Add flowers to the list of things people waste money on that are pointless when it comes to relationships.
__________________
But living an honest life - for that you need the truth. That's the other thing I learned that day, that the truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, leads to liberation and dignity. -Ricky Gervais
I grew up with a friend that his family owned a chain of higher end jewellery stores for years and he told me to never buy any jewellery unless it is at least 50% off. Anything more than that and you are crazy. Margins are nuts in there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgary14
It's the margins. The profit margins on jewellery in general are massive
Anything you buy in a retail mall is going to have huge margins. You think scotch and soda t-shirts are worth $150? Clothes are likely way more marked up than jewelry. If you can do 50% on luxury items you're quite the genius in my opinion.
Anything you buy in a retail mall is going to have huge margins. You think scotch and soda t-shirts are worth $150? Clothes are likely way more marked up than jewelry. If you can do 50% on luxury items you're quite the genius in my opinion.
I have no idea what a soda shirt is, but I can guarantee you only a dope would ever pay $150 for a shirt. T-shirts are $20 or up to $30 in a pinch. They end up working out to a few cents a wear over the many years they last. That's good value.
Jewellery is much different. It's not a justifiable luxury item in the way upgrading to a Mercedes from a Malibu is. There is a different experience in a Mercedes that you can enjoy daily over a lesser brand. When there is no distinguishable difference whatsoever between a cubic zirconia and a diamond except for falling for a cheesy marketing pitch, it demonstrates really poor judgment to pay thousands more for a diamond for no additional benefit.
Same with a gold chain or bracelet or whatever. I think owning one or two is fine btw. But have you seen the guys that wear multiple chains, bracelets and earnings? Super tacky. And not enough people have that kind of gawdy taste that would justify all the jewellery stores in Calgary (to bring it back to my original point).
Location: In my office, at the Ministry of Awesome!
Exp:
Jeeze Sliver, I honestly worry for you sometimes.
You get mad about the strangest things, and you actually go around thinking less of people because they've made different choices than you, or think different things have different values?
You really need to lighten up. Maybe if you stopped caring about other people so much you wouldn't be so upset all the time.
Go hug a dog man, you'll feel better, I promise.
__________________
THE SHANTZ WILL RISE AGAIN. <-----Check the Badge bitches. You want some Awesome, you come to me!
Last edited by Bring_Back_Shantz; 01-09-2018 at 07:58 AM.
The Following 9 Users Say Thank You to Bring_Back_Shantz For This Useful Post:
My wife goes to jewelry stores to tell me what she wants for an upgrade on her ring. i go to jewelry stores to tell her the equivalent value in watches i want.
We both come out empty handed and annoyed. lol
That being said, happy wife, happy life. Eventually I know I'll have to pony up for an anniversary present.
On our way back from Christmas vacation a husband and wife were at the Air Canada counter changing his ticket to a later flight because she forgot her jewelry at the hotel. She was leaving him there to deal with it.
I think that's as close as I've come to witnessing a live divorce before.
*Cool jewelry story bro*
The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to KTrain For This Useful Post:
personally I can get having a nice watches, or several nice watches and I also like necklaces - but not a ring guy.
as mentioned earlier in this thread, it would appear that younger generations don't value jewellery as much as older generations.
on some levels I can get the allure of a premium brand (hence the $150 shirt); however, at the end of the day I would rather have 4 to six more reasonably priced shirts than one expensive shirt. but then again some people will buy a $600 dollar bike; while my bike is considerably more and to have this bike, I forego other things in my life.
__________________
If I do not come back avenge my death
On our way back from Christmas vacation a husband and wife were at the Air Canada counter changing his ticket to a later flight because she forgot her jewelry at the hotel. She was leaving him there to deal with it.
I think that's as close as I've come to witnessing a live divorce before.
*Cool jewelry story bro*
That is exactly the type of person that would have a penchant for jewellery.
You get mad about the strangest things, and you actually go around thinking less of people because they've made different choices than you, or think different things have different values?
You really need to lighten up. Maybe if you stopped caring about other people so much you wouldn't be so upset all the time.
Go hug a dog man, you'll feel better, I promise.
I'm not actually mad. My posts make me sound angry, but it's kind of like resting bitch face. I have resting a-hole diction or something. Not an angry guy.
I come from a family full of jewellers, although I'm not in the industry myself.
Average margin on Jewellery at a retail location like a mall is 300%. Most jewellery stores take in 70% of their revenue in November and December and another 10% on Valentines. Like a lot of retail stores, the industry is under siege from online stores that can live off razor-thin margins. The result is a lot of stores being forced to the super high-end market or to custom made stuff only. It's not going well, however, as we have seen several big chain stores going under lately.
The Following 12 Users Say Thank You to psicodude For This Useful Post:
Jewellery is much different. It's not a justifiable luxury item in the way upgrading to a Mercedes from a Malibu is. There is a different experience in a Mercedes that you can enjoy daily over a lesser brand. When there is no distinguishable difference whatsoever between a cubic zirconia and a diamond except for falling for a cheesy marketing pitch, it demonstrates really poor judgment to pay thousands more for a diamond for no additional benefit.
Different strokes I guess. The relative value of an expensive car versus expensive jewelry is wildly skewed towards jewelry. Except in only a few cases, a car's value, no matter how well made, will go to zero relatively quickly. Jewelry typically includes gold which some consider the most reliable source of value and wealth in the world. Even diamonds have a market value that trumps what you consider their actual value. You pay too much for both when you buy retail so if you want to simply retain the value of your currency you should buy jewelry. If you got both a car and a diamond ring for wholesale, you'd be well ahead with the diamond ring after a decade of use.
I get it. Value to you is what can be used or experienced. Education. Transportation. Food. Vacations. People who get that without much consequence or who have little use for those things look for symbolic value and meaning in life.
I also get the same feeling about certain things people ascribe value to. I don't get flowers. I can't imagine paying 18k for an Hermes hand bag. But it's usually just a lack of appreciation on my part. Doesn't mean the symbolism of flowers is not important or real, or the value of an 18k hand bag isn't justified.
The Following User Says Thank You to OMG!WTF! For This Useful Post:
How reliable are the online jewelers? I'm always a little sketched out buying stuff online that can be faked relatively easily. Is this common for people to do?
I'd love to find somewhere I can buy Tiffany jewelry for cheap. My wife loves that stuff, and I can't bring myself to spend $1000 on a basic bracelet. It's a total rip off IMO.
Jewellery has great sentimental value to some of my clients (beyond the monetary value). Many pieces are important family heirlooms, handed down from generation to generation.
You get mad about the strangest things, and you actually go around thinking less of people because they've made different choices than you, or think different things have different values?
You really need to lighten up. Maybe if you stopped caring about other people so much you wouldn't be so upset all the time.
Go hug a dog man, you'll feel better, I promise.
I like Sliver...and his threads. I think he is a down to earth nice guy who has his feet on the ground and is not obsessed with keeping up with the Joneses.
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to redforever For This Useful Post:
Jewellery has great sentimental value to some of my clients (beyond the monetary value). Many pieces are important family heirlooms, handed down from generation to generation.
This is especially important as its hard to quantify.
A really good friend of ours recently passed away and she had her favourite ring taken apart and made into two rings for her great-grandchildren.
I've seen all kinds of crazy stuff, I imagine troutman has as well, a Father wears his wedding ring for 60 years and passes away, that ring is worth more than just its metal-weight.
A mother wears her rings for the sum-total of the entire time you've been alive, what are those rings worth?
Its hard to say and it depends on the person.
__________________ The Beatings Shall Continue Until Morale Improves!
This Post Has Been Distilled for the Eradication of Seemingly Incurable Sadness.
The World Ends when you're dead. Until then, you've got more punishment in store. - Flames Fans
If you thought this season would have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Locke For This Useful Post:
How reliable are the online jewelers? I'm always a little sketched out buying stuff online that can be faked relatively easily. Is this common for people to do?
I'd love to find somewhere I can buy Tiffany jewelry for cheap. My wife loves that stuff, and I can't bring myself to spend $1000 on a basic bracelet. It's a total rip off IMO.
I'm not sure about online retailers. I know ebay, amazon etc get some fakes. The reviews don't seem to reflect that either.
I've had lots of luck with auctions. You can check out anything you want at invaluable.com or liveauctioneer.com. Auction houses are more likely to sell authentic items but absolutely there are more reputable houses than others. High end auctions are basically assured to be representing authentic items. The lower end guys should be avoided. It can be hard to figure out what's what but history in business has a lot to do with it. You don't stay around too long selling fakes as a habit.
<-----Check the Badge bitches. You want some Awesome, you come to me!
