Showing posts with label pricing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pricing. Show all posts

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Just Wondering....

After lunch out we dropped John off at the house and went to Bookman's. If you are ever in Arizona this is a place that you have to go to, they have 3 stores in Tucson, 1 in Flagstaff and some in Phoenix. They have everything the heart could desire and always have "new" things. Bookman's has used books and magazines, a great kids section in all the stores, odds and ends and even a rare book section. Bookman's is the largest used book seller in Arizona and we have store credit to burn so I let the kids go wild. Eric and Teri pick out some new to them music. and I found a cute little green jar with strawberries on top that I am going to clean up and stuff to the brim with scrbies for my Art Fire shop tomorrow. Time to make a lot of scrubies. Teri agreed with me that this will make a nice gift when it is finished.

When we went to Michael's to find more stuffing for Teri's mogo I just had to look at the price of the yarn. I did show great restraint and did not bring any more home. After surfing through various shops it leaves me a little perplexed as to how someone can offer items for sale in their shops for less than it would cost me to buy the yarn.

Teri and I had a discussion on economics on the way home. We debated if the average crafter values their time, yes I know that I will never make minimum wage selling handmade items, but is it necessary to sell at a loss to have sales? As a stay at home mom I know that I am worth a lot of money for the work that I do that is unpaid, it is just part of the job and making the world a better place. On the other hand as a small business owner I know that I can not stay in business if I sell things for less then they cost to make. I also have to include overhead expenses and I would like to make a little money to help Teri out with grad school expenses. There are plenty of places to buy cheap, but if you want locally handmade it is going to cost more, I can't compete with Walmart, Target, Kohl's or the local dollar store.

Please leave your comments on this, I want to know if I am the only one who feels this way.