“Priceless” Isn’t Always a Good Thing
Other than inventory, shelving, a POS machine and a cash register, I can’t think of a piece of equipment more vital than pricing guns; especially in the Canadian Christian publishing market where we need to convert prices from U.S. to Canadian on the majority of our titles; not to mention music, giftware, jewelry, Bible cases and DVDs.
We’ve written before about the Contact line of price guns, but the contact information (no pun intended) has changed. The company has a new name, Shiny Canada, and our good friend Robert — who is also my favorite worship team guitarist — can direct you to one of his nearby distributors for faster service.
I’ve known people — and had employees — who got confused between cost prices and retail prices; but here in Canada the complexity doubles because we basically work in two different currencies. Probably well over 95% of everything we sell originates in the United States, and while some publishers are establishing Canadian retail prices, re-pricing product is a fact of daily retail life north of the 49th, and the clicking of price guns is like background music in our main store.
We actually keep four price guns loaded at all times, and by comparison, our store is very small:
- a two-line, white label gun for regular price product, date codes and additional special codes when needed
- a two-line, red label gun with original list price on top, sale price on the bottom and room for a date code in the upper right
- a one-line, white label gun for small items where the large price tag would be too intrusive on the product and date codes don’t matter
- a one-line, white label gun with no pricing, just a constantly increasing number that is applied to giftware pieces and the boxes that match up to them
For more than two decades, we’ve always used the Contact line of price guns. If you don’t have one (or four!) Robert Steen at Shiny Canada can set you up with the distributor closest to you. I believe a two-line starter kit is a must-have for even the very smallest store. If you’re using hand-written stickers or your price gun has reached the point where you can’t tell a ‘3’ from an ‘8’ or a ‘2’ from a ‘7,’ then make today the day to upgrade.
Nothing is worse than the customer having to ask for the price, because each one represents several who didn’t ask. Make sure your price points are well labeled on all your product.
121 McMaster Avenue
Ajax, ON Canada L1S 2E6
PH: 866-801-3565 or 905-686-4004
FAX: 800-313-8661 or 905-426-2235
email: roberts@shinycanada.com
