Yes. Truth be told I love my Dream Hammock!
I'm fine with nothing being on sale. But did want to share My philosophy on the vendor sales is that a "sale" is an opportunity for us (the buyer) to go to our wives and say "hey honey you know that such and such that I wanted? It was on sale so I purchased it" type of discussion. It keeps us from getting into to much hot water.
I showed a buddy of mine my hammock this weekend in fact two of them. They both want to get one now.
My channel www.youtube.com/jstevens2010
Nope, not my intent at all. I encourage you to re-read my post.Originally Posted by pinballwizard
I tried to clearly state that "It's perfectly fine for other vendors and this is not meant to be a criticism at all."
I stated why running sales on Black Friday was not something that worked well for our particular business model and listed a couple reasons why.
I then stated reasons why my family personally doesn't get excited over the Black Friday "holiday".
I finished my post by saying "I hope this helps explain without being offensive to the other hard working vendors."
If my response was poorly worded or somehow misleading, I apologize sincerely.
Consider that a typical single layer 10ft ThunderBird contains a little over 24,000 carefully placed stitches, the finest materials we can get, and many many hours of labor. We do not design our hammocks to be quick builds, but quality builds. We do our best to maintain the highest quality you will ever find in a customized hammock. In addition, we offer many opportunities to customize each hammock with choices of fabric, sizes, models, etc. Finally, we offer our customers the opportunity to get one of a kind solutions to help them with their mobility and special equipment needs. These are not things that lend themselves to running special offers or sales.
I hope this clarifies my earlier answer.
BTW - I'm glad you found a good deal on your UQ.
EDIT - I also wanted to add that "when and if" we can catch up on regular orders, we would like to begin running small batches of pre-built hammocks and offer them at a discounted price. Doing this would, like you say, allow us to pass along any savings we can get from ordering materials in larger batches and streamlining the building process. However, these special prices won't be only offered on Black Friday, but spread throughout the entire year and will last as long as we have hammocks left.
Last edited by PapaSmurf; 11-30-2014 at 23:31.
I feel it may be me who needs to apologize if my post was written poorly. In no way did I mean to imply that I thought anything wrong with your post or position. Second, I am in high favor of you and any other vendor spending every moment of quality time with your families. (I used to be in sales and I have had to work holidays, and I think there is nothing more valuable than spending that time with family and loved ones).
Also, I think your original post was well written, as it posted your position with explanation, and respectfully spoke about hard working vendors that do participate in sales.
My intent was never to insult or knock your position, but to support it, while also supporting those vendors that do run sales. I only posted because I felt there was a post that could elude that other vendors can only do black friday sales if their profit margins are too big to begin with, which I don't think is the case for those vendors.
I completely respect the amount of amazing craftsmanship and customizable care you put into each hammock. I think there is something a bit magical about the custom work of our cottage vendors. I have been so jazzed about my UQ, which I got to choose for myself and how it is being made specially for me (ty for your congrats btw).
I tired your hammock at the spring MAHHA and thought it was one of the most comfortable hammock I have been in. A dream hammock is definitely on my master wish list, and I "dream" about the day I find it in the budget to talk with you about designing the hammock that would fit me best. Happy holiday season
“All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.”
No, that's fine pinballwizard. I do know that a couple of the quilt vendors purchase very large down orders in anticipation of the busy Fall/Winter season and also for Black Friday sales. They pass these savings to us and I certainly appreciate that. I'm not sure of the specific savings for other materials and products, but I assume there are similar savings as well.
I guess I'll always dislike Black Friday and what it represents, but certainly no ill feeling towards other vendors.
My 2nd most hated "sales" holiday is the days leading up to Christmas, which happens to be my birthday. It's a special time for me and my family and I still cringe when I see the craziness creeping closer and closer to Dec 25th.
Pinballwizard,, were you the one who was with njredneck and jumped into the Thunderbird that i had at the Mahha (the one that ended up in the raffle curtiosy of Papa Smurf?)
That kinda brings up another point about these Awesome veners that we have here, - Many of them donate thier products to several differant hangs each and every year,
Heck a free Hammock or quilt or some free Dutchware is better than some %% off sale any day to me!.
Would i like to pay less for my gear? sure but would i be willing to sacrafise quality for the savings? HECK NO in fact some of my gear is definitly worth more than i paid for it and lets be honest here, when we see something we want from one of our cottage venders and it cost more then we have to spend what do we do? We save up for it because we know it will be worth it as far as the quality goes,,...,, RIGHT????
Can't argue with you there. I also HATE how retail works the black friday sales, especially with how it continuously moves up. The idea of people missing Thanksgiving because they need to work so they can start the sales earlier and earlier is awful, and I wish there was even a law against it. I saw a message from Adam (stormcrow) who was saying how they were catching up now because they were busy spending the time with family while orders were coming in, and I could not be happier to hear about a vendor getting to us now for that reason. I feel this way for all holidays when people have to work
“All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.”
Are you talking about the fall or the spring MAHHA? We weren't able to get to the fall one bc we had a wedding to go to (I cried a bit inside). I tried Mattyoc's at the spring and thought it was absolutely amazingness!!!!!! I also was/am floored with the generosity of all the vendors during the raffling. I really think we have the best people making the best gear! I'm also super impressed how every time there is a DIY question, you'll see vendors pop up and give expert advice for someone to make their own. Really a supportive community, starting with the vendors!
“All grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.”
I didn't say anything about over charging..... "I could charge more all year". charging more and over charging are not the same thingI understand and respect Randy's position. If he chooses not to run a sale. Having said that, I don't completely agree with this view towards other vendors because it is eludes that they are overcharging regularly and are choosing to give "fair" pricing on black friday. Another way of looking at this could be that vendors that participate in black friday sales are willing to do so because while cutting into their profit margins, the amount of business that black friday sales drums up, outweighs the cut into their profit, making the whole ordeal favorable to all involved, vendors and customers alike. It is logical to reason that more business is a fair tradeoff for lower margins. While it could be looked at as less profit per piece, a bigger purchasing order in a short period of time can be very important to smaller businesses as well as larger ones such as the big box stores.
Please do not misunderstand me for sounding entitled. I think it is great and generous for the cottage vendors that participate in black friday sales. That is why I see discounts from 10-20% or even less as a very nice gesture and generous from the cottage vendors, where as a big box store or online distributor, I would think that was a meager discount. This is because their profit margins are much greater, whereas the cottage vendors have much slimmer margins and room to operate profitably.
Again, I think it is completely understandable that Dream Hammocks, or any vendor, choose not to participate in black Friday sales. After all, I would never want to see a vendor not run profitably because their services are great, and it's great to see a family, or families earn a living while making so many of us happy hangers. And I also think it's great when vendors can afford to pass the profits for such high volume sales onto customers like me, who use the push of the black friday sale to finally pull the trigger
One major difference is Randy and his Smurfs custom make each hammock and other vendors have a more consistent product that would allow for more stocking up before the crush hits. His desire to not get overwhelmed and thus spend more time with his clan is golden stuff...really the reason for Thanksgiving IMO. The whole commercialism theme during this season really is overdone and is one of the big reasons I generally prefer USA made cottage industries. Some local stores have merged Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas together...mixing in Labor Day and 4th of July will probably be next. Black Friday is a great time to hole up here.
Very true. They are all made to order all of them are different. A hammock custom shop if you will. Personally I love that my dream hammock is a one of a kind. Keep on keeping on Smurfs!
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