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Daily Wire Tip Oct. 7: Prongs and Profitability

By on October 6, 2010
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Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip for
October 7, 2010

Question:

Should mistakes that cost you wire, for instance a broken prong, be included in the cost of the piece, or is this just the price of doing business? I’m making a ring with a prong setting, I broke two of the prongs and had to start over with new wire.

-Traci in Palmer, Alaska

Answer:

Good question, Traci. Ah yes, prongs–they either “happen,” or they don’t.

In my opinion, any product used and destroyed during your learning curve should not be added into the final price of an item. The WS Faculty and I also do not believe in adding the cost of time spent learning to make a new project to the final price. If you are charging by the carat for the stone being set into the prong design, and have purchased it at a good wholesale price, the cost of the wire mistake could be made up there.

And sorry, no I am not going to give all of “those” formulations here, folks, but I can tell you that I do often discuss them in my classes in full detail, as well as on DVD #1 in the Definitive Guide!

Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

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11 Comments

  1. avatar

    mary

    October 7, 2010 at 8:09 am

    Learning is an expense you have to absorb, not your customer. And one of the keys to learning is that you need to be sure you have a pattern down pat and are comfortable with doing it over and over so that you don’t have breakage in your wire while creating it. If you don’t have the pattern down, it is being a bit naive to think you can do anything a customer wants without running into problems and fustrations while creating the custom order. That should be behind you from the experiences you did encounter while learning the pattern.

  2. avatar

    Alex

    October 7, 2010 at 1:07 pm

    Good answer Dale; my teacher would not have been so gentle, but he was an old man from Alaska, and plain spoken. His suggestion would have been to practice it so many times in copper that I could do it in my sleep, and THEN, and only then, work in “real” wire. Suggesting to him that I charge for mistakes I made would have gotten me an hour long tirade about morality (and likely I would have deserved it).

    • avatar

      dalecgr

      October 7, 2010 at 4:26 pm

      We really need to meet one day Alex : )

  3. avatar

    DeLane

    October 7, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    Tracy, remember that you have not lost ALL of the wire. You can re-purpose some of the wire in the setting as jump rings. Therefore, you have not lost money on the wire.

  4. avatar

    John

    October 7, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    In a manufacturing facility they usually included a scrap factor of approximately 5% in their cost. Of course this is not cast in stone and depends on the product being manufactured. Some items the scrap factor is smaller and in others it may exceed. Good Luck.

    • avatar

      dalecgr

      October 7, 2010 at 4:25 pm

      Thanks John

  5. avatar

    julie

    October 7, 2010 at 4:26 pm

    I have learned that a fair price is always a surefire way to get a customer to return to you for more purchases. In the end, always allowing for another opportunity to sell to your customer base is more important than how much you make on each and every sale. I may lose money on one sale and make up for it 3 times over on the next sale because my customer is always happy with the products, prices, and service. And if they are not, you can bet they will buy the next ring from someone else. If they feel the piece they received was overpriced, it will be the last one they buy from you! Hope this helps. PS, imagine how you would feel if someone did that to you, and decide from there how you will approach any other situation in the future upon how you would feel if someone did the same to you. This seems to work for me every time!

  6. avatar

    Ray

    October 7, 2010 at 7:16 pm

    Who broke the wire? The customer or you? Who do you think should pay?
    Ray

  7. avatar

    Sonja

    October 7, 2010 at 8:10 pm

    I offer this. You are in a restaurant and the chef burns your Porterhouse and the lobster gets cold waiting for the replacement to be cooked. Should he/she charge you for 2 steaks and 2 lobsters?

    Or you are having your house painted. The painter mixes the wrong color and has to start over. Should you have to pay for the new paint and possibly primer as well?

    Would you feel it was fair if it was done to you?

  8. avatar

    Traci

    October 8, 2010 at 6:01 pm

    Thanks so much everyone! I didn’t think I should charge the customer, but most people tell me I don’t charge enough for my work and just thought I’d ask what the norm would be. I’m glad to know that my fellow jewelry makers have the same character as I do. I also believe practice practice practice makes perfect but then you have to practice some more. :-)

    • avatar

      dalecgr

      October 8, 2010 at 10:59 pm

      You are very welcome Traci – isn’t it great to have a place like this to come to for advice and opinions?