Candle question

Marketing, just like everything else...

We would never pay such a ridiculous price for a candle. I was trying to search online for an average cost to make vs markup price, didn't find that but found a site that said -

"U.S. retail sales of candles are estimated at approximately $3.2 billion annually"

Who knew candles were such big business

Here is the web site with other candle info -

http://candles.org/facts-figures-2/

....and who'd ever think there would be a "National Candle Association"

SkiWhiz said:

Never paid much attention to candles until the other day I walked through the candle aisle at Walmart. Why on earth are candles so expensive, a bit of wax some smelly stuff,and a wick. Seems like a $15.00 candle would cost about 20 cents to make. Just curious.

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The funny thing about candles or fire/lumens in general....The monetary 'value' for a lit candle depends upon the situation! I bet I could sell a Walmart candle, a Bic Lighter, and a paring knife for a MILLION DOLLARS to Bill Gates or Warren Buffet if the situation was correct...I'd be all in at $3 out of Mud-Puppy totlot pocket clad...A huge Investment Win Finally!

If the situation was correct..yeah..blowing snow, sub Z's, hypothermia knocking, in the dark......Just one little Walmart birthday cake candle is a Life or Death kind of deal, in that happenstance, money is no object.....You couldnt get a nickel for a Walmart candle in July in the daytime, but check back in January when its sub Z's, wind blowing like a bastard, dark as hell and the grid goes down?...

I bet under these circumstances, without an alternative, even Warren Buffet would freeze to death! Without a knife he couldnt even cut out Carlos Slims guts and crawl into his body cavity, or manually kill and cover up with George Soros' wrinkly carcass!

Its really hard to make a fire from nothing...or kill a guy by hand, it can be done but takes a bit of practice....Nobody appreciates candles or fire anymore...If a guy had a case of Bic Lighters back 200yrs ago? You would pretty much own the entire Continent! Holy hell, if you had a pallet of some squirt bottles of charcoal lighter fluid too? Sheesh! King of the World!

Freaking little Walmart paring knife? Ok yeah, better than nothing...always handy... for the longpig... All this aside....

$15 bucks for a Walmart candle seems a bit out of Proportion in Aug though...unless you were contemplating this Out of Season purchase as a gift to your Wife or Hunting buddy thank you!!....In this case, a $15 candle pays better down stream dividends than a rotisserie chicken, a loaf of Hawaiian buns and a pound of coleslaw! Way cheaper than Olive Garden! Lighter fluid is a good Manly aftershave though...give yourself a spritz over in the Sports section to be really on your game...Report back!

Women are the largest purchasers of those Very Expensive scented Candles. Something about the aroma.

I see them all the time at Goodwill. She buys one and doesn't like the scent and gives it away. 15 or 20 bucks down the drain.

The danged things make me sneeze so they do not come in my house.

georgeinsc said:

The danged things make me sneeze so they do not come in my house.

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I wish that was all they did to me. Before I went to Vietnam i used to plow in the dust all day and loved camping. While in Vietnam they said I had a heat stroke but I think it was something else. After two weeks in the hospital they gave me a non-combat profile and made me a clerk. When I returned home I couldn't plow or work in our barn. The dust gives me chest pains. So does smoke from fires and people smoking, perfume and scents like those in a lot of candles and incense. Of course the VA won't do anything because being in the hospital has been removed from my health records.

essential oils

is one of the drivers to the cost, but the willingness to to get screwed on price wins out. One of my long time friends owned a trucking co and they moved a trailer load out of Yankee candle every week. He wasn't the only trucker either.
Always nice to have a couple in an emergency when the lights are out.

Every time I think something is over priced I refer back to the 10x truth.
EVERYTHING has increased by 10 fold in the 30 years to folks of our age.

Gas 35 cents to 3.50, bread, 35 cents to 3.50 candles, 1.50 to 15 dollars, A decent PU truck 2800.00 to 28,000........

In any case glad to see you posting again...

Hey, I was in a "Dollar Tree" store yesterday (where everything is just a dollar) and when I happened to notice the selection of candles, including large "yankee candle style" candles, including mason jar candles, ect. in various scents, all for just a dollar each, I thought of this thread

I haunt the local Goodwill store by me a lot and quite often I see very large and elaborate looking candles for only a dollar or two. Then I think "Somebody once paid too much for that, and now they're almost giving it away!".

Yep. All to cover up our natural human stench, and let's face it, we humans do stink.
By biggest pet peeve about candles is the fire danger to your own dwelling. I just can't grasp why a reasonably intelligent person would spend good money to risk burning down their own home.
Maybe I'm not supposed to understand it.

Roger

GTS225 said:

Yep. All to cover up our natural human stench, and let's face it, we humans do stink.
By biggest pet peeve about candles is the fire danger to your own dwelling. I just can't grasp why a reasonably intelligent person would spend good money to risk burning down their own home.
Maybe I'm not supposed to understand it.

Roger

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Very good point, especially when you can buy safe battery powered candles for just one dollar each (some 2 for a dollar) at dollar stores like Dollar Tree.