the stuff I've been wanting and some stuff that's on sale. Now guess
what - I don't have to go back to the LNS that didn't stock what I wanted
until the next time I really need something and I'm dumb enough to try it
again. Only, if I've done this two or three times then I just quit going to
the LNS altogether and save myself the mileage, trouble, and frustration.
And there goes, not the cost of the one-time chart price increase, but all
of my money.  Internet and chart prices don't kill LNSs. LNS owners kill
LNSs. There is always a way, you just have to find it and be willing to work
with customers. You have to have something I want before I start throwing my
money at you.  Think Big Picture!!!

And as far as stitchers who would look at a pattern of that size and
complexity and gripe about a 4 or 5 dollar difference in the pattern cost -
why? Let's put this in perspective - these charts are huge - they take
months to design and months to stitch. The materials alone are going to cost
$50-100 or more, and the framing may run $200-400. What is a couple of bucks
difference? There's that much difference in materials costs between one shop
and the next anyway. If you can't afford to pay the designer and all those
people I listed above their couple of bucks for work you're purchasing
exclusively for your own pleasure, you probably should be shopping for
different designs in the first place. I just can't get behind the logic that
someone would spend $100 on something they don't need, but not $105.  (I'm
thinking of the stereotypical lady at MacDonalds ordering a double
cheeseburger, large fries, apple pie, and a smll diet coke.) Sheesh - how
many MLIs/L&Ls does one person buy? It's not as though you could stitch one
a week. And even if you could, that would only be $20 or 25 a month more in
the $400-500 budget. Perspective, people!!

End of big long rant.
Back to other things.
Kristin
Denver, CO

Hiya Donna...

Ya know... I'm not sure *anyone* is really making any money <G> .  (except
the distributor, maybe).

Owning a retail store commits oneself to taking quite a beating on many
things - labor, utilities, rent, taxes, losses on stuff that doesn't sell or
gets stolen ... it's endless.  So when it seems like a $14 chart is
outrageous, and when someone thinks the shop owner shouldn't get the $6-7
profit margin on that...  well...  I'd like to see how e***d that person
would be over that $7 if the amount of money invested and time it takes to
make that sale were on her shoulders instead.

One of my pet peeves is magazines.  There is NO money in those for little
shops.. in fact, for most of us, they are money drains...  I have to pay
shipping on some of the ones that come in here.. so the first 3-4 to sell
from a new issue just cover the cost of them getting here!  Ugh.  Then if
it's a bummer issue, I get to eat them for dinner.  But yes... they are
important to have for "customer service".

I remember the thread you're referencing here.  If I remember correctly, it
was 60c over her cost of printing, shipping, etc.

The reality is that it has to pass through a few hands in order to get it to
the customer, and each of those stops has to approximately double the cost
in order to pay their overhead, and hopefully, make a profit.

I dunno.   Some days I think we shop owners are (generally speaking) nothing
but a bunch of crazy optimists that had the guts to do something that most
just won't do.

It's 18 degrees here this morning.. so I came in to my shop a few hours
early to make sure it gets warmed up in here.  So... thanks for giving me a
nice post to respond to while I cuddle up next to my cup of tea <G>.

Sally

You're absolutely right.

Sally