Sittin' Here Scratchin' My Head

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Mrs.B

Mrs.B

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
Joined
Jan 9, 2006
Posts
225
Loc
Huntington, Indiana
To put it bluntly, I've had a carppy Christmas season. Probably 1/3rd the business I had last year. Yesterday I was quite busy. This morning when I arrive I have two messages on the answering machine telling me not to start their orders, they want to get another quote. Hello! Christmas is two weeks away! Are they wanting another quote with me or are they going somewhere else? GRRR! I need a vacation! Wish I could afford one!
 
You are not alone.

:icon11:
 
It's the economy...same almost everywhere.
 
Down about 75% from last year, and less work in right now than an average month.
 
My retail is DOWN!! I think our whole shopping center is slower than usual for Christmas.

Of course, when the nightly news only talks about doom and gloom every night, it effects the way people think about spending money.

The only positive is that I've got two corporate jobs due in January.

I'm hoping after the new administration gets in the White House, things will start to pick up.
 
Our december is UP, but our November was down.
 
OMG I keep getting price checked........and they have yo go 40 miles to the next frame shop.........C-YA!!........what is it with CHEAP people lately!!!! 2 Already today................:faintthud:
 
Your country is not alone, either!
 
Lady just came in with a very ratty Cubs cap, some ticket stubs and some photos and wants a shadowbox. So I start pulling frame samples and she says she wants to do this for a $100 dollars, no more than $150 'cause she's got 6 kids to buy for. She tells me about a shadowbox her husband made with pine wood and a frame they bought at M!
God I REALLY need a vacation!
 
Mrs. B:

You should really offer the ReadyMade shadow boxes from NB and LJ for such people.

There are people who just grab the readymade shadow box and go home.

Others want upgrades: Add a new mat for the background (adds more $), sew the jersey in a certain way (additional charge for labor), add a couple of stripes behind the jersey (add another mat and labor), etc.

I am doing quite well with those people who want cheap shadow boxes! I have a nice one in the window and everybody wants that look.
 
It feels really slow to me, but when I ran a sales report, I discovered that I"m actually running a few hundred dollars ahead of where I was at this same time in December 2007. Go figure. The part that hurts is that November was essentially a two week month, with nothing going on during the week leading up to the election, and nothing going on around the Thanksgiving holiday (people here don't shop during holidays).

I see no sense of urgency, however. It doesn't feel like Christmas is only 12 days away. Last Sunday afternoon I was at a relatively new (1 year old) shopping mall in downtown SF, an upscale mall, and it was pretty empty. Very few shoppers. Some stores seemed to be doing OK, but there were at least 5 stores that had no customers inside, and 2 or 3 stores had no holiday decorations. None. Also, traffic on the highway has been very light the past few evenings in particular. It's been light for the past year, actually, but I'm really noticing it now.
 
I'm up 18% in 4th quarter to date compared to last year. Not a day goes by that I think it could all dry up again due to the economy.

I'm finding that customers are looking for something personal in the framing they are giving for Christmas; many shadow boxes of family memories, such as a toddlers superman t-shirt worn 28 years ago from a mom who kept it and is giving it to her 30 year old son who wore it! Also, autographed items, hand-made items....it's great! Even a 1st edition magazine.

They have money, they just want to be sure that they get the value for the spend. I have also noticed that they are expressing the importanc of the personal touch and shopping locally.
 
Julie Walsh said:
I'm up 18% in 4th quarter to date compared to last year. Not a day goes by that I think it could all dry up again due to the economy.

I'm finding that customers are looking for something personal in the framing they are giving for Christmas; many shadow boxes of family memories, such as a toddlers superman t-shirt worn 28 years ago from a mom who kept it and is giving it to her 30 year old son who wore it! Also, autographed items, hand-made items....it's great! Even a 1st edition magazine.

They have money, they just want to be sure that they get the value for the spend. I have also noticed that they are expressing the importanc of the personal touch and shopping locally.
Click to expand...

Is the economy in Canada doing rather well? We have several different friends that have either moved to Canada for work in the past year, or have gone to work there temporarily.
 
It's hard to say...basic economics tell you people must spend money in order to turn things around. If people stop spending we will be in trouble. That said, I think things will slip again in the New Year as people recover from their Christmas spending. Real Estate in my area has dropped significantly; went from bidding wars and houses selling in less than a week to values dropping $35K and sitting on the market longer.

When times are tough, people nest more and spend a little more on their surroundings.....hopefully their walls.

We need to hear positive things not negative things: an interesting article in The Globe & Mail to read:
<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081211.reRenoHibernation1212/EmailBNStory/RealEstate/>
(You may have to copy and paste to your browser)
 
EllenAtHowards said:
Our new saying is "We are pleased to be meeting the level of our lowered expectations."
Click to expand...

LOL ELLEN!!! That pretty much sums up my day!!

Only ran off 2 customers today because of price!! ..............I'm traveling up to the BB tonite to let them know I'm still taking orders!!! :p
 
Sorry to bust your bubble, but it's not just the news of doom and gloom. There is a lot of real life gloom happening everywhere. Want a list of my personal references to this gloom?

Two friends in radio---canned. One in Missouri, one here in Alabama. That doesn't count the others I know of, but don't know personally. People who have held the same job for 20 years.

My store---closed permanently as of Nov 15th. I have been fortunate to get a job in a healthcare field and have been working since mid-Oct.

Another friend----works for a parts manufacturer for Hyundai. Got hours cut back to 30 from 40 as of mid-Oct. Is now laid off for at least 45 days and maybe indefinitely. Has three kids.

My new boss's hubby----fired from a sales position he had held for long time. Working part time for UPS during the holidays. They had just finished building a home when this unexpectedly happened.

So, when people say they don't have money, a lot of them really don't. They aren't hording it under the floorboards. God knows I am not. Do I pay my house pmt late this month or buy my kid some Christmas presents and groceries?

When I heard someone say about the auto bailout this morning ...and I paraphrase: "It's happened at a bad time and is going to mean a sad Christmas for everyone," I really didn't feel that bad. I said out loud "Welcome to my world."

I try to be thankful everyday that I do still have a home and my fridge has food inside it and that I do have a job. It's not gonna pay all our bills every month, but hopefully will keep me and my family in our home.

If any of you think it's an exaggeration, think again.


I hope that things do get better and that everyone does well enough to stay afloat and keep the bills paid. I know this is the "grumble" and we have to do that to let off steam, but please be thankful for any customer who walks through your doors and spends any amount of money.
 
Well said, Meci. This economic downturn isn't just a psychological thing, although psychology can play a big role in how long it lasts, and whether it gets better or worse in the short-term. I'm grateful for every customer that comes in the door, and I let them know that I can get their job done by Christmas. I don't tell them that I might be staying late every night, or coming in on Sunday. All they need to know is that this is one less thing they will have to worry about this year. As for their budget, if I have to pull down every single moulding sample on the wall to get to their price, I'll do it.

And I know how many of you feel about coupons, and I'm no fan either, but I've got them out there now. Piddly coupons, just $25 off, but again, I'm happy these people are in my shop to spend money. If I have to give up a little profit to make them feel better about spending money right now or to get them to their price point, I'm OK with that. The likely alternative is not getting the order at all.

And one final thought this afternoon -- Thomas Kinkade is my favorite artist! Keep painting light, Tommy!!!
 
Oct. was good because I got paid for a govt. job. Nov. was pretty dismal. I was in the midst of diversifying. I have taken on pottery and hand crafter jewelry. They are selling very well. Taken in a couple restorations, which I get a commission when completed before Xmas. These are making up for the loss in framing orders. I like the idea of targeting the hibernation masses.
 
"Christmas is two weeks away"


and they will have wasted another week of that----perfect time/place/reason to slap them with a BIG PIA charge for the aggravation on trouble of rush ordering etc etc etc (& dont forget to let them know about every gritty little detail of that!!!). anyone willing to bet they will be sllllllooooooowwww about picking it up????????
 
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I'm in southeastern Michigan... how do you think my place of work is doing. :( I'm really scared. Glad I'm full time, feel bad for the people I work with who are part time.

It's really bad right now. People are trying to save and cut back as much as they can. Last week, we only took one real custom framing order.
 
Having only opened my doors in September, I have no comparison to previous years. On the positive side; that means I can only go up from here, next year can only get better.

I had a good November but December is pretty bad. The past two weeks have been the worst so far.
My better spending customers have picked up their work and told me they will be back after Christmas with more things they need framed. The customers that do come in for Christmas framing are the ones not wanting to spend anything. Of course I do my best to meet their price expectations; no matter what, an order is an order. However, I cannot frame a 20 x 30 piece under $20.00 (seriously!) which has happened a few times this past week.

I am in a bit better situation than most though. My overhead is very low (low rent, just me in the shop) and as long as I'm able to pay my bills, I will be able to wait this one out. It would be nice if at some point I can pay myself a salary, however, this is not our main income and we didn't expect to pay salary for the first year anyway. So, from my point; it can only get better.

Good luck to everyone. Let's hope for a better 2009!
 
Cretin75,
At least you are not a owner of a shop in our area, wondering how to pay the bills.

You are on the "Ford" side of the metro area....... I am 5 miles from the GM Tech Center :(
 
Julie Walsh said:
I'm finding that customers are looking for something personal in the framing they are giving for Christmas; ...they just want to be sure that they get the value for the spend. I have also noticed that they are expressing the importance of the personal touch and shopping locally.
Click to expand...

I agree Julie. The few new orders I am seeing are mostly framing of personal items ...older folks framing things their now-grown children did in grade school, family memorabilia of lost ones, parents framing their children's art projects and the like.

Some of these can be quite challenging projects as often they are literally falling apart as you work with them to preserve what's left.
 
WE ARE UP ABOUT 20% SO FAR IN DEC OVER LAST YEAR...BUT, LAST YEAR WE WERE DOWN ABOUT 30% from 2006.....and we are down considerably YTD for 2008 ( about 32% ) from 2007 which was down considerably from 2006 ...
I don't feel too confident about the rest of Dec as we are just about completely out of jobs in works and it's been real slow last few days..but we are hanging in there for now and hoping for 2009 to get better eventually..who knows????
 
You all are not alone. We are hangin in there, mostly surviving off last summer's income. We get very busy in the summer, but during the winter we may as well pack up and go home. But we stick around and pick up what we can. November was absolutely horrible. But we're seeing a few more jobs this month. Just hangin on till May.
 
I am down over all about 13% now. But if December doesn't pick up, I will be off for the year about 25%.

I put a sign up out front that says "Yes, we can have it for Christmas"

This really helped last year and I am hoping it will bring in all those who will ride by and think of a gift they have been meaning to bring in and this will take the fear out of bringing it in and asking for it for Christmas.
Sometimes folks just feel bad for waiting so long and are afraid to ask.
There is hardly any traffic out there today, but I am going to Wal-mart after I get out of here and I bet I will be in line forever. They are really doing well in this economy.
 
just the opposite here...summer is our dead time..winter is usually our best due the snow bird population that doubles our county population for about 4 months .....this year we have far fewer snow birds..the local seasonal rentals are usually hard to find..this year there are 2 columns in the classified of places available.
 
Being on the Grumble is an encouragement for me. This year, we're not slammed at Christmas as usual. Instead, framing is coming in steadily, but like during regular times. Hearing how slow it is in some places, I'm grateful we're getting as much as we are. And so far, the people who are coming in are just fine with the prices. We tend to get a lot of repeat customers, so they know what they're headed for with pricing. One of the three frame shops in our town
just closed, so that probably helps the other two of us out as well.
 
Unless you are a rare bird that is absolutely slammed with orders right now, try really hard NOT to impose any kind of rush charge or PITA charge on these late-arriving Christmas orders. When you smile at the customer and reassure them that you can certainly have it done for them by the holiday, you are a hero. You are their hero. And at a normally stressful time of year made doubly so by the state of the economy, you are giving your customer one less thing to worry about. Don't even indicate that it might be a stretch to get it done.

It was their problem, now it's your problem, thank them for their order, and send them off to deal with other issues.
 
It'd be hard for me to beat what I did last year at Christmas. It was that good...but I can tell you that what I've had is right on track with what I had last year...providing the week before Christmas brings about the same sales (the first half of the month has).

I am thankful for every order I get... and for those who haven't done as well...hang in there. I think we'll be better soon.
 
PaulSF said:
I don't tell them that I might be staying late every night, or coming in on Sunday. All they need to know is that this is one less thing they will have to worry about this year. As for their budget, if I have to pull down every single moulding sample on the wall to get to their price, I'll do it.
Click to expand...

Absolutely Paul. It's all about their convenience. It's about them, not us. The last thing we need to do is make people feel bad about coming in at the last minute! We will be framing with a smile on Dec 24.
 
surferbill said:
.

I'm hoping after the new administration gets in the White House, things will start to pick up.
Click to expand...

Obama has helped our economy already: We have framed dozens (really!) of Obama photos, newspaper articles, T shirts, and the like. I bought two Chicago Trib Nov 5 papers on eBay and they were sold framed for $300. each before they were even designed. One woman said, I'll take two, one for me and one for my daughter. Frame them up! I just ordered 10 more. Now I'm thinking about Inaguration framing.

Any ideas?
 
Some car workers here have been offered 8 months leave on 30% pay.

I'm as busy as ever - last Saturday - amongst other things - we sold £300's worth of ribbon! I'd say it averaged about 40p per metre - so about 750 metres!

There's very little industry in my part of the world, just lots and lots of houses!

Today a lady came in to the shop for the very first time (she didn't say that, but I would have remembered, trust me!) and she only lives 500 yards from it - commutes to work to the outskirts of London.

Three cheap sepia prints - a dart in a bullseye, a hand of cards and some gaming chips. 16x12" paper; 14x11" image - wants 'something cheap' it's an 'extra present' for a friend - who is having a garage built with a bar/games room above.

I resisted the 'how cheap do you want it to look?' question; instead showed her something cheap - to order and readymade - and then a Ferrosa Bronze with matching mat fillet. "OOOHHH! - But three of those won't be cheap, wil they?"

"Nope! But three in the same frame would be cheapER" - and that's what I sold her - 44x17" (or so)
 
I had a customer call at 4:09 this afternoon. I close on Saturdays at 4:00. She asked how late I was open today. I told her that we closed 10 minutes ago. She then asked about Sunday hours. I informed her that I am closed on Sundays. I then told her that if she was in the area I would be happy to stay late. She said that she could be over in 10 minutes. She did and dropped almost $600 to frame 2 prints. I think it was well worth the extra hour I spent.

We have to have hours, but at the same time in this economy you have to do what ever it takes to get the order. I don't know if this woman would have been in on Monday or if she would have found someone that was open or went to the craft store.
 
Kirstie, lucky you to be in Berkeley!! I framed up one copy of the Chronicle the day after the election, put it in the front window, and sold it that afternoon. The customer has it on layaway, so it was up for 3 or 4 weeks after that with a "SOLD - Order Yours Today" sign, and nobody else has come in to order one. I have 12 more copies of the Chronicle, as well as 3 copies of the NY Times, 1 of the Cincinnati Enquirer, and a couple Wall Street Journals.

I should have known better, people here didn't go for the front page when Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's home run record either, and Bonds went to high school four blocks away from here.
 
Dave- we "close at 4" on Saturdays too, but today I left at about 6:45. We were pretty busy today with both pickups and new orders (not needed for Christmas :thumbsup:), so it took me a while to regroup, get everything on the order lists etc. Then I put in some time mounting items to go in a Triathlon shadow box that IS for Christmas. Got most of the grunt work done so now I just have to mount the ribbon and medal, then assemble everything.
:cool: Rick

(Of course I had to straighten up and empty the trash before leaving. It's so much nicer to start a new week walking into a tidy shop rather than a cluttered mess.)
 
Rick, can you drive up to Columbus and clean my shop too. I may go in tomorrow just to clean up, any help would be welcome. :)
 
PaulSF said:
Kirstie, lucky you to be in Berkeley!! I framed up one copy of the Chronicle the day after the election, put it in the front window, and sold it that afternoon. The customer has it on layaway, so it was up for 3 or 4 weeks after that with a "SOLD - Order Yours Today" sign, and nobody else has come in to order one. I have 12 more copies of the Chronicle, as well as 3 copies of the NY Times, 1 of the Cincinnati Enquirer, and a couple Wall Street Journals.

I should have known better, people here didn't go for the front page when Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's home run record either, and Bonds went to high school four blocks away from here.
Click to expand...

I still have the framed Bonds newspaper cover, but Obama seems to be different. Until I take possession of the 10 newspapers I ordered, of course.
 
I feel that I've been very fortunate with business this Christmas season - I'm running a bit up from last year.

Like others, I find that most of the framing is 'personal'. I'm working on 2 hockey jersey shadow boxes (with museum glass - yeah!), 2 military shadow boxes and 2 marathon medal shadow boxes, which are all needed before Christmas. I've got 3 additional shadow box jobs as well, but these aren't needed for Christmas.
 
Dec. was OK until we decided to stop taking Holiday orders. Not that we were too busy - but the BABY is coming soon and we didn't want to take stuff we couldn't deliver. As soon as we called the month "done" we started writing business - not huge, but a bump nonetheless.

We'll reopen mid January, witht anew crew member and more framing to do, if the economy brings it...

Tony
 
I was slow this month, but Saturday and Sunday this week were huge, with a lot of
new framing orders for Christmas.

Also, I'm selling a lot of pre-framed pictures that I've had a long time, that were barking spiders.
I've put them out on the sidewalk and I'm selling them for 50% off.

PS. M's is not taking any new framing orders for Christmas in my neck of the woods.
 
surferbill said:
PS. M's is not taking any new framing orders for Christmas in my neck of the woods.
Click to expand...

They quit taking Christmas orders here a week ago. We left them a couple hunded business cards since they are a little over a mile away.
 
We have about a normal month going so far. Very few Christmas orders, mostly regular framing. I think I will probably hold off on ordering that new Bentley Arnage for only $221,900.00 I was thinking of getting myself for Christmas.

I can't believe people spend that much for a car.

John
 
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