Dear President Obama

Dear President Obama,

In 2008 my husband invented a product which we've been struggling to sell ever since.  The invention came out of ingenuity and desperation as Ryan was a Real Estate Broker at the time and the market as you know tanked. 

Since founding our company we've refused to send production overseas in hopes that some day we'll be able to grow locally and hire other American's in the future.  Our decision for what it's worth, has cost us our home, thousands of dollars of debt and to add insult to injury we were hit by the IRS with a $10,000 audit for taxes they claim we underpaid in 2007.  We will never be able to repay this or get back into the black unless our business revenue increases rapidly.

The reason I'm writing you is that this evening I came across an article quoting you as patting Master Lock's back for 'insourcing'.  I was so disheartened that all of our genuine efforts and sacrifices have been overshadowed once more by a company that uses its wealth to use you for their marketing ploy.  While they are indeed bringing some industry back to the United States, it pales in comparison to the 1,000's of American families they hurt when they decided to move their manufacturing to China and Mexico to save a buck.  It feels like they are using this revitalized movement to rebuild American industry as a way to regain market share and are using you as their mouth piece.

We may never be as large as Master Lock and if it means trampling on others to get ahead we don't want to be. We just want an opportunity to let the world know we exist.  Tax cuts don't help us because we barely make enough money to keep the lights on and borrowing money is just putting us further and further into debt.  Even though I know that we have a good product that is continuing to grow a solid customer base, we can't even begin to approach retailers like Lowes and Home Depot because without marketing dollars to let the world we exist our little $65 rock on would get laughed off their shelves.

I realize you have mountain of issues to deal with and that in the grand scheme of things our small company is merely a single spec of sugar in your coffee, but on behalf of the 100's of 1000's of US manufacturers trying to stay competitive and keep their head above water I hope that at the very least you will recognize us for a change.  I understand that companies like Master Lock have lobbied to garner the support of your administration but please remember that they are a self serving business and we little guys need a voice too.

I'm not expecting a response to this letter, but I am hopeful that at the very least my words have not fallen on deaf ears. Thank you for you time.

Sincerely,

Melanie Belshee

RocLok Hide a Key, Inc.

Everyone Wants Their Slice of the Pie

Everyone wants their cut of the profits.  However making it in America increases the cost of production and in turn lessens the amount of profit for everyone.  This can make negotiating wholesale prices tricky for us. 

The most important thing to always consider is what consumers can and are willing to pay for the product.  We have to make sure that we keep the cost low enough to be affordable but high enough to cover expenses.  Simple economics yes, but when you factor in the higher prices for goods and services stateside it leaves little wiggle room and can kill potential deals.

When we started selling the St. Helens model in 2008 we thought $49.95 was a fair price.  Originally we thought $39.95 but after factoring all the elements realized that we couldn't afford to operate at that price.  The $49.95 price did not include shipping which runs upwards of $15.  That alone inflated the final sales price to $64.95.  So in May of 2010 I decided we'd try to include the shipping into the price and make all RocLok's an easy $64.95.

The change not only helped our customers feel better about their purchases but it allowed us to offer "keystone" pricing to our vendors.  Keystone as we learned early on is 50% margin or greater.  With our prior prices there as no way of accomplishing this goal.  Some catalog companies required Keystone plus 20% which definitely wasn't going to happen.  Needless to say we weren't sure what we where going to do to get some traction in the marketplace.

From day one we knew we wanted to try and keep as much of the production and raw material sourcing as local as possible.  This meant and continues to mean higher prices on everything from the plastic we use in the injection molding to the tape we use on our packages. However instead of taking the greedy way and having our product mass produced overseas for pennies on the dollar and pocketing the proceeds, we have remained stead fast in our resolve whether that be to the detriment of our financial state or not.

Recently requests have increased from vendors throughout the United States and Internationally wanting to offer our product to their customers. Of course we love this new attention but sometimes it is disheartening to get excited about starting a new business relationship and finding out that we can't make a deal because of margins.  For example our margins are such that we can not afford to bring on a Manufacturer Representatives. 

A Manufacturer Representatives aids as the go between person, introducing your products to large big box chains like The Home Depot for example.  The theory is that they have established a good working relationship with buyers in these chains and have pull as to which products get noticed and ultimately sold in the store.  Obviously they want to be paid for their services as well they should be.  However if the margin is not big enough to begin with bringing a third cut into the mix just won't work.  Thus we haven't had the luxury of having a Manufacturer Rep on team RocLok.

Thankfully with some strategic placement at various trade shows and a lot of luck, our product has garnered the attention of  some large vendors and we have been able to nurture our own relationships.  It definitely wasn't a quick process but doing it ourselves allowed us to learn which has to count for something. I think that grow slowly will prove beneficial to the longevity of the business in the end but it is awfully painful on our bank account so far. They say "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," so if we keep putting one foot in front of the other someday we're bound to get there... right?