Loco Libre Gear on Vacation

**Rex Clifton** · 08-19-2018, 08:12

Originally Posted by hutzelbein

Sounds like you either don't own a business or don't need time off yourself. Instead of working without ever going on vacation (because as soon as the lead time starts dropping, there'll likely be more orders - and then you'll have to work even more), or hiring more people, which brings its own set of problems, there is actually another solution to bring down the turnaround time: LL could raise their prices. But you probably wouldn't like that, either.

I guess you'll never have kids, then

But seriously, if you don't want to wait, buy a quilt from one of the other vendors. Problem solved.

So could George. I certainly wouldn't want to spend my last 8 weeks working for people who begrudge me my hard earned vacation just because they need instant gratification.

Hutzelbein, I have read a l number of of your posts, and I respect you. I think your a pretty good guy (unlike some of the other dip-sticks on this post), but you are dead wrong and you proved it in your response.

Point one you made was that George could expand his business to take some of the pressure off. That's exactly what he should do! It's simple logic and makes good business sense. No matter how skilled the craftsman, if your working 12-14 hour days things are going to slip, either with your products or your mental health (most likely, both).

Point two you made was the George could raise prices, and you intimated that I would not be in favor of this. Dead wrong! It's simple supply and demand, if the world is beating down your door to buy your product, raise the price until supply is more in line. For example, look at the chevron baffled top quilt he sells. Dollars to donuts he loses money on every one of those quilts he produces, although he probably doesn't know it. In fact, he probably doesn't know what products he makes or loses money on and just hopes, at the end of the day, that he has more debits than credits (most small businesses are like this).

Point three was that I could buy from another vendor that has a shorter wait time. That is besides the point, but it raises an interesting question; are George's quilts so much better that I would wait an extra month for them rather than going with another vendor? I can't answer that, since I have never used, or even seen any Loco gear in the wild, but there is some fantastic gear out there that you don't need to wait an eternity for!

I never have, and never will, begrudge a man his vacation. But I fear that, in the not too distant future, George will be able to take as many prolonged and extended vacations as he likes because his business is going to be kaput!

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**HandyRandy** · 08-19-2018, 08:47

A week isn’t a terribly long vacation. Chances are they will be doing some camping and hiking, so they will get to put their newest experimental ideas to the test and we will all benefit from their lessons learned. Creativity is also important to growing a business and if you spend all your time in the office, you won’t form new experiences to fuel that creativity. Not every business owner wants to deal with numerous employees just to stay operational during vacation times. Hang your own hang.

**Snaps** · 08-19-2018, 08:50

Wow.

Someone on another thread here recently--I think the one about courtesy & unspoken rules related to treatment of tenters and other hammockers--talked reasonably about the term "should" when applied to what other people do, and what it implies.

I'm not about to tell you what you should do with your time, your money, and certainly not your business, if you have one. You'd likely have a strong opinion on what I might tell you that you should do.

LLG has happy customers and the freedom to close the doors for a week to take a breather, presumably without significant impact to business. But even if it is at some cost to business... that's in every sense not your business.

My first assumption about someone who has done zero business with a vendor and speaks this way about them is that there's an agenda that's not being aired. But I don't need to assume that to dismiss this opinion.

I'll bet George never imagined an "out of office" announcement would turn into this nonsense! At least it'll be a fun read upon his return...

**Rick2world** · 08-19-2018, 08:57

Have a great well deserved vacation!

**georgecarr** · 08-19-2018, 10:35

Originally Posted by Mike Likes Dirt

Point one you made was that George could expand his business to take some of the pressure off. That's exactly what he should do! It's simple logic and makes good business sense. No matter how skilled the craftsman, if your working 12-14 hour days things are going to slip, either with your products or your mental health (most likely, both).

Point two you made was the George could raise prices, and you intimated that I would not be in favor of this. Dead wrong! It's simple supply and demand, if the world is beating down your door to buy your product, raise the price until supply is more in line. For example, look at the chevron baffled top quilt he sells. Dollars to donuts he loses money on every one of those quilts he produces, although he probably doesn't know it. In fact, he probably doesn't know what products he makes or loses money on and just hopes, at the end of the day, that he has more debits than credits (most small businesses are like this).

Point three was that I could buy from another vendor that has a shorter wait time. That is besides the point, but it raises an interesting question; are George's quilts so much better that I would wait an extra month for them rather than going with another vendor? I can't answer that, since I have never used, or even seen any Loco gear in the wild, but there is some fantastic gear out there that you don't need to wait an eternity for!

I never have, and never will, begrudge a man his vacation. But I fear that, in the not too distant future, George will be able to take as many prolonged and extended vacations as he likes because his business is going to be kaput!

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Folks, don't let yourselves be trolled. Really, 5 posts and 4 of them are about my vacation? Most vendors here wouldn't reply, but since Mike Likes Dirt has taken some liberties and made some assumptions about my business acumen and my person character lets chew on that shall we?

1) I don't have to assume Mike Likes Dirt has never owned a small business.

2)In a prior life I owned 2 other businesses, and was an Operation Manager for the 3rd largest waste hauling company in the world. My fiduciary responsibilities included overseeing 100 men and a $12 million dollar budget while profitably bidding on contracts after calculating job cost. No worries Mike Likes Dirt, every one of my products is profitable.

3) If I wanted to grow bigger (no I don't, and that's my prerogative), good luck finding seamstresses. I've had to train every one from scratch. In fact, if my current work force moves on I will most likely just downsize, as being a one man shop isn't a bad option. In some ways it's freeing.

4) Speaking of my workforce, since 2 of my three employees are related to me and we're all on the same vacation ( that we've taken together for over 20 years), it only makes sense to close for 1 week this entire year.

5) Raising prices isn't really an option in the current market, so you need to be a frugal manager when it comes to pricing materials.

6)I know your losing sleep over my future Mike Likes Dirt (tongue firmly in cheek), and while I appreciate your concern (TFIC again) but please don't. I'll be here until I decide I don't want to.

Thank you everyone for your well wishes and defense. It's good to know who you can depend on when your back is turned.