saxplayer
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since March 2018
Posts: 1,327
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Post by saxplayer on May 12, 2019 16:19:59 GMT -5
Congrats to A.J. it looks like he did very well! You (and he) should be proud of his hard work and success. It will take him far in life. Kudos to you as his father (and his mother too I assume)!!
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Post by vegasjames on May 12, 2019 16:27:00 GMT -5
Great display. The tic tack toe bags were a great idea.
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Post by Rockindad on May 12, 2019 16:48:44 GMT -5
That's a really nice looking display and A.J. looks very professional. You should ask Chuck Drummond Island Rocks about selling bulk tumbled stones. I think those do really well for him and his son. Just an idea for next year. I also like the tic tac toe idea. I'm surprised those didn't sell better. I was surprised about the tic tac toe as well. He made up ten of them and only 3 sold. I thought he was going to sell those out. Conversely, I was not sure how many of the pendants he was going to sell given the nature of the event but he ended up selling 27 in three hours so what do I know!? Even the ones he sold seemed to be spread out across his price range which was $3 to $20. He actually sold out of the highest priced ones. As far as the 1/2lb. bags of stones he only sold four of those. Originally he was going to have bowls of each type that people could choose themselves (priced by weight) but it became a space issue as he started getting his displays together. Al |
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Post by Rockindad on May 12, 2019 16:52:00 GMT -5
Congrats to A.J. it looks like he did very well! You (and he) should be proud of his hard work and success. It will take him far in life. Kudos to you as his father (and his mother too I assume)!! Yep, mom helped also with some of the more finicky stuff- printing out the price cards, signage, etc. Even had to recruit his sisters to get the signs finished Friday night! Al |
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Post by Rockindad on May 12, 2019 16:53:14 GMT -5
Great display. The tic tack toe bags were a great idea. I'm sure he'll be featuring some of your rocks next year as he is going to start breaking them up in the next couple of weeks. Al |
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on May 13, 2019 9:20:18 GMT -5
Very cool. I enjoyed reading that and looking at the setup. My kids first show selling tumbled stones was about 7 years ago and that was just a table at a park during a city event. For the last 5 years we have advanced into the rock and gem shows. If I had to guess I would say sales double when you have a kid doing the selling and they can actually talk about the rocks and know what they are talking about. People absolutely love seeing kids get involved in the hobby.
We have never had any luck selling tumbled stones in prepackaged bags. The biggest money maker for us is the large bin full of tumbles that people can fill velvet bags from. Another idea that has worked well for us is to have a tumbler running on the table. It draws people over and starts the conversation.
Chuck
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MommaGem
spending too much on rocks
Member since April 2019
Posts: 312
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Post by MommaGem on May 13, 2019 9:37:42 GMT -5
That is really fantastic! You both did such a great job. I love the Tic-tac-toe sets!  |
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Post by Rockindad on May 13, 2019 10:46:13 GMT -5
Very cool. I enjoyed reading that and looking at the setup. My kids first show selling tumbled stones was about 7 years ago and that was just a table a park during a city event. For the last 5 years we have advanced into the rock and gem shows. If I had to guess I would say sales double when you have a kid doing the selling and they can actually talk about the rocks and know what they are talking about. People absolutely love seeing kids get involved in the hobby. We have never had any luck selling tumbled stones in prepackaged bags. The biggest money maker for us is the large bin full of tumbles that people can fill velvet bags from. Another idea that has worked well for us is to have a tumbler running on the table. It draws people over and starts the conversation. Chuck Thanks Chuck. I think he'll definitely make some changes next year as far as streamlining things to get more room. He actually wanted to set up a tumbler, and we reserved a spot near an outlet so he could, but as he was laying everything out the limitations of a six foot table became apparent. It is the same reason he went with the prepackaged bags of tumbles. It was a lot of fun and a great learning experience, and he even got to talk to a geologist which he really got a kick out of. A girl bought some of the magnets and when she showed her mom they both came back to the table to talk to him. She was talking to him about the different rocks, locations, how they are formed, etc. Very cool for him. Al |
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Post by Rockindad on May 13, 2019 19:00:23 GMT -5
Drummond Island RocksHey Chuck, a follow up question if I may. A.J.'s original plan for the tumbled rock sales was to use the bags and sell the rocks by weight. He had a scale that people could set the rocks on and he would charge by 4 oz., 1/2lb., etc. I talked to him about your post and he asked if this is how you do it or do you just let them fill up a bag? Thanks, Al
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Post by Drummond Island Rocks on May 13, 2019 19:06:58 GMT -5
Drummond Island RocksHey Chuck, a follow up question if I may. A.J.'s original plan for the tumbled rock sales was to use the bags and sell the rocks by weight. He had a scale that people could set the rocks on and he would charge by 4 oz., 1/2lb., etc. I talked to him about your post and he asked if this is how you do it or do you just let them fill up a bag? Thanks, Al I have a large bin with about 50 pounds of tumbles in and they fill velvet bags for $5 each. The bags hold 1/2 pound of rocks. The link below will show a little of our setup at our last show. Still just a hobby and we only setup up at 1 or 2 shows a year. forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/84695/pictures-show-booth-today-2018Chuck |
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Post by Rockindad on May 13, 2019 20:00:21 GMT -5
Drummond Island Rocks Hey Chuck, a follow up question if I may. A.J.'s original plan for the tumbled rock sales was to use the bags and sell the rocks by weight. He had a scale that people could set the rocks on and he would charge by 4 oz., 1/2lb., etc. I talked to him about your post and he asked if this is how you do it or do you just let them fill up a bag? Thanks, Al I have a large bin with about 50 pounds of tumbles in and they fill velvet bags for $5 each. The bags hold 1/2 pound of rocks. The link below will show a little of our setup at our last show. Still just a hobby and we only setup up at 1 or 2 shows a year. forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/84695/pictures-show-booth-today-2018Chuck Gotcha, thanks Chuck. That is a sweet setup you've got. One of the reasons he wants to clean up his displays a bit to get more room is that he wanted to do what you did with the nicer stones and sell them individually. Due to the popularity of the event they limit everyone to a single table which restricts how much you can do. Definitely do not have any plans on taking this beyond a hobby anytime soon. Maybe one or two things per year besides the school show. Al |
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Post by Garage Rocker on May 13, 2019 20:27:52 GMT -5
Way to go, A.J. and Rockindad! That is a sweet set up and he looks proud as can be. Love to see the kiddos get into it. Glad to hear he had some sales to make it all worth the hard work. Kuddos to you both! Thanks for sharing. |
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quartz
Cave Dweller 
breakin' rocks in the hot sun
Member since February 2010
Posts: 3,359
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Post by quartz on May 13, 2019 23:35:25 GMT -5
Well done, a great "real-world" project. That kind of learning never leaves, so much better than a virtual electronic world. That being apparent when his neighbors sold nothing.
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Post by Rockindad on May 14, 2019 5:40:37 GMT -5
Well done, a great "real-world" project. That kind of learning never leaves, so much better than a virtual electronic world. That being apparent when his neighbors sold nothing. Amen to that. He likes his electronics like most kids but we really limit the amount of time the kids have it available to them. I was actually glad that he got to see the examples on either side of him and see what a difference it makes when you keep your head up, make eye contact with and talk to people. Al |
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Post by miket on May 14, 2019 9:46:50 GMT -5
So awesome that you got to do that together! Super creative display, congratulations to you both!
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Post by Rockindad on May 14, 2019 10:19:46 GMT -5
So awesome that you got to do that together! Super creative display, congratulations to you both! Thanks Mike, it was a great way to spend the day. The only thing that could have made it better is if it was outside as it just happened to be dry and sunny out and that has been a rarity here the last couple of months. Al |
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