Jonathan Kaplan on sat 16 aug 97
I've read the posts on pricing and those about mugs priced at five bucks.
Here's a short take.
Potters are financially challenged and fiscally encumbered.
I dont' want to discuss the efforts, intents, etc. of the pottery world
vis a vis the ethical pot/mingei, etc. etc, but rather simple economics.
Perhaps if we learned how to price our wares for a profit, we could learn a
whole lot about potting as a business. My feeling is that we don't value
our labor as potters, and it rarely fits into any pricing scheme, if any
methodology for a pricing scheme exists at all.
Sure we can figure out what the clay costs, what the glaze materials costs,
the freight to get it to your shop, an the fuel used to fired the pots.
Well what about your time? Do you value your time? Is your time worthwhile?
Do you account for your time? Perhaps if you work at below the minimum wage
that mug may well be able to be sold at a retail price of $5.00 and if
worked back on a keystone basis, whole sale in the neighborhood of $2.50.
However, what about your overhead and depreciation? It doesn't matter if
you have a pottery factory or a small studio operation in a chicken coop,
regardless of the size, you have overhead, and each piece you make must
absorb a portion of your overhead. If it doesn't, you are giving away the
fruits of your labors, you'll whine about not making any money, and always
be pricing your work incorrectly on the basis of some uneducated system.
I remember some years back that a colleague of mine was setting up at ACC
Baltimore and didn't know how to price some decorative platters that she
made. She did a quick cruise of the show, saw some other platters and made
a mental note of the pries, and priced her's within that range. Sure it
might have worked and made the work sellable, but certianly didn't account
for her time and labor.
If you want to run your operation no matter what it's size as a business,
run it as a business and price your work at its true value accounting for
direct and indirect costs. If you don't, it won't return to you what you
need. And it doesn't need to be a hard and fast penny for penny system
(although most cost accountants would argue that pennies do add up over
time) but needs to be a system that you are comfortable with.
Hey, far be it from me to argue about the financial efficacy of the $5.00
mug. If it works for you, power to you. My gut feeling is that over time,
you are undervaluing your work, working too hard and not getting what you
need for your work.
Jonathan
Jonathan Kaplan, president jonathan@csn.net
Ceramic Design Group Ltd./Production Services
PO Box 775112
Steamboat Springs CO 80477
Plant Location (please use this address for all UPS shipments)
30800 Moffat Ave Unit 13
Steamboat Springs CO 80487
(970) 879-9139*voice and fax
http://www.craftweb.com/org/jkaplan/cdg.shtml
http://digitalfire.com/education/clay/kaplan1.htm
millie carpenter on mon 18 aug 97
Jonathan Kaplan wrote:
> Well what about your time? Do you value your time? Is your time worthwhile?
> Do you account for your time? Perhaps if you work at below the minimum wage
> that mug may well be able to be sold at a retail price of $5.00
What would a reasonalbly skilled potter earn per hour? is there a scale
that one could measure by?
if
> you have a pottery factory or a small studio operation
> you have overhead, and each piece you make must
> absorb a portion of your overhead.
when you figure overhead how do you do depreciation when you start with
pretty much all used and scrounged stuff that you have had for quite a
while before you try to make the transition from hobby to income
providing? AAnd when your studio is part of the basement
thanks for your suggestions.
millie
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