An Indirect Reply From Rejuvenation!

From a reader who posted a comment about getting an email from the owner of Rejuvenation Lighting.

Dear Amanda,

Thank you very much for the note and for alerting us to the info on This Old Crack House (great site).

We feel extremely frustrated about the increases in costs we have had to pass through this year and last (just one was double digit - essentially it came out to 10% overall in the new catalogue). We are not gouging. Just so you know, here is what we have dealt with and why the increases are so high.

Since 2002, worldwide copper prices (main ingredient in brass) have quadrupled. This has had a huge, huge effect for us. Other commodities like steel have jumped substantially as well. On top of that, fuel increases have affected just about everything else (energy is the main "ingredient" in glass) as well as the normal increases in labor and other services and supplies. There is more to the story, such as skyrocketing medical benefits. Soon as I figure out how to do it correctly I will post something on the website.

Thanks again!

Jim Kelly
Owner
Rejuvenation

I have noticed many sitemeter hits from Oregon over the last few days so it would appear that my Rejuvenation Analysis has been studied by the company. I have held off posting this in the hopes that Mr. Kelly would have posted his own comment to this site but this comment is quite sufficient as far as I am concerned. I'm impressed that he took the time to reply to a houseblog reader.

While I have the ear of Rejuvenation I would like to propose something for their consideration. I have been in communication with the owners of Houseblogs.net via their discussion board and Aaron may have already spoke with your company regarding this since they are in the process of renewing the advertising link through the web ring. Many of us don't advertise or won't take the time to study the process or rate tables. We also don't know the accuracy of the system in place to keep records of click throughs. There are a lot of housebloggers out there that could REALLY do good word of mouth advertising for your company, Based on the comments on my analysis post it is obvious that several of the more popular blog writers would love to own Rejuvenation fixtures if they could justify the expense and fully understand that light fixtures REALLY change the mood of a room.

So, how about a discount to people who are registered with Houseblogs.net who are willing to write a fair review of your products after purchasing them and put a link to your site in return for the discount or an additional link if they already subscribe to the advertising arrangement.

Another thought was this. I am the president of our tax-exempt non-profit neighborhood association. There are 2500 buildings within our boundries and over 5000 residents. In addition to our neighborhood we have at least 5 Historic districts here in Dayton. I can put you in touch with the heads of those organizations. With a direct approach to marketing in this manner could you offer coupons in catalogues solicited from these neighborhoods?

I own four Rejuvenation light fixtures and already moved them from the house that I bought them for to the "Old Crack House" because I would be very upset if I sell the house to someone who lacks good taste. I would have no problems linking to your site if I knew that I qualified for some kind of special treatment, whether I took advantage of the special treatment or not. I'm sure you will find many who would be willing to do the same. It would certainly be interesting to see your comments to this!