What damp does to a cracker, and how to tell
Soft boxes, a sour smell and a fuse that bends: the signs of moisture, and what to do with an affected item.
Why our price list has no inflated MRP
The printed price on a cracker box is often five times the selling price. How factory gate pricing works.
Many people are surprised the first time they buy crackers from Sivakasi. The box says ₹1,500 and the shop charges ₹300. Discounts of 70 to 80 per cent are common in the trade, and they make it hard to know what anything really costs.
The printed MRP on most boxes is set high on purpose, so that shops across the country can offer large discounts and still make money after transport, rent and a season that lasts only a few weeks. A shop in a big city may pay freight, godown rent, staff wages for three months and fees for its stall, and its prices have to cover all of that.
We sell from our own godown, so our costs are packing, transport to the lorry office and our team’s wages. Instead of printing a large discount, we list one price, the factory gate price, with any discount already taken off. Our 30-shot red crackle is ₹1,150 on the list, and that is what you pay. There is nothing to bargain down, and everyone gets the same figure, whether you buy one carton or ten.
What you do pay on top is freight, which goes to the transport company, not to us. That is ₹250 to ₹600 a carton depending on your town. When comparing us with a local shop, add freight to our total. For most orders above ₹3,000, the difference still comes out clearly in our favour; for very small orders, a local shop may be just as good.
