Turn 'Em? or Burn 'Em?

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Framing Goddess

Framing Goddess

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Jul 18, 2000
Posts
4,319
Loc
Cleveland, Ohio
The Goddess has been in a rare "housecleaning" mood lately which has fortunately overflowed into "shop-cleaning" mode!

What to do with those "dogs?"

No, this is not a morphed HH query!

The Goddess is just wondering about those very dusty lengths of moulding in her shop. And it is not all sawdust either! Some of those sticks pre-date our 1999 move.
There is anywhere from 50 to 100 feet of various profiles that The Goddess swore would be hotter than pet rocks. Alas, they have languished in obscurity and are taking up valuable space.

Has anyone any ideas on an exciting promotion for these snoozers? My fav rep asked, "Don't you have a 'cheap board?'" Not yet.
Cut 'em up into readymades?
Donate 'em?
Whaddaya'll think?
Bob C.?
Betty?

xo,
Edie the FG, grateful for your ideas
 
Frame up something for your wall using one of them which absolutely knocks your socks off and "makes" the piece...

frame stuff for your charitable things like charity auctions, public tv, habitat for humanity, children's hospital....

shrug.gif
depends on your situation a whole lot
 
Hi Edie-Since you asked-here's what we do. BTW, we call 'em Barking Spiders. Anything that old needs to turned-turned into a sale, a donation-something. The crud builds layer upon layer of unproductive inventory.

So, if we just can't sell it (at any price) we donate it. We have a couple of favorite charities, one exceeded $30,000 of donation of framed art. One now is an orphanage-they all need wall hangings and have no budget. At least we get a tax deduction and feel good. We always have a pile of matboard and frames and art that just didn't sell. The art goes into a close out bin at greatly reduced prices, and if then it doesn't sell, it becomes a donation. You get a tax deduction and it's outta here.

But here's what happens if you do nothing. Take an item that cost a dollar a foot, your normal mark-up is 4x. You expected to get $3 gross profit per foot ($4 selling-$1cost=$3 GP) and you turn your inventory 4 times. You should have yielded $12 GP per foot per year. It sits there for 2 yrs or more yielding nothing, zero, nada, zilch. Had you turned that item for even your cost, and turned that new dollar into turnable inventory, you start again. Remember Gross Profit dollars are the dollars that pay your expenses, your bills. If your turns are higher or your margins higher the amount goes up further. How do you think Wal-Mart does it? Turn, Turns, Turn.

Make your first mark down your biggest (10-20% won't cut it) go 50% or more . In the above example you get your cost out, plus a dollar of GP and now you can re-invest two dollars for new turnable, productive inventory.

Makes sense?
 
Framing Goddess
I went through this a while back. Income tax time when I found out just how much molding I had on hand and how much was not from this millennium. I sorted through with the same ideas you are having. Then I took a serious look at this stuff I couldn't sell for how many years and bundled it into 10-12 inch diameters, used a friend's chain saw and cut it small enough so the garbage man would take it. Reduced my inventory by over 500 feet and never had a call for any of it. I couldn't see putting in the time making ready made or offering it to a fundraiser when I knew the stuff was no good and wouldn't want it handing on my wall. tdavis
 
I seem to have simalar trobel tossing those moulding shorts. In the past we have made some into ready mades and hung them on the wall. This tended to look a bit shaby, the frames became damged from handling and didn't sell that well.

New idea (unproven) Take those same frames add glass, mat, backing and our own custom liner insert, then shrink-wrap the whole thing. Now we have a finished branded product.

Neilsen now has slatwall holders for "Wall Frames" that are clean and attractive.

My gut tells me that these will sell better than just a empty frame hanging on a hook on the wall.

Plus this adds to the sence of branding for the whole store.
 
Edie,

When I moved nearly two years ago, I could've sworn I used chop almost exclusively. But it wasn't always that way. Noooo. Many trucks had come bearing long, skinny boxes of "bread and butter" mouldings. Well, you know what happens to bread and butter after it sits around for 15-20 years. You don't? It turns ugly.

So my son and I moved about 10,000 feet of moulding - some of it in 50 or 100 ft bundles and quite of bit of it in 6-10 foot sticks. We piled it on 2x4's on the basement floor and, in my spare time, I picked out 40 that looked like they could be used to frame something other than black velvet Elvis paintings.

I have a display panel tucked away behind my counter where almost nobody would notice it. When, for one reason or another, I need a custom frame that's cheaper than ready-made, this is my go-to panel. I haven't marked them down, 'cause they're still at 1980 prices. I charge the regular price for mats, glass, mounting and fitting and still look like a hero.

When one of the 40 is depleted, I dig some more and come up with another. It's a slow way to get rid of 10,000 feet, but it fills the occasional need for something cheap or fast.

(I have a very large basement.)
 
This thread has convinced me to be very wary of those "bread and butter" frames. When you think about it how much are you really saving buying length when you have to buy extra. I plan on making those cool little boxes out of my leftover moulding. But at some time you just have to give it away. When I first came to this store there was tons of scrap moulding, it was very easy to give away. I've already formed personal attachment to my little scrap pile. I like the idea of making your own "brand" of photo frames also.

Kathy
Out on a Whim Custom Framing
 
The art department budget at the local high schools is $7 per student per semester. They are delighted to have anything I'm willing to contribute and I'm delighted not to have to deal with a huge bin of mat scraps.

Kit
 
The local schools are a great place to donate mat scraps. The local churches who host vacation bible schools are also excited to get the stuff...Also, old frames not wanted by customers after they see their gorgeous new ones go to my friend the jr. high art teacher who paints them wild colors and displays kid art in the school hallways. This creates lots of goodwill in the community, and you'd be surprised how much Jr. Rembrandt art we frame!
We always sell our "brand" readymades before we sell the regular kind, and the photoframes are go well too.

Leslie
 
Horrors, To throw out something useful!!!
We donate moulding to the local VA hospital. The guys there work in the woodshop and its no competition to any store. They even pick it up. The mat scraps go to various schools. The scrap plexi goes to a retired gentleman who makes birdhouses. Now if there were a way to use all of those glass scraps!!! Maybe I should figure this out now that I am retired. But there have been too many other things to do. Still miss having the store but its great not to be putting out all those fires all the time.
Accent
 
I have to go with the frame-a-unsellable-hung-around-long-enough piece of artwork in a knock-your-socks-off way. With battered moulding, I used to use the same method, but used antique, wavy glass (available at fins demolition sites everywhere) to give it that "valuable anique" look. I never tried to pass it off as the real thing, but I won't swear the same by my clientelle!
 
In my area there's a non-profit business called the scrap exchange. Two years ago I donated lengths of moulding and bunches of matboard, which they picked up. They have a store where customers can buy almost anything to make a craft project; and volunteers go to all the festivals and teach children how to be creative with recycled goods. I donate prints to the local mission thrift store, and occasionally get a customer who purchased a print there. But could I sell them in my store? Noooooooo.
 
Originally posted by Framing Goddess:
Alas, they have languished in obscurity and are taking up valuable space.
Click to expand...
e, You remember the movie, 'Slingblade'?

"I like the way you talk"

We don't buy in length, but we donate our mat scraps to the local HS. And, I DO like the way you talk!! Take it from someone who has languished in obscurity for 52 years, so far.
 
Once again, gotta agree with Dr. Bob.

BUT--while we mark down to get 'em out, don't fall into the trap of showing nothing but these dogs. While we want them out of inventory, there's still all the beautiful stuff carrying full price.

The trick is to balance the markdowns and moving them with the high end stuff that really turns the profit.

And we never put up signage showing the discounted stuff. Just isolate them in a row or two and, if it fits the piece or the pocketbook, we sell it that way.

If you put up signage showing a discount EVERYONE will want them and there goes the bottom line and the sales on the profitable items
 
Has anyone thought about posting on grumble for sale. The excess or moulding you would like to turn. List manufacture, quanity, condition, random lenghts or all 8'-9'-10' etc., description, and how much you want fro all or by the foot. We may find someone has been wanting more of what you want to get rid of.
Just a thought one person's pet may be another person's slave.
Jim
OHIO
 
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