Shirt.Woot

Apparently, I need to read the blog more often. Bought today's shirt at $17 (incl shipping to Canuckistan). No big deal, really... for those arguing a %20 price increase, that's just for American consumers that haven't paid for shipping. For those who pay for rush, or those who live outside of the US, $2 represents "only" a 13% increase

yni wrote:Once again for some $2 bucks isn't money..
Point is (made by many in here) almost all of us can afford price hike but it doesn't mean it's nothing. You won't have a 100 without that "worthless" $2 and now-days some vehicles can go as far as 15 miles per half gallon so there you go or would you rather stay in woods?

As for shirts being worth the price since they are original everyone will have to decide for him/herself

I didn't say it was nothing. I said it wasn't significant, in direct response to the breathless "it's 20%! what if they cut off 20% of your [oh let's say] arm?!?!?!" Framing it as a percentage and then comparing it to every other instance of the same percentage and saying they're the same magnitude is just silly. My power bill has never been just $12, much less $10. At need, I could probably manage to walk 15 miles.

If that $2 is going to prevent you from buying your weekly ration of ramen, or get you out of the woods, then you should absolutely eat, or buy gas, and not buy t-shirts. But as you rightly point out, we're not really talking about that. We're talking about people who are looking for more grist for the "big-corporation-trying-to-steal-my-moneez-oh-god-please-make-the-bad-mens-stop" mill. If woot offers a product that is not worth the money to you, then you absolutely should not buy it. But when the same people issue a collective "whew!" over the fact that the random shirt prices aren't going up, it makes my head boggle a bit. They're willing to spend 66% of what they (used to) spend on a shirt they actually know and like, for the chance that what they get might be something they hate, but suddenly, $2 is the Rubicon they will not cross for a known quantity? *boggle*

alephnull2k1 wrote:I didn't say it was nothing. I said it wasn't significant, in direct response to the breathless "it's 20%! what if they cut off 20% of your [oh let's say] arm?!?!?!" Framing it as a percentage and then comparing it to every other instance of the same percentage and saying they're the same magnitude is just silly. My power bill has never been just $12, much less $10. At need, I could probably manage to walk 15 miles.

If that $2 is going to prevent you from buying your weekly ration of ramen, or get you out of the woods, then you should absolutely eat, or buy gas, and not buy t-shirts. But as you rightly point out, we're not really talking about that. We're talking about people who are looking for more grist for the "big-corporation-trying-to-steal-my-moneez-oh-god-please-make-the-bad-mens-stop" mill. If woot offers a product that is not worth the money to you, then you absolutely should not buy it. But when the same people issue a collective "whew!" over the fact that the random shirt prices aren't going up, it makes my head boggle a bit. They're willing to spend 66% of what they (used to) spend on a shirt they actually know and like, for the chance that what they get might be something they hate, but suddenly, $2 is the Rubicon they will not cross for a known quantity? *boggle*

Thank you, good discussion. Mostly what i wanted to say yet haven't managed to put my thoughts together well enough

You haven't lost me! I've been really impressed with how low the prices have been for so long. I'm already really impressed by the quality of both the fabric AND the designs/paint. Twelve dollars for a great shirt that wasn't made in a sweatshop?

I'm in like Flynn.

With the sellout of today's design, it would seem the buyers have spoken and the new price is not going to destroy shirt.woot. We have at least until the end of the Mayan calendar to buy shirts.

yankeebird wrote:I highly doubt that. You actually think half of wooters are going to leave because of the first price increase in four years?

quite possible... Many people out there in this economy have not had pay increases in years and the average income has dropped dramatically

since there has been speculation about the financial state of people complaining about $2, i will say this. i work in retail. i don't work for minimum wage only because i've been at my job long enough that it would be a sad state if i was still making starting wage. i only buy a shirt if i really like it because there is some justification required in paying more than a hours pay for something i already have a number of.

that being said, i can say that the chances that this increase will effect the number of woot shirts that i purchase is very, very small. why? because $12 is still less than you will pay anywhere else for a comparable product. it might be more than it was, but it's still a good deal.

fallapart wrote:Apparently, I need to read the blog more often. Bought today's shirt at $17 (incl shipping to Canuckistan). No big deal, really... for those arguing a %20 price increase, that's just for American consumers that haven't paid for shipping. For those who pay for rush, or those who live outside of the US, $2 represents "only" a 13% increase

As a resident of a border city I've always resented the extra $5 for shipping to me. I can see America from my house lol Seriously! And yet it costs me the same as it costs to ship to Russia (for instance). At $17 I'm definitely going to have to think at least twice about my shirt purchases, probably thrice.

As someone pointed out, it's not Threadless pricing. No problem with the $2 increase. Won't lose any of my business.

laurafoy wrote:As a resident of a border city I've always resented the extra $5 for shipping to me. I can see America from my house lol Seriously! And yet it costs me the same as it costs to ship to Russia (for instance). At $17 I'm definitely going to have to think at least twice about my shirt purchases, probably thrice.

interesting. Can you get a US p.o. Box by any chance?

As someone earlier stated, $2 isn't much of an increase for such a high quality shirt.

I'll continue to increase my t-shirt stash with shirt.woot!

$12 is what I paid for my half-price sushi dinner last night.


At dinner, I was wearing an ipod nano watch.


This price increase does not affect me and to prove that point, I will buy every shirt this week in support of woot.

I've gotten damaged shirts from Woot in the past, sorry but unless it's a must-have - I will not be doing anymore whim purchases on this site.

That and some of their write-ups have been kinda... rantish.

RandomLynx wrote:
That and some of their write-ups have been kinda... rantish.

As always, with specific feedback, I can pass it on to whoever needs to see it. If you don't feel comfy posting specific links to examples, my PM box is always open! (Just click the envelope!)

I don't see why people care if the blanks are made in the USA or not.

Not everyone lives in the USA, and it's not like working at a t-shirt factor is some great high paying great benefits job...

To all those saying the inflation reasoning is a lie:

Price of cotton per pound:
June 2007: 60.44
Today: 91.35
Increase: 51%

Federal minimum wage (assuming this is what the Woot overlords pay their slaves):
2007: $5.15/hour
Today: $7.25/hour
Increase: 41%

Cost of ink is not so publicly available, but just given these two, a price increase of 20% is more than justifiable.

Woot On!

desterado wrote:I don't see why people care if the blanks are made in the USA or not.

Not everyone lives in the USA, and it's not like working at a t-shirt factor is some great high paying great benefits job...

There's a lot of reasons to support locally made products. Reducing the carbon foot print, for example--shirts made in California from US cotton, shipped to Texas and then distributed use LESS than shirts shipped in from China or South America.

Money for US produced goods goes to Americans, meaning that money stays in OUR economy for longer. That's a good thing.

Manufacturers in the US have to follow US standards for working conditions and pay. Supporting that is a good thing.

desterado wrote:I don't see why people care if the blanks are made in the USA or not.

Not everyone lives in the USA, and it's not like working at a t-shirt factor is some great high paying great benefits job...

A majority of Wooters are here in the US.

Why do we care? It's because a productive American makes a bigger impact on the American economy than one who's unemployed, that's why!

FWIW, you'll find that American Apparel pays their factory workers over $13/hour; some over $20/hour. Those working at AA retail stores get less.

If you're going to increase the price, please get better quality t-shirts...I've bought several t-shirts from Woot that start getting holes in them after just a few washes, it's really disappointing.

sensenigk wrote:I would care a lot about this if there'd been a Woot shirt I wanted in the past, oh, eight months.

I agree. I used to buy a lot of Woot shirts, now it's really hard to find any good ones outside the derbies - and even those can be hit and miss sometimes.

Any chance of a derby-like voting system for the other 4 days of the week? Maybe allow designers to submit creations that aren't tied to a specific theme.

12 is still cheaper than I could get anything but a plain, blank T-Shirt, and having a unique T-Shirt is just awesome. I know when I go out wearing them, I'm probably not going to run into anyone that's ever seen it before.

Though it's also really sweet the rare times I run into someone that recognizes it as a Woot Shirt and we share a mutual 'You're Awesome' grin.

CaptainDDL wrote: Maybe allow designers to submit creations that aren't tied to a specific theme.

Artists can and do submit designs to run as dailies.

Mavyn wrote:Artists can and do submit designs to run as dailies.

I think the intent of the OP was an open themed running derby, like what a few of the other sites do (threadless, Qwertee, etc.)

This is a well justified price increase. Woot! prints on the highest quality American Apparel shirts out there. I have other shirts from TeeFury, LTD. Tee, Threadless (decent), DBH, etc., and none of them compare. Besides, at least here we are subjected to a Dr. Who shirt like every other day. I'd pay the $2 extra just for that fact alone.

KidKobun wrote:Besides, at least here we are NOT subjected to a Dr. Who shirt like every other day. I'd pay the $2 extra just for that fact alone.

Fixed it for you.

I was intimidated when I saw the price hike. I thought it was an error at first.

I have an idea: From now on, for every 5 woot shirts bought, customers should get 1 free shirt of choice.. or maybe a discount coupon with each purchase.

// Roth

j5 wrote:interesting. Can you get a US p.o. Box by any chance?

I haven't looked into a PO box. Occasionally I will use a shipping service based in Detroit, like Detroit Mailbox or My Detroit Address, but those have a per shipment fee of $3 or more and then it costs me $8 to cross the border and back if I pay in $US, more if I pay in $CDN.

I don't normally use that service for woot shirts though because the money I save on free shipping isn't enough to make up for the other fees.

Long time listener, rare to comment...but I will also think twice before buying future shirts. $2 doesn't break me fiscally, it breaks me mentally. (Some might say I'm already broken.) Part of the cool of the ten-buck-tee was the idea that it was so cool and so affordable and, well, hey, what's $10 between friends? I understand that things cost more - like we're not living that reality every day - but in my splintered brain I thought any losses from the $10 sale had a chance to be made up in the subsequent $15 sales (or covered by the Raven shirt profits). It was a cool thing that this little Woot enclave was still affordable.

Losing more of my business won't be that big of a loss, though (I've only bought 35 tees over the years). I'll still stalk the site, just won't be as quick to purchase.

As we near the end of the first week of the new price, some trends start to emerge.

First day sales
Monday: 825
Tuesday: 6000
Wednesday: 669
Thursday: 1240

I knew it was a matter of time before prices got jacked up. Amazon owns woot, they want to turn a profit. It's what happens when companies sell out.

"The sad fact is, nothing in our business - blank shirts, ink, labor, shipping - is getting any cheaper. A happier fact is that Shirt.Woot has a full roster of cool projects in the works for 2012, which we just couldn't do on the incredible shrinking margins of our old price."

Like the increases in gas prices, I call feces from a male cow. Also who cares about your "cool projects"? We don't want to pay for your marketing strategies and I doubt they'd equate to anything worthwhile. Woot's gone down hill fast. Haven't seen a shirt I've wanted in a while anyway.

I don't think the price increase is that bad. I've recently bought shirts at TeeFury, RIPT, and The Yeetee, and those all cost more than $12 after shipping. It just means buying the shirt on the first day as opposed to later isn't as much of a deal as it used to be.

Mhhhhhhhhh...

12$ + 5$ international shipping
_____________
17$

Ah... Not that affordable anymore

Kuragari wrote:I knew it was a matter of time before prices got jacked up. Amazon owns woot, they want to turn a profit. It's what happens when companies sell out.

Right. Like all those businesses that exist to NOT make a profit. You know, the cool, hip ones that steadfastly resist being any more successful than they have to be to meet costs.

Yeah, I don't know any businesses like that either.

As long as you keep the international shipping at $5, I'm happy to pay the extra $2. AFAIK there is no other site like this that offers shipping that cheap.

I usually buy my shirts on the first day anyway. If I don't instantly love a design, I won't change my mind later.

For me, this is an increase from 11.60 to 13.15 euro.. I can live with that

Sirguynate wrote:12$ is still a good deal when shipping is included.

This!

Narfcake wrote:No qualms here, so long as you are still sticking to blanks made in the USA.

Agreed. That is a BIG reason why I choose WOOT instead of other T-shirt sites.

Sad to see prices went up has made me think twice ont the last couple of ones. Seems a 10% would of been less harsh.

But for this increase in price would love to see you write the tittle of the shirt on the back bottom of the hem. Once of the main reasons I buy the tshirt is the tag line. Would be more likely if for the added price the tittle was found on the back bottom of the shirt or perhaps the sleeve! The Tittle big reason why I buy!

12$ (+5$ international shipping) for a made in USA shirt is still a good price.

But for the european customers it's a bigger inflation due to the euro-US$ exchange rate.

A few months ago : 10.45€ Now 13.56€

I will continue to purchase but I won't be as quick to click on "I want one" button ^^

valierl wrote:To all those saying the inflation reasoning is a lie:

Price of cotton per pound:
June 2007: 60.44
Today: 91.35
Increase: 51%

Federal minimum wage (assuming this is what the Woot overlords pay their slaves):
2007: $5.15/hour
Today: $7.25/hour
Increase: 41%

Cost of ink is not so publicly available, but just given these two, a price increase of 20% is more than justifiable.

Woot On!

I think this is a bit deceptive, actually.

as you can see, the price of cotton is way, way down over what it was. it remains above the 2007 price, but the fact is that woot's weathered the cotton price inflation. It may be that just now the cost of shirt blanks is starting to reflect the price of cotton, but with a little time, that will disappear. I wonder if woot will lower their price when that happens? -yeah, I don't think so either.

I <3 Woot shirts enough to pay the extra $2. There may have been a handful of shirts out of the 30+ I have that I might have passed on, but it really won't change my buying habits that much.

sadly..i believe i just bought my last woot shirt...it was a fun run woot...but over time..2 extra bucks every time just doesnt seem worth it to me... =[