Smileys Price Increase

[yashman19]

Edit* because things have started to calm down. Edited May 23, 2007 by yashman19

[3rooker]

Edit* because things have started to calm down

Sorry bro. I did edit the last paragraph. I cooled down and decided to change it. I just can't stand all the negativity. It's rediculous. This is supposed to be a place for all who enjoy hookah to come together. What does the hookah stand for? Comradery, a gathering piece. That's what it is to me at least. "Why can't we all just get along?!" Don't worry, BE HAPPY! And go sit and smoke some shisha if you're feeling hot-tempered. I would, but it's just about dinner time As I posted in another thread, I'll smoke after I eat. Anyone remember that thread? We all need to remember why we are here. To help eachother and to come together with common interests. This is like a church. Different topic, same common beliefs/interests. Just a thought. Am I getting too deep? lol I'll go post something in the Serious Discussion forum Y'all have a great night. Sorry for my outburst. Edited May 23, 2007 by yashman19

[speel]

It's a iffy thing. Id personally buy it if it was 250grams .. well I guess i'll cut down. But it would be cool to hear smilies view on all of this.

[yashman19]

Ya no hard feelings, really. I'm going to edit out my post as well. Hopefully we can all get back on track.

[djbomberto1]

Wow first you love it, then it gets popular and Then it gets a raise.............Sounds like everything in life. So just deal with it.


I never got a Smiley Package that was promised............................................Remember. Edited May 23, 2007 by djbomberto1

[hookah hippie]

Smiley has every right to raise and lower his prices. He is the boss, sure he might lose a few customers but if he believes he product if worth the new price that is what he should charge. Supply and Demand

[hookaheveryday]

I just got my order in and loaded up a bowl only to come to the conclusion that the flavor was blank. The wedding cake just tasted like glycerine. 10$ for the same tub is outragous. The flavor is too unstable in the first place. Edited May 23, 2007 by hookaheveryday

[PerznPerversion]

In my opinion a 30% raise is alot and thats for any company alot may not realize that but w/e. ill be sticking to my starbuzz. if your going to raise a price you do it slowly otherwise youll have a price shock and some customers will get mad. Then again hookah usually has dedicated customers and they usually stick to their same shisha. So maybe it was a smart choice. Well see in time

[girlgeek]

I'm bummed. I was hoping for larger tubs (we go through smiley's fast in this house), but now. . .wow. Not peeved, I do understand how business works. . .just bummed

[BillBrasky]

I've loved all the flavors I've tried. Prickly Pear, Bubbleberry, Blackberry and Horchata. You need to think where your money is going. Does the producer of Al Fahker or Al Wala, or Fumari post here? NO! Smiley is a local, support your scene. If you like beer you need to think of guys like Smiley and Tangiers as the craft brewers. Ready to take a risk and make wierd flavors that WE request and can give direct feedback on. Sure the big guys are great but they'll never try a limited run of a flavor just to satisfy a single forum memeber. If someones product on the forum disagrees with you, post about it, but do it RESPECTFULLY and more than likely it will get fixed. If you dont like the flavor of a major brand.....tough. Try to email or catch a major producer in the chat.

All in all, Keep it Local, Support your scene.

[symptom CY]

I doubt there's anyone who doesn't understand that that's the way business works, but we're not on the business end -- we're the consumers. Keep in mind also that this forum is for consumers, not businesses, and that any feedback, positive or negative, needs little more than sincerity and consideration to be valid and useful to the community. Whether you want to call it complaining, whining, or criticism, it has it's place as long as it's on topic. Granted I'm kinda off topic now, but it's at least as digressive as criticizing the on-topic feedback of other members.

I'm with hookaheveryday -- there's just too much glycerin taste. Honestly I probably wouldn't buy any more even at $7, but for those people who would, lets hope that the larger jars that I think Smiley plans on releasing are no more than $15.

Anyway, the point is that we can't know exactly why Smiley raised the price, and we shouldn't really even need to know why. It only matters whether or not we think it's worth it, and because I'm not too fond of the tobacco I find the price a bit absurd.

[skiracerj1]

+1 to cymptom, this is a place to discuss things like this, and its not whining or complaining, it is discussing

[Vancity604]

everyone who is complaining all sound spoiled. all the stuff smiley has done for the community is worth the extra bit of money.

[mgcsinc]

Damn, and all i was doin was givin the FYI.

Phew!

HAHAHAHAHA Good thing huh?! lol An extra $2.95 is not going to stop me either. How many of you smoke StarBuzz? If you do, point proven. That's the most expensive shisha. Quit your bitching. It's smoking. I hate to hear smokers complain about how much shit costs. If you're becoming poor, stop smoking! You choose to either buy it or not. If you don't wanna buy it, keep it to your damn self. Don't knock Smiley for it. It's a little thing called INFLATION. Ever heard of it? Damn you people are cruel. Even if he is pumping up the price to get rich, maybe something happned in his life. Like expensive medical bills. Stop being so selfish.


Smiley, the price increase is not going to stop me from trying your shisha for the first time. I've got about 5 flavors that I picked from the reviews section that I want to try. Margarita in particular. I've heard you're flavors are crazy goodness. I buy premium stuff anyway. If you enjoy it, it's worth paying for.


Just my 2 cents. Yell at me if you want. But those are the facts and opinions I present. It won't be me getting kicked off the forum. I agree with Sean, there's too much complaining on the forum lately. This should be a happy hookah haven. Not a cut-throat place to argue. We love hookah here and we like this place to be happy. Am I right people?

Woah. Number one, Smiley's shisha has existed for a couple of months. Are you seriously trying to say that inflation has brought prices up 40% in several months? If so, you need to go back to wikipedia and do a little more research.

Secondly, it is not selfish for a group of consumers to discuss prices. Just because smiley is part of the community here doesn't mean that the simple business/consumer relationship doesn't still exist. This is not complaining, it's not being cruel, it's called being a savy and informed consumer-base.

From what I can tell, you've been here for three weeks, so I'm not sure where you get the idea that the forum has ever been a calm place.

[Scalliwag]

Take this from a guy who has ran his own business in the 80's and 90's with a grain of salt. I know that as my expenses went up I had to raise prices of my services, at the time welding. It was not something that was done in greed. I was driving a one ton welding truck and the price of gas and materials was going up. The more they went up the more it affected what I brought home to the family. I can tell you from first hand experience that telling a long time customer that you had to raise your rates know they may tell you to take a hike was not something I looked forward to.
My business was not nearly as in the spotlight as it is here but I still knew there would be repurcussions. I lost business and ultimately I had to get out of business and took a supervisor position in a larger company.
We have record high gas prices. Material prices on nothing I know of have gone down. This is in todays terms. I could be wrong and I don't know Smiley's circumstance but reading the thread makes me remember mine all too well.
My middle daughter had open heart surgery when she was six months old. So I know from first hand experience that life has it's way of throwing curves that on the outside looking in it's like looking in the mirrors at the carnival.

My personal experience has been to be very slow to judge because when you are wrong on someone it is harder to make up ground and it is better to err on the side of the benefit of the doubt.
BTW my middle daughter graduates with honors this weekend so all went well in the end and Scalli is still the luckiest guy in the world.....


EDIT-
Also Smiley has not been doing this very long. He may have very well misjudged his cost of doing business. Just because someone brings a product to market does not give them a degree in business. There are so many unexpected costs that once the bills start rolling in actually give real numbers you may miss.
I wouldn't know Smiley if he walked up to me.... I would assume it would be someone with a big grin I guess.... but I can assure you that until I talk to someone directly I won't assume the worst on someone. No one here would want to be done like that. Not that many people here contribute much more than opinions let alone products and services so let's give a little wiggle room in the case for someone that has shown some talent and help to the community. Edited May 23, 2007 by Scalliwag

[Hannibal]

This whole "30% increase" really isn't a very good statistic.....I mean 30% of one dollar is 30cents.......if some producer had raised a product's price from $1 to $1.30 I really wouldnt be that concerned. It's the same case here: The 30% (or 42 like some one else said) really isn't that significant for a product selling for under $10.......unless its gas......then I would have to set some stuff on fire......like a building.....or a mountain....

Like I was saying before, I don't think those of you who wanted to try Smiley's before should change your mind because of the increased price.
And to those who didn't like it anyway then its no loss to you, seeing as you wouldn't really buy the shisha regardless of price.

Also, like some people are pointing out, it could be do to basic economic principles: supply and demand, costs of resources, scarcity, etc.--one doesn't have to be an econ major to figure this out (although I am...Environmental Economics to be exact ).

[Scalliwag]

Wow Hannibal it sounds just like you are describing the oil companies. The difference is we KNOW the oil companies are reporting record profits yet they are charging record prices.
I wish people were this passionate about kicking Exxon in the nuts as they are Smiley.

[Scalliwag]

^^^ that was not a criticism Hannibal, just enforcing your point brutha

[Hannibal]

haha thanks scalli. And you're right, I totally was thinking about oil companies the entire time I was posting (and my description does fit the oil market more so than Smiley's situation).......oligopolies like the oil industry need to gain some dignity and heart....they are just sipping on wine while they bleed us all of our paychecks.

And grats for your daughter man, thats awesome!!!! Edited May 23, 2007 by Hannibal

[intangible]

glad i bought some on friday

1 x Smiley's Sexy Shisha (HT_SSS_001) = $7.00
Choose Smileys Sexy Flavor Bubble Berry
1 x Smiley's Sexy Shisha (HT_SSS_001) = $7.00
Choose Smileys Sexy Flavor Naughty Cow
1 x Smiley's Sexy Shisha (HT_SSS_001) = $7.00
Choose Smileys Sexy Flavor Blueberry
1 x Smiley's Sexy Shisha (HT_SSS_001) = $7.00
Choose Smileys Sexy Flavor Wedding Cake
2 x Smiley's Sexy Shisha (HT_SSS_001) = $14.00
Choose Smileys Sexy Flavor Horchata

[uselessdreamer1]

i was about to load up on this shit too... maybe he could have a discount price for a week and then he could bump it up....

[Scalliwag]

haha thanks scalli. And you're right, I totally was thinking about oil companies the entire time I was posting (and my description does fit the oil market more so than Smiley's situation).......oligopolies like the oil industry need to gain some dignity and heart....they are just sipping on wine while they bleed us all of our paychecks.

And grats for your daughter man, thats awesome!!!!

Thanks bro I have three daughters. God is paying me back for something, or so my friends say.
The oil companies are purely price gouging and no matter how any idiot tries to spin it the bottom line is the same. To me greed is a mental illness. And while this is not really the forum for it it does bring up a good point.
The last thing Enron's board of directors did before they filed bancruptcy was vote themselves a big bonus. For the life of me I cannot see how a mentally stable group of wealthy people could do that in light of so many blue collar people losing their retirement pensions. There has to be a special place in hell for them.
If Scalli ever runs for office I would run solely on aboloshing federal prisons and getting these people thrown in with the worst of the worst violent criminals. I really think that white collar criminals meeting very violent ends would make the world a better place.
That is a long way off the initial topic but I do think it is something more people should consider. Then again I really do not believe Ken Lay conveniently died and was conveniently cremated before going to prison the rest of his life because common sense gets in the way.

I would much rather pay less in gas and more for Smiley's shit at the end of the day.
Oh, and if Scalli ever ran for office you guys would get some great laughs on the crazy shit they brought up on me. Did I moon an entire grocery store through the front glass in the middle if the day when I was 15? Hey, $20 was a lot of money back then

[Scheetz]

So I am going to go out on a limb and say:

Maybe smiley did not up his price. Maybe its just the retailers. If an item is selling hot they will up the price and see if you keep buying.



But everyone seems to quickly attack the one who is distributing and making it.

[Johnny_D]

So I am going to go out on a limb and say:

Maybe smiley did not up his price. Maybe its just the retailers. If an item is selling hot they will up the price and see if you keep buying.

But everyone seems to quickly attack the one who is distributing and making it.

I was wondering this myself. And it also explains Brother Smiley's response ?

I've loved all the flavors I've tried. Prickly Pear, Bubbleberry, Blackberry and Horchata. You need to think where your money is going. Does the producer of Al Fahker or Al Wala, or Fumari post here? NO! Smiley is a local, support your scene. If you like beer you need to think of guys like Smiley and Tangiers as the craft brewers. Ready to take a risk and make wierd flavors that WE request and can give direct feedback on. Sure the big guys are great but they'll never try a limited run of a flavor just to satisfy a single forum memeber. If someones product on the forum disagrees with you, post about it, but do it RESPECTFULLY and more than likely it will get fixed. If you dont like the flavor of a major brand.....tough. Try to email or catch a major producer in the chat.

All in all, Keep it Local, Support your scene.

Also I am in complete agreement with BillB here.

One day Smiley's may be the next layalina.

Just my 2p's worth.

JD

[AinSophAur]

If anything I was hoping he would lower his price. The tub of Irish Creme I got from him tasted like glycerine. No taste at all. He hasn't respoded to me pms asking about the reason either. Whatever. I'll wait till his shisha actually tastes like something before i pay for it.