There will be a price increase coming on February 1st, affecting most of our 10mm metal historical ranges, plus a smaller increase on paints, bases and flags. As you all know, we don't like doing this at the best of times, but sadly it's unavoidable at the moment. I'm sure some of you have seen other companies having to do similar recently, and unfortunately we're no different.
Since the start of the pandemic, material costs have risen sharply, with metal now 78% more expensive and MDF 48% higher. This has been largely down to limited production levels across the globe along with increased demand, forcing prices up everywhere. We've also got an increase to the U.K. minimum wage coming on April 1st, along with National Insurance, adding another 9% to the annual wage bill.
Combined, these increases are hitting us for around £35,000.00 GBP extra per year, and as a result we've actually been running at a loss for the past few months. We're hoping that the metal and MDF prices will peak soon and start to reduce slightly, but with no firm indication of when that will be, we've had to make the decision to adjust our pricing.
Prices on standard infantry, cavalry and artillery packs will go from £5.50 GBP to £6.00 GBP, taking us to a round £0.20 GBP per infantry figure and £0.40 GBP per cavalry. There will be no change to our vehicle pricing or the WWII+ artillery packs. Pricing on custom orders will remain at current rates as well.
Vallejo paint prices have gone up similarly, so we'll need to take these from £2.35 GBP to £2.50 GBP per pot, and MDF bases will go from £1.25 GBP per pack to £1.30 GBP. Our flagsheet prices haven't changed in about ten years, so those will go from £2.50 GBP to £2.95 GBP per sheet.
To Summarize:
Regular 30 foot / 15 cav / 3 gun + crew packs = £5.50 GBP up to £6.00 GBP
10-man infantry packs = £1.85 GBP up to £2.00 GBP
Army packs = £34.00 GBP up to £36.00 GBP
Vallejo paints = £2.35 GBP up to £2.50 GBP
MDF bases = £1.25 GBP up to £1.30 GBP
Flagsheets = £2.50 GBP up to £2.95 GBP
From a quick look around, these changes will keep us competitive among the other 10mm manufacturers, so I hope that folks still feel that they're getting value for money. We've got a lot of plans for this year and beyond, with more new Pendraken ranges and more requests ticked off.
There's about three weeks until the increase, so make sure to get your orders in before February 1st to take advantage of the current prices.
You can also find our review of 2021 here, and our extensive plans for 2022 here.
As always, let me know if there's any queries.