# Chocolate cake and the woodworker



## pashley (Mar 22, 2008)

What can you learn about the pricing of a chocolate cake - and how to price your work?

Find out on my latest BlogNotes post.


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## John_ (Sep 23, 2013)

Why don't you just post here instead of trying to drive traffic to your own personal website AGAIN


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

Perception is the key to unlock the purse.
Hey! That's an original thought. Dang! Made my head hurt.
Bill


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## upinflames (Jun 24, 2012)

Ignore the post and it will go away into the abyss, I'm sure if he were to blow snot bubbles, threaten to quit the forum and throw a fit, everyone one come to his rescue…...but he doesn't strike me as that kind of person.


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

My earliest exposure to psychological marketing was wayyy back in high school, when I had a job in a neighborhood supermarket. The produce lady would take foam trays of varying length, and put one, two, or three green peppers on it, and shrink wrap them. The price sticker she put on was 39 cents… regardless of the number of peppers in the tray. People were just as happy to buy one pepper, as three!! Which suggested that the price was irrelevant if they could choose the exact amount they wanted.
I guess it shows that there are customers out there who place their own esteem higher by the wisdom of their choice, rather than the mandatory best value for the buck.


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## DrDirt (Feb 26, 2008)

Reminds me of a Penn and Teller segment (their show Bull********************) but they did an experiment with special "bottled water" with a Water Sommelier.

The bottles were all just filled from the garden hose in the Alley

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIX6HNFUjAkAxPn7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTByZ2N0cmxpBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDBGdwb3MDMg--?p=Penn+and+teller+bottled+water&vid=bbe4cc1e4ccf862f9d5d7896adb11345&l=4%3A05&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DVN.608031781748016302%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DYFKT4jvN4OE&tit=Penn+and+Teller+Water+Bottle+Survey&c=0&sigr=11b3cul51&sigt=113osqni8&sigi=11rgc4v2e&age=1350982410&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mozilla&tt=b


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## Tennessee (Jul 8, 2011)

I'm not sure I understand. It would seem that he wants woodworkers to visit a woodworker's workshop website, so they can buy what? Isn't everybody here already in the woodworking arena?

That would be like me trying to drive people to my website. What, so they can more easily knock off the stuff I build? That makes sense…

And if he is simply trying to do people a favor and tell them how to price work, why not take John's advice and simply put it right here, so we don't have to jump around and get more temp files clogging up our computers, etc.?


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## Dark_Lightning (Nov 20, 2009)

Interesting read. I tend to devalue what I make. My wife has a way better sense of the worth. I would hesitate to ask $20 for a spectacles case I made, but my wife says $60 would be more like it. Looking around the 'net, I can see that she is correct. Interestingly, the cost wouldn't be driven by the choice of material, to any great extent.


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## LeTurbo (Jan 22, 2014)

Anyone with the name Pashley has to know about bicycles, and that's fine by me! (Nice bike, Pashley.) It's not that hard to click through, is it? I thought he made a good point. I've certainly seen other guys in our shared shop go after stuff at too low a price. To what extent? I sub-contracted one of them to make two cabinets for me, because i was overloaded. Both cabinets came in at half the price I had quoted the client for one cabinet. That's scary undercharging.


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## Tennessee (Jul 8, 2011)

OK, so I caved in and read the blog post. I agree, to a point…
I cannot build custom guitars and charge $3000-5000 or much higher. Why? Because no one has really ever heard of me as a premier builder, no great artist, (lots of little ones) is playing my guitars in huge venues. There is no Brad Paisley or Buddy Guy playing a Tsunami Guitar.

And yet, I have a backlog of four guitars right now, at my price point in the $600-700 range. Am I underpricing? You would think so, but if you look at my expenses, my final hourly rate I get ends up around $20 an hour in my shop, after materials, utilities, insurance, etc.
Work at home for $20 an hour? You bet…

Another example: In the one gallery where I exhibit, there was a fellow from one town over who was recognized in the world of woodworking. He had some awards, had been shown in New York, Los Angeles, etc. This gallery sells to the top people in our local community, the filthy rich, and people who come through to see the unique museum, who almost always have a lot of money in their pockets.
His two items simply rotted in the gallery for almost a year, when he finally was asked to pull them. As the manager told me, his price point was "off the charts".

So there is limits, and you must find them. Can I get $150-200 for a simple cutting board? Maybe, in the right market, at the right time of year, with the right person hitting my site. But on a day-today basis? Not a chance.

And that is the way it goes for most items.


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## AlaskaGuy (Jan 29, 2012)

> OK, so I caved in and read the blog post. I agree, to a point…
> I cannot build custom guitars and charge $3000-5000 or much higher. Why? Because no one has really ever heard of me as a premier builder, no great artist, (lots of little ones) is playing my guitars in huge venues. There is no Brad Paisley or Buddy Guy playing a Tsunami Guitar.
> 
> And yet, I have a backlog of four guitars right now, at my price point in the $600-700 range. Am I underpricing? You would think so, but if you look at my expenses, my final hourly rate I get ends up around $20 an hour in my shop, after materials, utilities, insurance, etc.
> ...


They say (no I don't know who they are) if your not getting any work you charge to much. If you got more work that you can handle you charge to little.

I don't find chocolate cake very interesting.


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## SirIrb (Jan 12, 2015)

As a cook, I would jump at the chance to buy 3 bell peppers for .39. All day long. 


> My earliest exposure to psychological marketing was wayyy back in high school, when I had a job in a neighborhood supermarket. The produce lady would take foam trays of varying length, and put one, two, or three green peppers on it, and shrink wrap them. The price sticker she put on was 39 cents… regardless of the number of peppers in the tray. People were just as happy to buy one pepper, as three!! Which suggested that the price was irrelevant if they could choose the exact amount they wanted.
> I guess it shows that there are customers out there who place their own esteem higher by the wisdom of their choice, rather than the mandatory best value for the buck.
> 
> - poopiekat


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

> As a cook, I would jump at the chance to buy 3 bell peppers for .39. All day long.


My local store sells a 6-pack of assorted color bell peppers. The price per 6 is cheaper than if you buy 6 separately. However, the peppers are about 2/3 the size of the loose peppers, and when you figure out the cost per pound, it average out to cost 20% more than buying them loose. My wife and I have gone around a few times on this, but I gave up and buy the 6-pack of peppers. It's clever marketing. They've pinpointed the increased price I am willing to tolerate in order to avoid an argument with my wife.


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## distrbd (Sep 14, 2011)

I do find it harder and harder to buy only what I need but my wife does it with a passion,she will never fall for that " best bang for your buck" ,since our son moved out ,we hardly shop at Costco.


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

We have a Sam's club membership and I've gone through all of the things we buy on a regular basis, and calculated out the price per unit between Sam's, Target, Wal-Mart, and Wegmans. Also, since places like Target usually run the "free $x gift card when you buy two" type things, we know how much the gift card needs to be do make it the cheaper option. We don't always plan ahead, so it helps when we run out of something and need to know who's got the best deal at that time. I'm an engineer by trade and my wife trusts my math, which is why the friggin' pepper situation perplexes me every time.


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## Puzzleman (May 4, 2010)

I price my works minimum price based on the numbers that it took to make the product. Labor, materials, shop expenses, overhead, etc.

When I hear the statement that my prices are very good, I take that as the code for that my prices are low in comparison to what they expected. I will pricing until I hear that go away. Then raise them a little more till someone states that my prices are a little higher than everyone else. Then explain that if you want the best, it will cost you more.


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## Yonak (Mar 27, 2014)

> ...there are customers out there who place their own esteem higher by the wisdom of their choice, rather than the mandatory best value for the buck.
> 
> - poopiekat


I'm comfortable buying just the amount I need as the excess would, likely, rot in the back refrigerator. It will leave more for other people and, if the peppers were grown in California, the water in them is valuable and doesn't deserve to be flushed down the sink.


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## Wildwood (Jul 22, 2012)

Found the article interesting especially after explaining same cake mix, baked same way & time only real difference was price!

How many people that enjoyed a slice of $55 chocolate cake would actually buy a whole cake for that price?

When I set up a table to sell my woodturnings would never include a $2.98 bag of twelve BIC pens next to my handcrafted pens! No next to my pen display there is a writing tablet for you to test my pens.

You made very important points on arriving at a price and not cutting off your nose to spite your face. While agree cutting price to beat the competition never a good idea! Not saying cannot leave room for negotiations!

You also address price of your side table compared to lesser price table of comparable value. You always want to avoid comparing your work with that of others in an actual sales situation. Put your craftsman pride away and put on your salesman hat and sell your product!

Price alone is not the only factor causing people to buy or not buy just part of a very complicated or not so complicated thought process buyers go through before deciding to buy. The cake example does not separate shoppers from buyers merely brings to light people's perceived value. So always price your work that supports a buyers perceived value.


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