Addressing the Tariff Issue
Castalia Library needs to consider the costs
The recent announcement of 39 percent tariffs sparked a long-overdue look at the costs of production, shipping, and taxes. Since we haven’t modified our prices in five years while Easton Press more than doubled theirs, we’ve enjoyed a strong competitive advantage that we’re not eager to give up, but we also have to be realistic about these things.
Some changes to consider that have taken place since we launched the Library.
The price of paper has risen consistently over the last five years, particularly in the USA where a lot of the paper comes from China. Our printing costs have increased 17 percent per book block.
We are in the process of permanently moving to a higher-quality leather that is about 15 percent more expensive than the top-grain cowhide.
The per-book price of binding books in the USA has risen 32 percent.
US shipping prices have increased, for both domestic and international shipping.
Due to delays in production at the bindery, we are 18 months behind on delivering books.
The increased tariffs will be applied to books when they are shipped, not when they were bought.
The economy is not great and disposable income is down.
We absolutely do not want to have subscribers fork out any additional money for books they have already bought.
You should be able see why the option of simply producing books in the USA is not necessarily the obvious one that some people have suggested it would be since the higher production prices tend to obviate the advantage of avoiding the tariffs. More importantly, we can’t utilize the higher-quality leather there since it, too, would be subjected to similar tariffs.
While we initially rejected the idea first suggested by a subscriber, the more we thought about it, and discussed it, the more we realized that simply extending the number of months per subscription for Library and History might be the optimal way to go.
Pros: More time for production, helps us clear out the backlog faster, helps us cover the increased prices over time, eliminates any need for extra payments or higher subscription prices.
Cons: Complicates record-keeping, increases price per book. In theory, fewer books per year, in practice no effective change.
It also raises the question of how far back do we start the readjustment, as we’re just shipping THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, the March-April 2023 book. My thought is that if we go back to January 2025, that should be sufficient to let us navigate these challenges successfully. Also, since we’re already shipping the November-December 2024 book, A SEA OF SKULLS Vol. II, we really can’t go back any further.
That would mean that the revised Library schedule would look like this:
JAN-MAR: ICELANDIC EDDA
APR-JUN: QUO VADIS
JUL-SEP: METAPHYSICS
OCT-DEC: THE TALE OF GENJI VOL. I
JAN-MAR: THE TALE OF GENJI VOL. II
In the case of History, the revised schedule would be:
JAN-APR: THE GALLIC WARS
MAY-AUG: THE HISTORY OF FLORENCE
SEP-DEC: THE ART OF WAR IN THE MIDDLE AGES
No change to the Cathedra schedule, since we set up a six-month structure that already accommodated these issues, for the most part.
Please note that we haven’t decided anything, this is just something that would allow all the current subscribers to continue to receive all the books they’ve paid for without laying out any more money. And it still leaves room for us to do a special project, a la the three Bindery books, to help cover the expenses for the remaining 2023 and 2024 books that we’re going to be eating.
I’d be interested in getting everyone’s opinions on this idea, so here is a poll ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS.
If you have any other ideas, please feel free to share them. We’re being entirely open about this because the amount of trust, loyalty, and support we have enjoyed over the past five years from all of you both justifies and demands it.
And, of course, we are looking into every possible way to keep the production and shipping costs down as well. We will get through this and we will definitely come out of this even stronger than before, just as we have through the previous challenges that we’ve conquered together. Rest assured, we’re not just sitting around wringing our hands, we’re busier than we have ever been, with no less than NINE books being printed at the moment.
Rising costs are the norm - it’s admirable how effectively Castalia has managed them so far. The bindery delays were unfortunate, but it appears current capacity will resolve that before too long. Tariffs are a consequence of The Script, and a blunt instrument with unintended casualties along side the macro-economic reconfiguration. Price hikes in some configuration were always inevitable. Reducing frequency looks like the best solution short term, but the price will have to be revisited before long. Something rational, rather than Easton’s demented doubling, is most likely not to kill subscription numbers.
Additional money for already purchased books is the least good option.
I would agree that option 1 is the most practical for the largest group of subscribers.
I would be willing to take on a higher price per month to keep the books coming at the current frequency, but understand that would probably not work for everyone.
Thanks for all you are doing to produce these great books. Very well done.