"Karl Townsend" wrote in message
...
I'm curious, how do you think a small business should do it?

My costs are up SHARPLY. I feel if I just raise prices 25% my customers
will bolt. I'm thinking of ways to disguise part of the increase and not
chase everybody away. In my case, I used to give oversize packaging; buy a
10# peck, you get 12# of apples. I also used to be very fussy on grading
out ANY defect.

My plan, at this point, is to reduce the package size, let minor defects
go, and only raise prices slightly, just under 10%.

Every other small business is in the same boat. For my 2 cents, I think
we're looking at serious inflation after the fall elections. Ag products
just seem to be getting hit first. (been to the grocery lately?)

Karl



Karl - let me answer this as a buyer - some folks care about price only,
some care about quality. If I go to a place for cheap stuff, I go for
price, but if I go to a place expecting quality (and I'm willing to pay for
it) and I find less quality, I just won't be back. If I've been a customer
for decades I might go back once, 6 months later, and if things are back to
normal tell the owner/manager why I was absent, if not back to normal, I
won't go back for at least 10 years, maybe never.

so, what does that mean to you - I'd be very cautious about giving up on
quality - you might offer "seconds" at a lower price and see how that goes,
but your reputation will be hard to restore if you let your quality control
slide - just look at what happened to the American auto industry




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