Another price increase... Distress Inks
 

Got this from an email from Creative Play Stamps:

Ranger has just announced a price increase for the Tim Holtz
Distress Ink, effective in February. The regular price of
the Tim Holtz Distress ink pads will be going up to $5.99, and
the Distress re-inkers will be $4.99.

On a happier note... they have the Winter Set on sale now for $9.99 while supplies last or midnight on December 12. Limit 5 per customer.
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad Set - Seasonal - Winter (Set of 3) :: Creative Play Stamps - Rubber Art Stamps

The really annoying thing is that here in the UK, the price is not a conversion of yours- $4.99 equates to around �3.15p, but we actually pay on average, �4.99p, which equals around $7.99! I know it has to be shipped over here, but I don't see how the difference is justified.

I have always hated this 99 cents thing everyone who sells anything does. Come on, $5.99 is six bucks. $4.99 is five bucks. I know, off topic. Just a pet peeve.

So starting in February a pad and a reinker will cost you ten bucks. Inevitable. Nothing is going down in price. And the increase won't stop Distress InK addicts from buying. I know because I am one of them.

Lol @ Rachelrose, I am with you on both counts. I get really annoyed over here at fuel prices being shown at 137.9p per litre! They have to actually be charging 138, because not all full litre quantities you buy would result in a round number! And now we know why he picked the name Stampers Anonymous, lol.

Distress ink pad going up $1 each makes that a 20% increase :roll:

Stamping/scraping/card-making supplies are a multimillion dollar business. If these companies are not careful they may kill the golden goose. How much are we willing or able to pay for products that are used just for a hobby ?

Supposely people will balk at paying $6.00 rather than $5.99. I always wonder how "stupid" people think buyers are.

Where do you find reinkers for the distress inks? I was at Michaels today and almost bought a three pack of distress inks, but then saw they had daubers on them, so I think you use those directly on the project and not to reink...

No, don't use the daubers on your pads, Kathy. The reinkers have an eyedropper. The daubers are nice, though. Look on YouTube for tutorials on how to use them.

The reinkers are everywhere online (which is only place I shop since the nearest LSS is 5 hours away from me). Scrapbook.com has them. Joann has them. Search on Distress Ink Reinkers and you'll get loads of hits.

Thanks! I'm glad I didn't buy them then. I don't shop online, so maybe Joanns might have them instore??

You can find the reinkers here Kathy. Simon Says STAMP Product List

Studies have shown customers are more receptive to the .99 than the next dollar. $1.99 is better than $2.00. $99.99 is better than $100. I don't think anyone thinks customers are stupid, they're just attuned to the psychology of it.

After working retail for a few years in my younger days, ending in .99 (or .97, .49, etc.) says "clearance" to me while .50 or .00 says "full price." It doesn't matter if the item's full price is .99, but it makes me think i'm paying less. Every penny counts, right? :)

I think WE are to blame for the Distress ink increase.
When the "supposedly" Limited Edition colors were offered they were $6 each and they were only available in sets of the 3 colors

We paid $17.99 for the set or $6 for each ink pad !
So now Ranger must think that we will pay $6 for all distress ink pads . That will teach us to be careful how much we pay for anything including a limited edition :roll:

Maybe.

Or maybe it's just that the costs of production went up.

Yes, I suspect production costs have gone up. Everything is going up. The materials used to make the pads have probably gone up. Transporting materials to factory and then product to distributors has no doubt gone up.

That said - I decided this was the time to do what I have known I would have to do eventually, which is get reinkers for all my pads. I had none. That's because I always was more interested in buying another color pad than getting a reinker, which seemed a pretty boring purchase. As my collection grew, I knew I was going to have to remedy my lack of reinkers at some point. So before the price went up, I ordered reinkers for ALL my pads. Ouch. But better now than when they are a dollar more apiece.

I have learned my lesson. As someone on this forum very wisely said, when you buy a pad, you buy a reinker for it. They are a set. When I started collecting the new SU pads, I made sure to buy a reinker for every one I bought. It has slowed down my rate of color acquisition, but now I won't ever have to bite the bullet and drop a wad on reinkers all at once.

Rachelrose, I agree. I found I had loads of pads with no re-inkers, so earlier in the year I started buying the re-inker with every pad I bought, plus a couple of the other colours. My only niggle now is that I can't find re-inkers for the Adirondack dye pads in the UK anywhere- and shipping is way too much to justify ordering from the USA, unless I could afford to order them in 1 or 2 big batches, but then I would get charged tax by customs too! Too many retailers in the UK only stock Distress re-inkers- you can get them anywhere, but they only seem interested in selling the pads for other ranges over here, obviously there is more in it for them.

I'm telling you, the cost of ordering every reinker I needed was gagging. But I made it into my Christmas present to myself. And I really use my Distress Inks constantly, so I need to have the reinkers.

I feel for you Shaz, and others outside the USA who have to struggle to get supplies. I don't own any other Ranger inks - other than Distress, I use SU, Colorbox Fluid Chalk, Versafine and Memento.

Sadly, you may just have to accept the solution of buying new pads when yours run dry. If they are available easily in the UK, it seems much cheaper than trying to get the reinkers when you factor everything in. Although if you regularly order or buy from one vendor or another, I would make a complaint. If they sell the pads, they should sell the reinkers.

If I am able to find a pink and orange color i'll buy them now. Otherwise I'll pass. I can't afford this hobby now. I'm a paper addict and must keep getting my fix--lol!

I must confess that when I bought all my reinkers, I also bought four new colors. I could not help it. I had to have them.

But I got the reinkers for them!

Yes, Distress Ink is an addiction. I freely admit it.