You Spoke, We Listened

After our recently posted survey about piercing hours and costs, we have learned a few things.

  1. Our clients are some of the most reasonable and loyal in the industry

  2. Some people, who are not even our clients, feel like they should be able to dictate how we do business

When we began offering piercing at Cardinal Tattoo it was as a simple courtesy to our customers. We wished to provide safe and affordable piercing to our tattoo clients and their families. We kept prices ridiculously low, in fact, the shop has never made money on piercings, we merely paid the piercing fee to the piercer and the rest went to cover costs. All of our piercers are either tattoo apprentices or want to become apprentices and this was a way to make them some money and take some of the workload off our more experienced artists. It has the added benefit of introducing our newer staff and allows them to improve their customer service skills. However, due to the increase in our popularity, it has become more difficult to sustain the capability to offer timely walk-in piercings all day long. We experimented with offering piercings for three hours a day and all day on Saturday for a couple of months now and we have asked you, the customer, to weigh in. The results of that experiment are as follows:

Effective October 1st, Cardinal Tattoo will be doubling the cost of all piercings except for dermal anchors which will remain at $40 apiece. -The reason for this is it has become obvious to us that some people are willing to complain about anything and we’d rather not listen to it unless we’re getting paid to. It’s no fun going to work just to listen to a bunch of people who want something for nothing bellyache about how long it’s taking, or the wait times, or the fact that we ask you to make appointments, or that you need ID, or you have to prove you’re a minor child’s parent or legal guardian. Just wait, it gets better.

We have also become aware that some people who patron Cardinal Tattoo for piercing are not our loyal customers. These people have been sent by our competitors and have exhibited bad behavior or poor treatment of our staff. This will not be tolerated. Our services are for people who value what we have to offer and for those who offer us loyalty in return for our faithful service. For us, tattooing isn’t just about dollars and cents, we put a bit of our heart and soul into every tattoo we do and if you don’t understand that, we don’t want to be friends.

Thus, anyone who has been tattooed at Cardinal Tattoo in the last three months can come by during the month of October and pick up your %50 piercing membership card! This personalized membership card entitles the customer to an unlimited number of piercings (except dermal anchors, which are not going up in price) at half price for 90 days. This offer will also be extended to the minor children of our tattoo customers. Anyone who spends more than $100 on a tattoo will receive one of the cards, which will be good for 90 days, from now on. We’re not trying to raise the price on our existing clients…

Simply put: We’re trying to weed out the refuse. Cheap piercing at Cardinal Tattoo is for our loyal tattoo family only. If you want to get tattooed somewhere else and get pierced here, or if you just want the convenience of getting pierced close to home, you’re just going to have to pay for it.

Some of you aren’t going to understand this.

Offering a discount to our tattoo clientele only makes sense, it’s the very purpose behind our offering piercing in the first place. With the piercing membership card, we can continue to reward loyal customers. By raising our price for others, it will allow us to continue to offer affordable, convenient piercing to the greater Gallatin area. Otherwise, it’s simply not worth it to continue to offer piercing. We hope you understand, but if you don’t, you’re part of the problem and we don’t care.

To our loving family of dedicated tattoo and piercing clients: We love you and thank you for your support while we make the changes we need to be able to better serve you. We have some very big things in the works for Cardinal Tattoo and we can’t wait to include you in all the fun!

To the people who have a problem with it, go fuck yourselves.

New Piercing Times !!

We are changing our piercing times to 5PM to 8PM Sunday through Friday and noon to 10PM on Saturdays. You can call the shop at (615)527-7102 to set up an appointment over the phone. We will still accept walk-ins during that time but all appointments will come first.

Tattoo Regret

Ever done something you wish you hadn't?  It seemed like a good idea at the time but later you realized it might not have been the best decision?  Yeah, us too.  That's life.  But it doesn't have to be that way with tattoos.  At Cardinal Tattoo we pride ourselves on a service we call 'pumping the brakes'.  You've been in a relationship for three months and want your significant other's name tattooed?  Pump the brakes.  You don't think he did it so you really want a portrait of Bill Cosby?  Pump the Brakes.  You want a tattoo because it'll be funny?  Pump the brakes.  Tattoos are permanent and while they're great fun, without a little foresight you could end up with something that you really hate down the road and we don't want that.

Tattoo regret is the single most damaging thing to the tattoo industry as a whole.  At Cardinal Tattoo we'll tell you if we think what you're getting is a bad idea and sometimes we'll simply refuse to do it.  No Swastikas, ever.  No gang tattoos.  Don't ask us to tattoo your boyfriend or girlfriend's name on you, we won't do it.  If you want your hands, neck, or face tattooed and you don't already have one of those areas done or are otherwise covered in tattoos, forget it.  We're not the kind of people who will take your money and do whatever you ask.

At Cardinal Tattoo we answer two questions before we start any tattoo:  Does this person know what they're asking for?  An example of this would be the old guy who doesn't know that the rainbow tattoo he just asked for is a gay pride symbol.  Or the black guy who wants the Thor tattoo that's actually a white supremacist icon.  We have to make sure people know what they're asking for before they get it.  Question #2:  Will getting this tattoo cause the person undue harm?  Some people hate tattoos and they give tattooed people as much flak as they can get away with.  It's harder to get certain jobs with tattoos that can't be easily covered with clothing.  These are widely understood concepts and it's accepted that these things come with the 'being tattooed' territory.  What some people don't know is that getting that rebel flag tattoo will brand you as a racist, even it you're not.  That getting you're lover's name tattooed on you is a big no-no, especially if you're not married (if you have to go through a divorce, a tattoo is the least of your worries), or that Creed is a terrible band and no one should ever get their logo tattooed on themselves, ever.  We're not being snobby, we're just looking out for our people.  We want all of the work that comes out of Cardinal Tattoo to be loved, for life.