Price increases for 2022
Dear Blenko fans, followers, collectors, and enthusiasts -
Thank you for your support! Demand for Blenko glass has been, and continues to be strong!
We want to provide everyone with another business update on Blenko and our continuing operations. We strive to be transparent and present the reality of our business as-is.
Today’s message is one of simple supply and demand.
The current economic environment has been challenging to say the least. We shared the supply issues we had with corrugated boxes in 2020 and spray foam in 2021. Now we are dealing with massive spikes in our natural gas pricing due to the situation in Europe and we anticipate the effects of US inflation will continue to affect our vendor pricing until 2024.
We have seen significant increases in almost every single chemical used in our glass formulations. Some even up to +50%! This is not to mention the increases we have seen with other miscellaneous items. Everything from gloves and janitorial supplies to raw metal for our blowpipes has increased in price.
To complicate things further, the immense amount of support we have received for our glass has made it almost impossible to keep stock on the shelves. We are rapidly hiring and training new glassworkers but those skillsets take time to develop. A good problem to have - but a problem nonetheless.
We have again stopped accepting wholesale orders until after the first of 2023 in order to better serve our retail customers and reduce fulfillment and shipping times as Christmas approaches.
All that being said, we have had to make the difficult decision to increase our prices. We have historically been increasing prices incrementally on certain products to avoid shock to our customers but this new increase is across all items and will be the final price increase for some time.
All new prices have been implemented and were made live effective immediately.
We believe this to be fair, and in light of the current supply chain increases, we are confident you will agree. We want to be around for another 100 years, thus must adapt and react quickly to these changing market conditions.
Notes:
- We reserve the right to limit quantities should there be an abnormal spike in order pattern.
- We reserve the right to make immediate price changes should we find errors in our calculations. Changes would take effect for new orders from the ‘fix date’ onwards but will not affect existing orders.
- Prices will be automatically updated on our website.
Again, we are rapidly hiring and training new glassworkers! We have hired an experienced trainer to work with our new hires and their skillset improves each week. We very much want to get back to complex and large pieces but this takes time.
In addition, we are working with the Department of Labor and the WV Economic Development office to start a federally approved and regulated Apprenticeship program for glassworkers right here at Blenko! We have developed a 10,000 hour training program in which our students can progress through in order to become a federally recognized Glassworker. Those who complete this program will also receive college credit!
You can continue to rely on us – we feel strongly that our responsibility is to be a stable manufacturer and supplier of contemporary American made glassware.
Thank you once more and kind regards – stay safe!
The Blenko Glass Company Management:
Dean Six - VP
David Wertz - Operations Director
Bryson Cutler - Operations Director
