Lure price increase

Due to the increase in cost of producing my lures, I had to raise my lure prices. As I stated recently on here, I was making very little on my lures and needed to increase the price if I was going to continue offering them for sale. I wanted to give y'all a heads-up, so that when you went to order lures, you'd already know about the increase.

I could have diluted the lures, or used inferior ingredients to keep the prices the same and make more profit. However, the lures would have suffered and I have too much pride in my lures to do that. I'd prefer to get out of the lure business before I'd put lures out there that were not up to the standards they have been over the years. Besides, dad would have a fit if he were here and knew I had lowered the standards on the lures he formulated.

Anyway, now the prices are as follows.
1 ounce - $7.50
4 ounce - $25.00
pints - $80.00
Bait Solution - $25.00
Beaver and Bobcat Medley - $20. per pint.

Paul, everyone should understand the price of doing business Appreciate the quality of your products.

Still a bargain at that price .keep up the good work.

Your gonna have to raise them a lot higher than that to keep me from buying Backbreaker. No issues from me on raising prices.

Everything goes up in price....except fur. High castor prices have to be hurting many lure makers. I expect to see a lot of folks raising prices soon.

I had to raise honey prices last year after holding the same price for many years. Fifteen years ago, I could by a 3 lb package of bees for $45. You'll struggle to find them for less than $110 this spring. You'll pay $30 for a new queen bee.....for one bug!

Shipping is getting crazy don't blame you a bit flat rate went up regional did also.

I charge actual shipping on orders, so really that doesn't play into the price increase. It's the increased cost of ingredients, bottles, etc.

Paul can you re use empty lure bottles if the trappers dropped them off for you at the NTA or other conventions?

It wouldn't be cost effective to clean them up. Getting the labels off is labor intensive. I've done it with wine bottles. That's not a good option.

Thanks for the update, and for your honesty.

Thanks for the update. I’m glad you are going to maintain the quality of lure and raise the prices, rather than skimp on quality of ingredients. Although, I know your integrity would never allow you to do that.

I’ll gladly pay the extra $5 for 4 ounces.

One thing a lot of trappers don't think about is good lure takes much less per set. If you're running a big stick in there and using three times what you need it's counter productive anyway. That Digger of Paul's goes a long ways. Put a toothpick in lure and see how easy a dog in the yard locates it. Those canines that have to work for a living can detect it far far better than Rover.

X2

Making quality lures is tough. Making quality lures that you sell on a commercial basis is tougher. Good ingredients are very expensive.
I take my hat off to you and other quality lure makers. It may not be popular to say, but while there are a lot of lure makers, in my opinion,
very few are what I would call top lure makers. You are lucky in that you are following in your dad's footsteps. He was a guy that truly understood quality.
I feel very fortunate to have learned from him at one of Neil Olson's seminars. Also learned just from asking questions, shutting my yap, and listening to him at a few conventions.
I appreciate not only your lures, I very much appreciate the ingredients that you sell.

Mac

You are not alone Paul we have discussed this a few times in the past year. I can't tell you a quality ingredient or bottle/cap order that I purchased in the last year that hasn't gone up in price. I have no doubt that this will only be the continued trend in the years to come.

Also far less trappers are cutting, collecting animal glands, urines and byproducts that are staple ingredients required in our industry to continue to produce quality products. Many of us are getting older, retiring and dying off. The old fur buyers and their knowledge of saving the things that we need are becoming less available each year.

Many of the younger generation doesn't have the interest or knowledge to take up these old professions. All this makes what is available in greater demand causing higher prices for these ingredients as well. Total synthetic products will be a thing of fact for the future no doubt. I won't live to see it but I will predict it now.

We all try to hold the line as best we can for as long as is reasonable. However the options to keep it profitable and to maintain quality products were already mentioned. I decided early on in my formulation profession to produce high quality products and to continue that trend until such time that I sold out, became disabled or died.

It seems that I am getting ever closer to the end of that trail but its been a good ride.

Trappers expect good quality products and those with pride in our business are obligated to do just that. There will be some that may find it in their best interests to make adjustments to a product before raising the price, or will try to absorb the gradual loss in profit as long as possible but that soon catches up to anyone with a good business sense.

Not to speak for Paul or Bob but I know both of them well enough to say their integrity to keep producing quality products is what is behind raising prices and I only hope we have that same reputation and respect Bob and Paul have from the trapping community. But I also know ingredient prices and glass keeps going up and that's been mentioned but in typical lure maker fashion none of us mention the labor involved in producing commercial lures because there is a bond and love for doing what we do or we wouldn't be doing it. But for the labor intensive aspect of the job a little profit shouldn't be anything to be ashamed of either. Much respect to both of you.

I just ordered pint jars and they are up from last year due to a resin shortage ....hurricane/refinery situation

Quality cost. Get what you pay for. I'll keep paying for what works. Thankful you guys make it.

I don't like the writing on the wall i see. Less trappers, lower fur price's, higher cost to trap not just only in cost of lure but also vehicles, tires, battery's, fuel, etc, etc.

Makes me wonder at WHAT point the cost for the lure gets above what the demand for it is?

Can't see rooting around in that rotten mess to produce a lure to sell at a loss of money
and hats off to ALL of you would make the lures, wasn't ever an interest of mine, stinks
enough just having a bottle of it here and there much less mixing all the nastiness together
in large quantity's and storing, no clue how any of you keep a wife, lol.

If things were to continue like the last few years we"ll see fewer lure makers and supply dealers like in the eighties. I've gotten to the point in my trapping career where I like piddling with making lure and bait and catching stuff on it. I'd never begin to think what I concoct is even close to the quality and know how of the above men. I'm just getting older and methods and fooling with different sets with fewer sets out are satisfying anymore. I do still buy lure though. I only have one I make I have utmost confidence in.

heard that before so not surprised been using :Backbreaker" this spring and it is top notch well worth the money

Paul I have no problem with that. My first double on beaver was a direct result of my first time trying Backbreaker on castor mound sets. I will pay whatever you feel is fair to charge. Thanks for putting out a high quality product.

People may trap for fun and enjoyment for themselves but they wouldn't do it for free for someone else. Neither should you. Nobody is in business to break even. The price of judiciously used lure is an insignificant cost of trapping. Thank you for continuing the Dobbins tradition.

Paul your lures are well worth it!!!!!

It won't affect my purchasing any. Take the number of sets 1 ounce will make divided by the increase in price and the cost per set is miniscule.

Ya shipping makes me mad, used to cost 20-25$ to ship a vacuum cleaner in a box, now it's over 40$!
My lure guy raises prices almost every year

Glad I just stocked up last month. However I won't hesitate to reorder when those jars run low. I'm in the business of catching critters and half of that is using the best quality lures available and Boss Dobbins lures are exactly that at any price.

You bunch of suck ups. LOl
I'll be trading rat glands for my lure this year. Hey Paul the price of rat glands just went up. LOL

Inflation is what it is.
They use to keep making the Hershey bar smaller and smaller to keep it at 5 cents. Just think how small a 5 cent Hershey bar would be today. It would get lost under a finely manicured fingernail.

I do pay more when in trade for lure.

Then we have a deal. LOL

Paul we understand, as some us a business menon here know the rule.Make money or go under.
As for the shipping you have to puff yourself up like Amazon and the USPS. Next to nothing shipping
I'm still in for Having Backbreaker in my arsonal!

That raises the question , CAN a lure such as Backbreaker or Lenon's Fox Super Range All Call, be made with all synthetic ingredients; and still be an equally effective lure ? Would the price for a 1 ounce bottle of that lure be any less than the real stuff ?

Canvasback2 I can speak for Lenon's Fox Super Range All Call, as long as I live it will be made from the original natural ingredients that Asa Lenon taught me to use in the formulation of one of my favorite lures. There is no substitute in my opinion for real animal glands and beaver castor, the weak fur market is causing a real shortage in glands and prices are rising quite quickly. Trappers whom collect glands thank goodness you will start receiving a little more for your glands, likewise, lure makers will have to increase price of lure. I will let Lenon Lure Dealers know what the increases are prior to catalog printing season.

When do you figure fnt will catch on?

If luremakers start using synthetics in their lures, I would hope they change the name of the lure as there will be a lot of unhappy trappers.

This transition will be a gradual process and it will take place over a period of years. The younger generation may well be here to live thru the beginnings of this time period no doubt. Maybe the first step will be to sell in 3/4 ounce bottles instead of 1oz. Who knows. I am sure there will be different approaches to how this is dealt with in a retail perspective.

This will most likely begin in increments of substituting 10-25% synthetic material to a previous formula to begin, then it will gradually over time increase the amount incorporated in the years to come. Not much unlike what is happening in our retail industry today.

They decrease the size or volume of a product and call it concentrated. This is a mental conditioning period to validate the smaller size volume and charge you more or try to hold the line for a while.

This is all assuming we will still have trapping as something that will still be legal to do.

I wonder if someday lure makers will advertise a synthetic and an authentic version of the same lure? Like have the synthetic at $6 and authentic at a much higher price.

Begs the question that if there are a few that you really like and feel like you can't have the same success without them, then it may be time to buy in extreme bulk, directly from the maker if need be. Or start testing and learning to make your own lures.

The fur market crash of 1987 changed the way trappers sold their fur .There used to be country fur buyers everywhere .After the crash most of them never came back .The same thing might start to happen to lure makers if fur prices remain low .We may really enjoy trapping but we need to be able to at least justify what it cost to continue doing it .Lure makers also need to be able to convince themselves that the work is worth the return . Low fur prices will reduce demand for lure and supplies and as time goes on some will need to stop producing lure or raise the price . It might be a slow change or if something drastic happens to the fur market it could force a ripple effect to other parts of the industry that will forever change how lures are made available to trappers . As Bob Jameson said it might not happen in our life time but likely change is on the way

Synthetic lures have been around for along time. That guy from Canada had a whole line of synthetic lures. Some of them worked pretty good.
Then we had SFE which was a very good canine lure. I think that It was developed for the government trappers back In the day. I don't know If It's even available any more. But I still have a few ounces In my shed. A little bit goes a long ways.

Well it's been talked about for quite a while now should've been done a year or 2 back.Everything go's up in price so why not lures?

If some Company had a Chemist manufacture an EXACT copy of a certain brand of Lure , all out of synthetic ingredients , and you could not tell by look or smell that it was any different than the natural lures and it attracted the same animals as the real lure it copied; why wouldn't you use it ?

Mass produce the lures in China for 30 Cents for a 1 Ounce Bottle . Sell it for $2.00 an Ounce. Trappers would be running a 3 Minute Mile to buy it !! No need to worry about Gland shortages. No price disruptions.

Synthetic attractors have been around since the early 1970's, most do not know this!

The synthetics did not hold up well, and were not as attractive as the formulas that have natural ingredients. I'd rather use tooth paste or bacon..

The good natural stuff pays for itself over and over and over. I'll pay more for the good stuff, no problem..