This has nothing to do with Freemasonry. It DOES have to do with what I don't do anymore, and why.
John Scofield is a gentleman I've known for 25 years. He worked for my old boss Dean Crow before I was hired in 1984, and struck out on his own. He is one of the finest film/video editors you'll find anywhere. You've seen his work on the air.
Indianapolis was a curious town for the production business, and up until about five years ago, it had more than its share of tremendously talented directors, editors, lighting, grip and production design people, along with equally talented and award winning advertising agencies. Unfortunately, the trend towards consolidation of what were once drug store chains, electronics retailers, grocery stores, phone companies and other utility providers, banks, and many other industries resulted in business disappearing for our advertising community. Hundreds of these folks lost the jobs they'd worked for much of their adult lives, not because their work wasn't outstanding, but because the clients just merged away.
But something else happened, too. And John Scofield has made a little film about that something else. Watch it here.
:bangs head on desk:
ReplyDeleteAauurrgghh!
In the small manufacturing world, I get this all.the.frickin'.time!
"I don't want to pay for all those tooling costs for such a short run. How about if you eat them now, and we'll make it up when we place a bigger order later this year?"
"I know last time I ordered a thousand widget, but I really only need 20 or 30. Why can't you let me have them at the 1,000 piece price?"
"Okay, here's what I want. I want you to make a thousand of these things. Thing is, I don't need them all at once, so you'll have to ship them to me whenever I release them. How often? Oh, that will depend on the market. Tell you what - I promise to take the entire order over, say, two years."
"I want to place an order with you, but I need you to make some samples, first. Yes, I know it's really expensive for material and outside services, but I really don't want to pay for that. Oh, and you'll need to keep the machine waiting in case we change the design."
:bangs head on desk again:
Ah, but I would argue that it could be applied to Freemasonry as well.
ReplyDeleteWish I could give it a Thumbs up like on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteSteinarr Kr.
You can thank Wal-Mart (and their ilk) for this phenomenon. In my past work life this was a constant problem in that the profit and loss line could never cover the costs unless you ordered 100,000 units from China and guarantee an 80%+ sell through, otherwise, you gotta cover the margins in the buy back.
ReplyDeleteBut, we can be happy paying $9.99 for a T-shirt at the big box store.
Great film.
This is brilliant ! I deal with this daily. When you go the the grocery store, do you try to negotiate the price of say, a can of beans? NO.
ReplyDeleteScott Stetzer