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

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