In what it seems is now a three part series I am diving in again to talk further about the quilt shop world that few talk about in the open. In Part One I talked about diving in and in Part Two I spoke about how you can make a difference to your local quilt shop
In part three I am hoping to tackle the the oh-so-false idea that quilt shop owners are rolling around in beds of money and laughing all the way to the bank at the expense of poor helpless customers who contend that they are being “gouged” when it comes to the prices that brick and mortar stores are charging them for goods and events.
Again this is not meant to be a definitive piece on the subject. I consider it yet another volley in helping the public understand small business better. Again, again I am not unbiased in this situation and yet I do my best to be transparent about a topic that many keep under wraps for fear of embarrassment or condemnation. (Read this as a lot of people might be pissed about me talking so freely about this topic – the comments section will tell the tale)
In our case it has filtered down to me that our next event was the topic of conversation at a local guild meeting and we were unfavorably accused of gouging customers with the price of our next event featuring a national quilt teacher ( who by the way is FREAKING AMAZING and worth every penny) I can’t say that this did not hurt since we spend a serious amount of time and money at SPOOL providing FREE weekly classes as well as a metric shit ton (yep – I said it) of money supporting local events, charities and even individual quilters in need every freaking month.
So to have someone(s) wax on about how we must think we are “pretty special” to charge such a sum only shows that while quilters say that they want access to big name teachers they have no idea what it costs to bring them in… so I thought I would take some time to lay it out for those who just don’t get it.
A-List Mythical Quilt Teacher Event ( costs based on the averaging of price sheets from 4 national teachers and regional costs for Chattanooga TN)
Teaching charge $500-$1000 a day – Yes, this is typical and customary. This person has put years into perfecting their craft as well as a great deal of time preparing for teaching whatever 1-2 day long event you might be considering.
Hotel room for teacher – $150-$200 day depending on region – And no, they should not have to sleep with Tom Bodett at Motel 6 nor should that have to sleep on a pull-out sofa or on a spare bed in someone’s basement. These teachers are professionals are should be treated as such, that means a nice safe hotel with business class amenities.
Meals for teacher $80 to $100 a day – No sack lunches, fast food or sub par eating is acceptable. Hotel food and eating out are expensive, again this is a business person not a college student on a skip-year backpacking through Europe.
Travel charges $350 – $600 for a plane ticket. – NO, they don’t’ have to use up their frequent flyer miles to come teach you… why should they?
Event Space Rental $300 – $700 per day– if you are going to have an event large enough to cover your costs you are going to need to rent an event space
Table and Chair Rental $150 to cover use by 20 people.
Food, snacks, bottled water $200 for students and teacher and class aids
Employee time $10-$12 per hour – for 2, 8 hour days. No teacher can help 20 + students at one time so extra help needs to be brought on for people who are having trouble with machines, missing parts and all the other things that go wrong during the class hours as well as helping set up and break down the event.
And while these are not ALL of the expenses let’s do a little math shall we?? Let’s do a weekend event so – two days. It is very easy to see that just the basic costs involved can come to over $5,000 to put on just a 2 day event.
So now, let’s look a little further…. let’s take that $5,000 ( sounds like a lot right?) and divide it by the 20 students…. wait… what is that you say?… that comes out to be just $250 a person?… $250 a person at COST?
Why yes, to bring in that A-list teacher it is going to cost your local quilt store owner at the very least $250 per student and if you have any business acumen at all you will notice that means NO PROFIT for the quilt store. Hours of work, amazing amount of planning and not one cent of profit.
busi·ness
ˈbiznəs/
noun
The practice of making one’s living by engaging in commerce to make a profit.
But what did the student get in exchange for $250? They got to sleep in their own comfy bed, make a simple and stressless commute to their local quilt store or event site. Use their own machine, be fed lunch, snacks and be taught by a national A-list caliber teacher for 12 hours for $250.
People, that is $20 an hour for the experience of a lifetime practically in your own backyard.
So next time you see or hear someone grumble that their quilt store is gouging them, help them do the math first and help them understand that to run a business you MUST make a profit or you might as well take all the pretty fabric and throw a match to it, the effect is the same either way.
