Like poppers on a turner, so are the Days of our…wait a second….this ain’t no soap opera. Most days. 🙂
Just an update today on a few exciting things coming down the Zazzy Pipeline in the very near future. I’m working on a “poppers in fall” article that will appear here shortly. Also, we’re reworking the numbers to see if there isn’t some way we can keep the price from increasing in 2013. Originally, costs were going to force me to go to $6 ea. but I’m trying hard to find ways to keep them at $5. $6 each – are you crazy? Well, no. Here’s our pricing structure….
We spend almost 50% of the total cost on body materials and epoxy(and related stuff like toothpicks, masks, tinfoil, stir sticks, etc.) Another 30% or so goes into shipping materials and ink markers used to color the poppers. Â So that’s 30% profit, right? Well, unfortunately for us – not exactly. Ya see, I’m not including the actual labor that goes into making them. It’s a crazy move, but if I charged for the labor that goes into making each Zazzy Pop a unique piece of artwork ( even at the low prices art is going for these days) we’d have to charge you around $8 each for just the random Zazzy Pops.
You have to keep in mind that these aren’t just sprayed or dipped in paint -it takes that 10-15 minutes of painting, then a secret base coat to seal it that takes 2 hours to dry and only then can we add the epoxy, turn them for 2 more hours and then hang them to dry overnight. I found out pretty fast that making poppers is a much more labor intensive project than turning out egg flies or Elk Hair Caddis! 🙂
The goal as far as pricing was to keep them right there with the mass-produced poppers and other hobby popper makers and I think we’ve done that this year. Of course, being able to accomplish that is at the cost of any real profit, but we’re hoping that getting these poppers into as many hands as possible will help to grow our word-of-mouth referrals. That’s where you guys come in – and we thank you so much for telling your friends about us!
So anyway, I really think we are going to be able to keep them at $5.00 – or at worst $5.50 each this coming year. That’s one dollar or less than the mass produced poppers you can buy at the Big Box Stores and it’s right there in line with other popper makers in the Southeast. (Where, as you know all the best poppers are made! )
On a side note, please be aware that if buying Made in the USA is important to you – not every popper seller in the South is making their poppers here in the USA. One of the major sellers has their poppers made in China or Taiwan or some such. Here at Zazzy Pop, we’re not going to doodle around with any of that nonsense. 😉
So, let’s see….what else? How about a few photos?
The Coveted “Corner Office” view:
Poppers Drying:
The “Popper Mine” – needs something over the desk. That’s where I was going to put a piece of artwork made of old reels, but it never quite panned out. You can see Fred’s home on the right. He makes sure I stay on task unless he’s hungry and then it’s just bloodworms,bloodworms,bloodworms. –
and finally…ready for the SBC and epoxy…
ZaZZyPoP 