Why are my prices so high?

Ha! They are not. But I did have a one-time customer ambush me in a social setting and put me on blast just the other day for charging too much. She kind of made it out like I was up to something nefarious, luring people to my dog spa under the guise of providing skin and coat care for their dogs and then taking them to the cleaners for all they’re worth.

I think it was baseless and unfair and plain rude of her to come at me like that, but as a person who loves her work and values her customers, yeah, it stung. Why are my prices so high? Answer, they are not but let’s unpack it.

Then, there’s my general pricing structure, that’s worth a little discussion.

But we need to frame my pricing in its proper context: grooming has been systematically undervalued, undercharged, and undercompensated work.

In pet retail, both big box and boutique, grooming is a loss leader. It exists to bring customers in the door who will buy pet food and other products and services, like vet care and medicines, customers who will share their data, data that can be bought and sold and mined. That’s where the real money is. Grooming is Some of these are publicly traded companies, or they aspire to be, profits from the store are distributed to venture capitalists and shareholders.

The groomers make minimum wage to start, but then can move up a pay scale where they make a percentage of each groom, but only if they can accomplish a quota of grooms per day.