Mark up at jewelry stores.

Since we weren't open today, Julie and I went out for a nice Sunday brunch. A couple of tables over some guy with a loud voice - why do pontificators always have a loud voice? - was sharing his knowledge on everything with the people at his table and everyone else in his half of the restaurant.
He started talking about the jewelry business and how there is such a big mark up in jewelry and he knows that jewelers sell things for three times what they paid for them, etc. etc.
Hmmm, at the time he said that I was eating an omelet that was $7.50 and drinking a glass of juice that was $1.50 and Julie and I were splitting a large pancake that cost $3.95. The Expert and his crew were eating much the same thing.
Lets examine my food. Pancake - 4 bucks! Lets see, what goes into a pancake? Flour, water, some form of fat, egg. So what does the restaurant make on a 4 dollar pancake? Ten times what they paid? Twenty times?? My omelet had 2-3 eggs in it, maybe 1/16th of an onion, bell pepper, and 6-8 mushrooms and some cheese. I buy the most expensive, free range organic eggs at a retail store and they are 3 bucks a dozen - so what does a restaurant pay for 2-3 eggs?
Are you getting my point?
Jewelry is like any other retail proposition - we gotta mark things up in order to keep the lights on, pay taxes. pay insurance, pay the credit card processing fees, etc. etc. (Where do you think the Discover Card gets the money to give to you in your annual rebate? It comes from the stores that take the cards.)
Funny thing is, I hear people talk about "the mark up in jewelry" all the time, but they don't do the same about other things. I have sold car stereo, home stereo, insurance, radio advertising and other things in my career.
You want in on a little secret??? (I don't usually share this kind of insider knowledge......)
ALL of those things are sold for MORE than the company paid for them!!!!! NO Kidding.
One more thing - we all know what the end result of the omelet and pancakes are going to be within a few hours to a day. The net result will be flushed into our septic tank.
At a fine jewelry store, you can invest in a gift of love that can possibly be handed down through the generations of your family. When you factor that into the equation - jewelry is cheap!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Yes, food ends up as waste, but not until after it provides you with energy and nourishment. Radio advertising also ends up as silence, but not until after it provides your business with lots of new customers.
Big Red Dawg said…
Hey Brett - when I used to sell radio advertising for WITL-FM in Lansing we used to joke that we were selling air. (That was back in the good ole days of radio before everything was owned by one gigantic conglomorate or another.)
Mongo said…
A very wise man I respected (My old boss rest his soul)once said to me "It is not a sin to make a profit." Everytime a customer says. "You are screwing me!" or "You are charging too much" I would love to show him how much we are not making right now.

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