Dear Valued Member,
I hope that this letter finds you and your family healthy and rapidly progressing towards normalcy. Let me begin by extending my deepest appreciation and thanks for your loyalty and commitment to Hair Club over these extremely challenging past couple of years. I would also like to extend a lifetime of thanks to my amazing staff who sacrificed so much while re-writing the book on customer caretaking. I couldn’t have endured all this without them.
Regardless of political or philosophical affiliations we have all been tested over the last two years in ways that we couldn’t have previously imagined. From the onset of COVID I made a very conscious decision to build a network of remote customer support resources as a way of standing committed to all members. This included significant investments in telecommunication enhancements to better accommodate increased volume of calls, professionally produced technical video tutorials for troubleshooting issues at home, converting our production distribution facilities into a drop and ship product delivery dispensary, creating both technical and customer service virtual services while maintaining a substantial employee group ready to always assist you. I am also proud of the Hair Club employee stimulus package that allowed our dedicated employees to comfortably transition to eligible federal and state funds. In addition, I personally assumed the cost of medical coverage for furloughed employees during the early COVID time of distress. None of the costs for any of these initiatives were ever passed on to our members and we continued to offer monthly membership pricing well below Hair Club corporate rates.
As with most U.S. manufacturing and retail businesses, we too have experienced significant increases to our cost of doing business. We have absorbed no less than four substantial hair cost increases from our suppliers while the rest of the Hair Club universe raised monthly membership pricing to offset those costs. I intentionally chose to absorb these costs without raising membership fees at a time that I felt would have added further financial pressure to my members. What this means to all our Barth Group members is that you have not been exposed to a price increase in nearly four years. To this day I do not regret that decision regardless of its financial impact to the company. However, I did this knowing that indefinitely absorbing these costs could not be sustainable to the business which in turn would not be in the best interest of our members.
To that end, I wanted to inform you personally that after careful thought and consideration we will be raising our monthly membership fees effective June 1st, 2022. I hope that while this news may not be warmly welcomed by some, that it is at the very least understood given all that I have just disclosed. I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure that our company continues to provide you with the personal attention and support that you have both grown and deserve to expect from Hair Club. Your local center customer service team will be reaching out to each of you to discuss these changes and what they will mean to your individual circumstances. Please feel free to discuss any of your concerns with them at that time. I, of course, remain available to any member who would like to have a discussion with me personally. After over 40 years, I am still as invested in and committed to my membership as I was when I began this life-altering journey.
Be Well,
Steven Barth
President