pricing foam

[bobbin]

DBR, I hunted up an old textbook (30+ yrs.) and, bingo! your explanation is exactly right. 

Markup is on the retail price, not the wholesale.  That is what allows you to plan your markDOWNS over the coarse of the season and still arrive at your "maintained" markup. 

It's been a very long time... but the lessons stuck.  Esp. this one:

"Anyone can make a profit, it takes a merchant to hold on to it".

[kodydog]

If I sell this customer 1/2 sheet for 1/2 my cost, $25 plus my markup, then I get more sales but I have 1/2 sheet of foam in my shop that I paid for. If I do not sell this 1/2 sheet at some point down the road I lost money on the above sale.
gene

I don't have problems selling leftover foam unless it something unusual like extra firm  or 7" thick. I stock 1", 2", 3" and 4" in soft and medium. Anything else is special order and the customer pays for it.

I do give church jobs a break because they are ordering so much. And in that case I order cut to size. My local supplier doesn't charge a whole lot more for cut to size and it saves me a ton of work.

[bobbin]

It just occured to me that you "furniture guys" don't glue foam  on a regular basis, do you? 

I have always worked in an environment where gluing foam to get a desired shape was part and parcel of the job.  Maybe it's a "marine" thing, but oftentimes there is no way you'll be able to cut a  V berth or a large quarter berth from one pc. of foam.  You have to glue to get the shape.  When you factor in the bevel required for the cushion to lie up snug against the hull you're talking serious "waste" (= cost to customer) if you don't glue!

OK, so this means that when I look at pc. of foam from the factory I automatically think in terms of how to cut it up and reorganize the pcs. to minimize waste... when you deal with rectangles, squares, and oblongs you aren't automatically required to think in terms of geometry...   Like... um... duh, Bobbin!

[kodydog]

I glue foam. I often glue the ears on a T cushion, saves a lot of waste. And if its a piece with a tight seat I'll glue 2 or 3 pcs together. Put a layer of Dacron on top and good as a solid piece.

I seldom glue two pieces of foam for a zippered cushion for fear, in the unlikely event, that the customer may see it and complain.

[sofadoc]

I also glue foam. Unlike Kody though, I have NO fear that they may peek inside a zippered cushion, and see the glue seam.  Let 'em peek if they want to. I've never had a complaint. And I've never got one back that came apart (I keep the seams either on the "T", or close to an edge, never right down the middle). 
Many factory sofas have glued cushions (and many factory glued seams come apart).

Replacing foam in customer's cushions is a huge part of my business. There are so many cheap sofas in the stores now with sub-standard foam. When I replace their foam cores, they are always extremely happy.
Some might say that I'm beating myself out of a recover job by helping the customer get a few more years out of their old sofa. But I'd rather make $100-$200 for an hour of cutting and stuffing cushions than doing a full recover job anyway.

I offer same day service on foam core replacement. Fridays are great. Most people get paid on Friday, so they bring their cushions in Friday morning for new cores, and pick them up later in the day so they don't have to go the weekend without them. Monetarily speaking, a few foam core jobs on Friday is a great way to top off the week.

[DBR1957]

bobbin wrote, "I have always worked in an environment where gluing foam to get a desired shape was part and parcel of the job.  Maybe it's a "marine" thing, but oftentimes there is no way you'll be able to cut a  V berth or a large quarter berth from one pc. of foam.  You have to glue to get the shape."

Who do you get your foam from? I can get a sheet 72" x 90". The place I get it from actually receives large "buns"
that are 72" wide x 90" long (not sure about the height). Everything will be 90" long but I can order varying widths from
24" to 72" in 6" to 12" increments. Thickness in 1" increments. They cut their own. When they ship UPS they vacuum pack
the foam to help keep the size down.

Foam-to-Size, Richmond, VA. (800) 548-5508. Sandy is a great guy.

[bobbin]

I buy my foam from a supplier that's pretty local to me.  I can pick it up myself and collect it flat, which makes cutting it accurately a lot easier.  I've found that vacuum packed foam must generally be steamed out to flatten it out enough to get a nice, clean cut.  

Thanks for the suggestion(forgot to add that to the above), I will store it because it may prove to be useful.  More information and links from happy customers can only be a good thing!