Furniture Upholstery Supplies - Cost?

[baileyuph]

Just a quick Question:

Regarding furniture supplies  ---  Are your prices going up?

I sense that mine have gone up a buck or two per yard.

Is this a trend?  This is in regards mostly to medium and higher cloth. 

Doyle

[sofadoc]

Fabrics go up every time I get a new set of sample books.

In a Blue Collar town like mine, it's a tough sell to get customers to pay retail in the 40's. Now, most of the MSRP's are in the high 40's and beyond (WAY beyond).

[kodydog]

Last year be broke from our supply ordering model. That was to try to buy most of our supplies from one place. Yes their prices kept going up. Especially foam and Dacron. Our two most used and most ordered supplies. The supplier included free shipping which was a nice perk.

Every time we placed an order the prices were higher. And not just $1 or $2 like you mention. But on some products it was more like $10 to $15. On top of that he wouldn't deliver right to my shop. The "free shipping" meant I had to drive 5 miles to meet him at a Lowes parking lot. 5 miles isn't a big deal but it is a disruption in a busy work day.

So Rose got on the phone and called other suppliers. She found a foam and Dacron guy who was cheaper and would deliver right to our shop. She also found other suppliers for other products who (even with shipping) were cheaper and shipped right to our doorstep.

We still use the original supplier but not near as much as we use to. That leaves more money in our pockets.

[MinUph]

Everything goes all the time that is the way it is. My guy, Rick, next door has a small book of most of what he sells and the pricing hasnt changed in at least 7 years. When it does I'll probably have a heart attach.LOL. But everything else goes up all the time.

[SteveA]

The older you get the more you can date back to a time when a product was a fraction of the cost.  Something that was $ 8.00 is now $ 62.00.  Finishes have more regulations increasing costs and I'm sure producing foam and fabrics are not exempt.  This week I scanned all the papers from the purchase of my home in 1980. 
Lawyers fee $ 200.00.  Title search $ 85.00 and the price of the house was -  the price of a nice car today - I'm sure if I live long enough SS won't keep up with the cost of living
SA

[sofadoc]

I've been saving my foam price lists from my favorite supplier.

A sheet of foam that I paid $126 for in Jan '17 is now $162.
It has always driven me crazy that other petroleum based products have their up and down cycles. But once foam goes up, it stays up. Yet the big box furniture stores seem to be immune from these increases (or they just keep downgrading the quality of foam they use).

[kodydog]

Every year I ask myself how much cheaper can they make it? Every year they find a way.

[gene]

Foam is going up and up.

[65Buick]

I wondered about this too. Probably because of regulations in the production of petro chemicals?
Then if you're a 'little guy' going in, you just match their price, because people will pay it anyway.

[Mojo]

Actually our fabric prices have gone down a little. The main reason why is our fabric buys have gone up with our growth in sales. Our two suppliers have held their costs for years now and some have dropped due to us increasing roll purchases.

We were buying full rolls at one time but when sales increased we have had to buy two rolls of the same color at a time. At one time we were second in Florida for the most yardage purchased through two of our suppliers. I have no idea where we are now on that list.

I do not know if they have increased prices on other companies but they haven't on us. Our thread costs which is always in the thousands annually has stayed steady as well. I am seeing the same thing with our RV parts company as well. I spend time checking prices from our wholesalers on RV parts and there always seems to be a discrepancy in pricing so I buy where the deals are. Overall, the parts prices have remained the same and some have gone down.

I just got floored the other day when my stainless steel supplier notified me that stainless is going up 33 % on my next order. ( We use all American made stainless BTW ). Since the steel tariff was announced the wall street speculators drove the cost of steel through the roof. I have a buddy who works on wall street and I contacted him. He did some research for me and said to wait 3 months on replenishing our inventory as the prices are due to come back down once the speculators are done playing their games. There is no steel shortage and the tariff's haven't even hit yet. It is just the Wall Street jerks playing silly games with the market.

Overall, our consultants have told us that fibers and textile manufacturers have seen no real increase in manufacturing costs so I am left to believe that any price increases you are seeing is at the wholesale/supplier level. My advice.....shop around and then make some threats to your sales person. If you are still not satisfied then kick it up a notch to the manager or director. We deal with the sales people but have close relationships and direct communication with the CEO's of our suppliers. Our salesmen know I will pick up the phone and bitch if he pulls any bullshit. The CEO's work with us on the pricing which eliminates the sales people and the games they can play with prices. Funny as it may seem, the CEO's of our supply companies are also our outside consultants. One consults on fabric and the other is our business and fabric consultant. We also have a thread consultant as well.

There is absolutely no way I will make moves in our market without consulting with these guys first. I have a strong business background with heavy experience in marketing but I also know making a move without running it by someone outside the company is dumb. People outside your little world see things you don't and these guys have brilliant business backgrounds and see the big picture. I bet you guys all thought it was me that came up with great ideas......LOL...:)

Mojo