FYI: Stickershock is [NOT] closed...

[cwbullet]

From something I saw on FB, it looks like his wife was diagnosed with cancer again. Praying for a complete and quick recovery if that is true.

That may be true but that is not exactly what he said. "Thank you for asking.. But this has nothing to do with my wife having cancer again.."

 

[samb]

That may be true but that is not exactly what he said. "Thank you for asking.. But this has nothing to do with my wife having cancer again.."

Thanks Chuck I read that too. Hoping for a little less drama for that family. These threads have a way of taking on a life of their own without a definitive post from the parties involved.

 

[cwbullet]

He might be right, but I hate the have rumors passed without a definitive answer. I suspect the real answer is in this thread. We are a demanding group and he is likely tired of the second job.

 

[BDB]

This is a huge loss for our hobby. Mark ran such a unique business. Where else could you email something like “I’m upscaling an Estes Strikefighter using 2.6 inch LOC tubing,” and he would know exactly what you needed. Mark has made vinyl decals for 5 of my rockets, and I enjoyed working with him on each one.

 

[neil_w]

This is a huge loss for our hobby. Mark ran such a unique business. Where else could you email something like “I’m upscaling an Estes Strikefighter using 2.6 inch LOC tubing,” and he would know exactly what you needed. Mark has made vinyl decals for 5 of my rockets, and I enjoyed working with him on each one.

Ditto to all of that; definitely leaves a big hole in the hobby. I'll resist the urge to speculate on the reasons, and just be thankful that I got to work with him on four of my rockets.

This has indeed been a heck of a year. It really shows how fragile the hobby is, being so dependent on so many one-man (or maybe small family) businesses.

 

[jimzcatz]

Given the 11/27 post on his FB page, I sincerely doubt it has anything to do with customers. QUOTE]

 

[jimzcatz]

Ok this is what I know This is directly from Mark. He knows I'm responding to this. He said, and I quote "I'm sick of f<$%ing ungrateful idiots It's been building for weeks. To many to list them all" While we all wish the best for Marion her illness is not the primary reason for this decision Bottom line the hobby itself is to blame

 

[DAllen]

Ok this is what I know This is directly from Mark. He knows I'm responding to this. He said, and I quote "I'm sick of f<$%ing ungrateful idiots It's been building for weeks. To many to list them all" While we all wish the best for Marion her illness is not the primary reason for this decision Bottom line the hobby itself is to blame

Can't say that I blame him. I have 2 hobbies: Rocketry and disc golf. Disc golf people are waaaaaaayyyyy easier to deal with. Rocketry folks, well...sorry to say but we are a collective group of a-holes. I find myself getting sucked into the a-holery now and then so I do realize making a statement like that is a bit of the kettle calling the pot black.

 

[neil_w]

Now I'm even more bummed out.

 

[Zeus-cat]

From my experience most customers are nice and fairly easy to deal with. However, there are a few that more than make up for the rest. They are horrifically demanding, always want a huge discount and demand to get immediate service. I'm surprised more vendors don't hang it up as the miniscule profits most of these guys make don't justify the headaches.

 

[samb]

Ok this is what I know This is directly from Mark. He knows I'm responding to this. He said, and I quote "I'm sick of f<$%ing ungrateful idiots It's been building for weeks. To many to list them all" While we all wish the best for Marion her illness is not the primary reason for this decision Bottom line the hobby itself is to blame

Ok, thanks Jim. That's enough to satisfy my curiosity. Regrettable and sobering. 'Tis the season...

 

[Exactimator]

Bummer. 80% of my fleet wears Stickershock, including the shark mouth in my avatar.

I get it. Vendors take a lot of abuse on here and that's just the part we see. Unless a vendor is getting rich, and I'm sure they aren't, they're going to decide life is too short to deal with the BS.

Best wishes for Mark and his family.

 

[cwbullet]

Ok this is what I know This is directly from Mark. He knows I'm responding to this. He said, and I quote "I'm sick of f<$%ing ungrateful idiots It's been building for weeks. To many to list them all" While we all wish the best for Marion her illness is not the primary reason for this decision Bottom line the hobby itself is to blame

Pretty much what I said and what he told me.

 

[Onebadhawk]

All my prayers for you and Marion Mark..

Teddy

 

[Buckeye]

...Disc golf people are waaaaaaayyyyy easier to deal with.

Must be all the weed. LOL.

Rocketry people tend to be, ahem, nerds, craftsmen, scientists, engineers, perfectionists. Throw in the very high cost of this hobby, and it can lead to uptight participants.

 

[Oberon]

Really sad, and frankly shocking, can’t say I’ve ever heard a bad word about Mark or his products on this forum (even the best vendors have an occasional dud so this is a truly remarkable accomplishment). Hopefully he sees the outpouring here and at least knows that a lot of people really do appreciate his work. Personally every one of my favorite high power rockets has Stickershock vinyl and I get compliments from everyone that sees them.

Honestly Mark didn’t charge nearly enough for the level of service he provided. Every order I made, even simple lettering, he’d double check every detail before committing it. I’ve done a bit of vinyl work on a hobby printer and, while I’m sure he’s way more efficient, there’s no way he was giving himself much of a wage for his time. Unfortunately I can see how somebody might take advantage of someone that accommodating with that level of attention to detail.

 

[tim cubbedge]

Mark has just reposted on Facebook. Says he probably worded it wrong. He may be back, just needs a break & some time to rethink.

 

[GrouchoDuke]

From something I saw on FB, it looks like his wife was diagnosed with cancer again. Praying for a complete and quick recovery if that is true.

He made a couple replies to his “closing” post that said it wasn’t because of his wife.

 

[DAllen]

Must be all the weed. LOL.

While a rather well deserved perception but I'd suggest not painting all disc golfers with that wide brush.

Rocketry people tend to be, ahem, nerds, craftsmen, scientists, engineers, perfectionists. Throw in the very high cost of this hobby, and it can lead to uptight participants.

Well you got one thing right - that's for sure.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Really sad, and frankly shocking, can’t say I’ve ever heard a bad word about Mark or his products on this forum (even the best vendors have an occasional dud so this is a truly remarkable accomplishment). Hopefully he sees the outpouring here and at least knows that a lot of people really do appreciate his work. Personally every one of my favorite high power rockets has Stickershock vinyl and I get compliments from everyone that sees them.

Honestly Mark didn’t charge nearly enough for the level of service he provided. Every order I made, even simple lettering, he’d double check every detail before committing it. I’ve done a bit of vinyl work on a hobby printer and, while I’m sure he’s way more efficient, there’s no way he was giving himself much of a wage for his time. Unfortunately I can see how somebody might take advantage of someone that accommodating with that level of attention to detail.

I think this ends up being a problem for many of the mom-and-pop or one-man-show vendors. They don’t charge enough to make it worthwhile. Some can’t make it on the hobby business, so they’ve to have a “real” job on top of the hobby business, and it gets to be too much. I’m pretty sure that was the case for BJ at BAMA. He could have charged 2x to 3x for a lot of his work, and he could have charged for design work too.

Also, some of them treat their service as almost more of a favor to their customers than a business, and if I was approaching it that way, and my customers were treating me like crap, I would drop it immediately. If that’s what Mark experienced, then I understand.

I never completed a project with Mark, but I saw plenty of his work, which was fantastic, and I started a conversation with him on a design that ultimately we decided not to do. He was helpful, pleasant, and courteous.

But I also had some Facebook interactions with him that were not that way at all. Not helpful, not pleasant, and definitely not courteous. There were current events-related things that it seeed like he was really angry about, and he didn’t always approach the discussions in the best way, in my opinion. People are complex...

Anyway, I’m sad to see he’s shut down the business. He did good work, and I have a half-finished project that will be complicated to paint, and I’m sure he could have done a great job on vinyl for it.

 

[Cl(VII)]

That is awful news. Mark, regardless of the reason for the closurec tlos care of your family...good luck and prayers in the battle ahead.

Thanks for all your awesome work over the years, your talent helped bring many of our wildest ideas to life.

 

[neil_w]

I would think the custom work would be the biggest source of frustration, but I'm just guessing. Lots of attention required, could not possibly have been paid back given the prices he charged. All my Stickershock rockets are custom, and I felt guilty every time that I was consuming more of his time than he was charging me for. I was however courteous and appreciative.

The folks who do one-off custom work for low prices have my eternal gratitude, because it enables me to do things that I otherwise could not do. But I don't get how they do it without going broke and/or crazy.

 

[Buckeye]

Really sad, and frankly shocking, can’t say I’ve ever heard a bad word about Mark or his products on this forum (even the best vendors have an occasional dud so this is a truly remarkable accomplishment). Hopefully he sees the outpouring here and at least knows that a lot of people really do appreciate his work.

I don't know the guy, and I made just one purchase many years ago. I agree, never a bad word was mentioned.

Judging by the sparse info and the abrupt FB announcement, my hunch is that this was a rash decision. After a cooling off period, he may be back. He has plenty of built up goodwill to come back under his own terms and to refuse all the BS.

 

[les]

I can fully understand needing a break. As they say, to make a small fortune in Rocketry, start with a large fortune. As people stated, he is not getting rich supporting us.
I do hope that he comes back. He does great work. I've never had an issue with anything he's provided me. And have always had great customer service.
Mark - take a break. Relax for a bit. Don't let the few bad apples get you down. Hopefully, you are looking at these posts and see how many folks love and appreciate your services
And if you do decide to make the break permanent, than best wishes to you and your family

 

[DavidMcCann]

It was the unhappy ones that did it.

Everyone seems to assume it's his wife, which he has said is not the case.

Having dealt with customers before, I can understand shutting down. People very quickly become overwhelming, and only realize their own issues. Time very quickly vaporizes when you hold a high standard for work...and it's just not sustainable if you hope to have any time to relax in life. Walking away from doing photo work on the side was sad for me, but as freeing as kicking a drug habit or bad girlfriend.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

If he takes some time off and decides to pick up the business again on his own terms, that would be great. But if not, he has a huge catalog of great designs that should be worth something, and I would hope he would look into selling the business or at least the designs to someone who wanted to step into it.

 

[BDB]

If he takes some time off and decides to pick up the business again on his own terms, that would be great. But if not, he has a huge catalog of great designs that should be worth something, and I would hope he would look into selling the business or at least the designs to someone who wanted to step into it.

I agree. That's what I was alluding to in my previous post. Stickershock23 has unique intellectual property. It should be worth something, but it's had to assign a value. If not Mark, I hope someone picks up the business.

 

[Eljay]

Well, I definitely hope he gets to a point in his life he'll consider coming back under some more sustainable terms. Charge more for custom work, especially for known demanding customers, raise prices across the board, don't do deep sales just because you have a feeling you're supposed to, and don't expect your customers to be grateful.

 

[Arsenal78]

I thought his prices were reasonable for vinyl and being upscaled stuff. Can companies like LOC cut their own decals? I know their decals on their products were from Stickershock so that might pose a problem. There's definitely a hole now because a lot of people (including kit makers) relied on Stickershock to provide the decals for the kits. I hope he either re-evaluates and comes back or let someone else take it over. There are a-holes in all hobbies and all forms of business, and after being in this hobby for a year, I'm seeing people that have a god complex and other worse things, but it's sad to see him go. I had plans to do an upscale QCC Explorer but I guess that ain't happening now.

 

[cwbullet]

Guys: I have a discussion (email) with Mark today and like timbucktoo I think I have confirmed the same good news he posted on facebook. Your outpouring of support means a lot to him so keep posting. Please give him space and allow him time to decompress and discover his future plans.

Please continue to post messages of support here and on Facebook.