Now I understand

I do have cards to show you, but I don't have them ready for you yet. Sorry.  I wanted to share a little note instead.

Since I won the World Card Making Day Contest with Papercrafts magazine I now get emails calling for submissions.  They sent me an email asking for submissions for the July issue already.  In the email is a disclaimer noting that the supplies that I use need to be available throughout 2014.  That makes it very hard because I use 97% of Stampin' Up products in my cards.  Everything in the catalog now has the potential for retiring by June of 2013.  This is hindering my future publication submissions.  I have always wondered why Stampin' Up was underrepresented in Papercrafts and Cardmaker magazines - now I know.

Don't get me wrong. I love Stampin' Up, but I am growing weary of them retiring everything.  I have several good friends that are demonstrators and they spend so much money buying new products all the time that they can never get ahead.  I have often wondered just what the breakdown is for their sales.  How much is customer sales and how much is demonstrator sales?  It seems to me that they make the most amount of money from demonstrators because they can't use retired products so they MUST buy new stuff all the time.

They are always pushing for more demonstrators in a market that is already saturated with too many demonstrators.  Of course, because in order to stay a demonstrator you have to spend $100.00 a month.  The more demonstrators you have the more GUARANTEED income the company has each month.

Again, I love Stampin' Up and I think highly of the way that the company is run and they are very positive.  I think I am just seeing the other side here.  Other companies keep their stamps around for years not months.  I can use their products in my cards without the worries of supplies retiring.

I think that I am going to start making a major shift in the products that I purchase from now on and I just wanted to let you all know.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on my opinion, please feel free to share. - Heidi