More big news from the world of Stampin Up

Personally I hate the plastic cases and move all my polymer stamps from them into sleeves anyway, so I’m not too fussed about that one. And I’d probably be more fussed about them discontinuing red rubber if they actually fully assembled them!

That is sad. I take a once a month card class from a SU demonstrator and love it.

It doesn’t surprise me that they’re having to look for ways to cut costs and dealing with supply issues.

Once the new tariffs kick in the importation of certain items might no longer make financial sense if there’s a local option. I don’t know if red rubber was being produced offshore and photopolymer onshore, but it wouldn’t surprise me. I think the Spellbinders livestream talked about which industries still exist in the USA and which items are usually imported. The same may be true of the packaging, or the change might be because of different needs of rubber vs polymer, or customers saying they don’t like the packaging.

That livestream also talked about the issue of capacity within the businesses that still make things here. Just because something is made here doesn’t mean that company can take on new customers. Spellbinders approached lots of local paper mills but none of them needed or wanted their colored cardstock business - they had enough business doing easier things.

Going….going………….

*sigh*

That is a really good point that I hadn’t thought of, that businesses might not have the desire or ability to take on new customers.

 anticipating that SU will either close down entirely or sell directly to consumers without demos. 

I can remember when they refused to do polymer because they argued the rubber stamps were better. In some ways I think they are but I think there is room for both. I agree that they will lose customers without demonstrators. A friend stopped being a demonstrator a few months ago and I haven't placed an order since. SU was one of the very few places I've kept buying papercrafting supplies. I've just been working out of my stash for years now and adding new art hobbies.

I still love their cardstock and envelopes. They cut so many things I liked such as vanilla colored and craft envelopes, vellum paper and so many things over the years. My markers are drying up anyway. The more recent ones don't last as long as the very old ones I have.

You might have a different experience than I did and it wasn't all of them. I just noticed a couple of my newest ones were the first to go. I go through them periodically and test them. My oldest ones are probably 15 years old now.  I don't use them as often anymore.

You are supposed to be able to but I never had any success with this.  I didn't have reinkers for the newer ones. I would always buy the in color ones off the clearance rack when those colors retired.  For some of my old ones the tip got messed up.  My Old Olive is like that, probably from so much use in the early years.

Unity Stamps, a rubber stamp company, mentioned quite a while back (maybe more than a year ago?) that they were having supply issues. They make their stamps in house.

I wonder if SU paid too much for CTMH and they aren't gaining as much of a customer base as they hoped. If SU were to become online only without demonstrators, I would stop buying. Right now, I only buy SU to support my friend. The value just isn't there. One of SU's selling points was the matching ink and cardstock, but now you can get that with other companies.

I do hope they stay in business. I get a lot of inspiration from so many SU demo blogs and videos. And I think a lot of cardmakers started with SU. It would be sad to lose that gateway into our addiction.

I don’t often post, but chiming in on S.U. They get 99.9999% of my business. I think their products are great. High quality. It coordinates. I like matchy matchy. I like they don’t put out new products every month. I don’t need to be bombarded. It doesn’t bother me that they are discontinuing red rubber and markers. Stamps are stamps and I have almost all the markers. Never had a problem refilling the markers with reinkers. Overall I like their design styles. I just placed a $180 order with more on my wishlist. I hope they aren’t in trouble financially.

Here's an unboxing video for SU's advent calendar. I think the price is a little high, but then, I think that about all the crafty advent calendars.

Spoilers if you didn't watch the video

If you subtract out the stamp set, which would probably sell for $20-$22, let's say $21, then the 12 items would "cost" $78. That comes out to $6.50 each day, which for SU is a good deal.