Thread: Is there a test for "Honemeister"?

Originally Posted by gssixgun

What happened next was the newer way, people started posting "Free Honing Offers" at first we thought this was a good thing, but quickly realized that this actually was not so good, so we stopped those offers on the forum...As some people took advantage of it and basically were running a supermarket promotion out of it, basically buy one get one free... this was just not in the true spirit of the forum...

I haven't had time to be on this forum lately, but I just came on today to take a quick look around, found this thread, and felt obliged to respond.

I was probably the first person to do what was called a buy one get one free offer. It was not, as I was told, "marketing." I deliberately did not piggyback my free honing offer with any listing in the classifieds. I had no intention of charging for any honing, especially since I considered that the free honing was helping me gain more honing experience. The only reason I charged for some razors was because I was getting barraged with people asking me to hone 3 or more (up to 12) razors for them for free. I felt it was more important to hone one razor for as many people as possible so most of the time I thought it best to limit it to one per person. For some people who were on hard times, or for some other reasons, I still went ahead and honed more than one for free. For some people, I did major restorations for free. I spent 12 hours grinding and hand sanding one blade and got paid nothing. That's because I didn't ask for anything. I also did not restrict the condition of the blades that came to me. I honed many that had chips that extended way beyond the bevel, that is, if there even was a bevel. I was willing to hone just about anything, no matter the condition. I thought it was reasonable though to charge for occasional extra razors.

Whenever I received a honing inquiry about multiple razors, I told them the same thing--"I'm limiting the free honing to one per person. If you want more honed than that, I'll charge the standard $15 per razor. Whether you want just the free honing, or if you want to pay for additional razors, either way is fine with me." Most of the time I got no response back after sending that message.

During my free honing period, I honed 117 razors. I was paid a total of $170 for those honings, so it was hardly a successful marketing campaign. When I have the time, I will be mailing refunds to each person who paid me for honing during my free honing offer. I will do this to maintain "the true spirit of the forum."

Originally Posted by Utopian

During my free honing period, I honed 117 razors. I was paid a total of $170 for those honings, so it was hardly a successful marketing campaign. When I have the time, I will be mailing refunds to each person who paid me for honing during my free honing offer. I will do this to maintain "the true spirit of the forum."

I don't see $170 for 117 razors as making any profit and do not feel you should refund the money just to 'keep the spirit of the forum", as noble an act it is.. I also feel that all others reading this post should comment on this act as your feelings dictate.

Originally Posted by Joed

I don't see $170 for 117 razors as making any profit and do not feel you should refund the money just to 'keep the spirit of the forum", as noble an act it is.. I also feel that all others reading this post should comment on this act as your feelings dictate.

+1 on this. IMHO I think you have enough to worry about ATM. If someone feels slighted (or whatever word fits) they can ask for a refund.

Originally Posted by Joed

I don't see $170 for 117 razors as making any profit and do not feel you should refund the money just to 'keep the spirit of the forum", as noble an act it is.. I also feel that all others reading this post should comment on this act as your feelings dictate.

I agree with Joed and Bart 100% Ron. Your offer was well within the spirit of the forum and you don't owe anyone a refund.

That makes four, Ron. I agree with Bart, Jimmy and JoeD.

You extending your original offer which was appreciated by many it seems. Decisions were made by forum leaders to prohibit further offers. Obviously such decisions must be respected and adhered to. However, you offered your service and some people agreed to pay you for additional work. Aren't those mutually agreed upon transactions?

I hope to see you around here more often when you can!

Chris L

I wanna put it out there that Utopian honed three blades for me. We were talking and I had something like 5 or 6 razors to send but could only afford 1 extra. (1 free plus 1 @ $15). I had 2 NOS razors and one big Jo Rodgers with a BIG chip (1/8" deep, minimum). I asked if I could send him all three, and if he was willing, could he hone the better of the two Solingens and the chipped JR- and if the JR was too gone, the two Solingens. And he said, "You know what, no sense in sending 3 to have 2 honed, can I afford to pay $20 for 3 honings?" And I said absolutely yes. That $20 went to paying for him grinding the chip out and honing a razor so close to a wedge that literally half of it is hone wear...

Utopian- mad props. I can't see our transaction as profitable to you in anyway (by hourly rate alone you probably didn't even make minimum wage...) and I am incredibly grateful for it. I haven't been able to contact you (full PM box) but if you read this, please PM me I need to ask you something. THANKS SO MUCH!

I think this is a good time to tell my story, since I think I am the most recent honester to offer free honing. My story is quite similar to Utopians, but has a totally different ending.

About 4 months ago I started to offer free honing to newbes and then to students, getting ready for school. The only thing I asked was for them to pay the return S&H fees. I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to get the experience I needed to be able to hone at the next level. I had already been offering to help members individually by sending them pm's, but it seemed to be a little slow to me. After the offer for free honing was made the numbers changed dramatically. Over the last 4 months I did 133 razors, before I had to stop doing them for free and start charging.

Out of all the razors, that were sent to me, only 3 were in what I would call the 3 month "time to re-hone" condition. The rest were somewhere between that and ebay specials, chipped edges, frowns, haven't seen daylight in 40 years and couldn't cut through butter if it had to. But out of the 133 razors only 1 went back that was beyond hope. Not bad, considering some of the stuff I saw over that 4 months.

Most of the razors sent in were in real need of just a good cleaning. So some of the blades needed sanding and almost all needed polishing. Scales on some had to be sanded and polished and all of this was done for free. Since this offer was supposed to be to newbes and students, I saw one show up in an ad that was sold as shave ready 3 days after I sent it back.

I too was advised by some that this was not a good marketing plan. At the time I couldn't understand why, but now it is crystal clear. After the "FOR SALE" sign went up on one of the razors I did I decided to do an inventory of where I stood on this adventure. Here are the facts!

As I was receiving packages in the mail I would take the money, that was in the package, and put it in an envelope. It was interesting to see how many came with no money, some would have $2 inside and the postage on the outside was $7.23. After a while, I requested $5 to cover S&H and got it most of the time.

So I kept the receipts from the PO and bubble envelopes, they added up to a little over $300. When I opened my envelope to make a deposit, it had $95. Without counting the .08/mile for gas and standing #12 in line with 2 desks open and each person steping up not having a clue what they were doing, I was at least ($205.00) in the red. Not a very good marketing plan.

Here are the breakdowns in the razors sent:
26 members x 1 razor = 26 razors
40 members x 2 razors = 80 razors
9 members x 3 razors = 27 razors

And to get them back:
Package 75 x $1.10 = $ 82.50
Postage 75 x 2.35 = 176.25 This is the avg. min. cost
Mileage 16 x .08 = 36.00
Total = $294.75

None of these costs include the expense of stones and other equipment necessary to do service at this level. Those costs are very subjective at this point, but I can tell you that most of us who do this to make money have in excess of $1,000.00 invested. This also does not take into consideration the time spent on each individual razor or the time spent in preparing the packaging to ship it back plus the time at the PO.

It was interesting to see my mail slow down considerably once I started charging for services. This of course was to be expected. This endevour has, in fact, let me establish myself in the honing community as a competent honester. I have made friends with some interesting individuals and learned quite a bit about honing and restoring razors. I still offer free services to some in real need and of course free honing, plus the cost of shipping, to anyone on active duty in the military.

So that's my story and I'm sticking with it!

Enjoy!

Ray

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This is a Timor roasted medium light to emphasize body and sweetness while trying to retain what acidity that is present. What you have is a medium to large bodied low acid coffee with overtones of chocolate and clean forest flavors (humus, cypress, mushroom).

I always thought free honing offers from members was great thing... still belive it is... But can someone tell me why free honing is now "not allowed" on the forum?... is there a thread with that discussion?

Originally Posted by smythe

I always thought free honing offers from members was great thing... still belive it is... But can someone tell me why free honing is now "not allowed" on the forum?... is there a thread with that discussion?

I think free honing is still allowed. However, they just don't want to see any ads offering free honing. If a member is expressing frustration or having trouble, then free honing offers via pm would appear to be fine from my understanding.