News from Wall Street Gifts

03-15-25

Lots of discussion about Tariffs. How will they affect Wall Street Gifts? First, why do we manufacture in China (or elsewhere)? The reason is the EPA. ALL ceramic piggy banks are made in China. We discussed this in the Jan 26 blog. It is exactly the same reason for the electroplated sculptures. If the sculpture on our site does not say MADE IN USA, it is made in China. To eliminate the need for this production in China the EPA HAS to change regulations. Just like coal, it is possible to manufacture in the USA. How soon will this happen? Hopefully, Lee Zeldin has it on his plate in 2025. It IS possible to NOT hurt the environment and manufacture in USA. We would provide jobs and not have to pay for shipping from China. In the meantime, all manufacture WILL continue in China. We already have a 10% tariff included in our price. We'll see how this all plays out.

01-26-25

INSPIRE is one of our best selling categories…you will find unique motivational items that make great gifts or awards. Here are two: “Nothing happens until someone makes it happen"   Life is only what you make of it. “Choose to make a difference” There is a personal reason we post the 2 nd item. In fact, we had it created just for us. Perhaps, it will resonate with you, too. My guide at the Holocaust Museum in St Petersburg, Florida stated: In 1930 the population in Lithuania was about 10% Jews...or 200,000 people. By the end of WW II 180,000 of them had been killed. Of the 180,000 killed, what people don't realize was that about 140,000 were killed in their own town...typically by gun shot. Only 40,000 died outside of town at concentration camps, etc. It was pointed out that a rifle shot can be heard 3 miles away. Every time a Jew was shot and killed in their town, about 140,000 times, Lithuanians heard the sound....but they did nothing...the population of "locals" was much larger than the number of Nazi's"....yet, the locals did nothing to stop the killing....and in just one country there were 180,000 Jews killed. Since the Inauguration on January 20, 2025 we are hearing much not heard before. Maybe you can make a difference where needed.

01-17-25

2024 certainly was a chaotic year! As posted on our blog, we expected that our new revised web site would be complete end of June. Didn’t happen. In fact, it is just happening in 2025. The revision went through 6 developer firms. In our 30 year history, it’s never been such a horrible experience. Let’s first look at Piggy Banks. Even before our E-Commerce site, wallstreetgifts.com, was born we sold piggy banks. We considered the pig as the “first step of investing.” It’s an easy way to teach children to save. In our 30 years, a lot has happened with piggy banks. In the beginning, we sold the ceramic pigs for $19.95-$29.95. Because of environmental laws, it is not possible to manufacture pigs in USA. It would be nice if this could change, if they can fix coal problem, perhaps, whatever the problem is could be fixed. Today, ALL large quantities of pigs are made in China. ALL. A 40 ft container from China back when we began cost $1,000 or so to get to Long Beach port. During COVID, the cost went to $10,000…yes, ten thousand. Today, it’s slowing going under $5,000. But, that’s still a lot of freight cost. Many vendors we used to buy pigs from no longer exist. So, pigs may soon disappear from our site. We’ll see how 2025 plays out. We added incredible wildlife photos. Photos are taken by one of the world’s best wildlife photographer. Recently, Busch Gardens allowed him a day to prowl. Result are some awesome photos: Gorilla, Panther, Lion, Tiger, Ostrich….and so many more. We will be adding perhaps 50 new photos to our site from the 10,000 photos available to us. We’re also going to test a different idea. You will be able to select ANY of the photos on our site (around 100), then select the color of a t-shirt, and the size, male, female, child. As an example, there is an amazing photo of a Bald Eagle family. Parent and 2 kids. You could choose a black, brown or some shade of blue t-shirt…or any other color. It will be made exclusively for you. Very special.

6-14-24

By the end of June our new web site should be live. In 28 years since we began wallstreetgifts.com, we have updated our web site many times. Today over 70% of customers enter our site via their phone. Thus, our new web site has to have a design good for that. The original goals of Wall Street Gifts were: quality of Tiffany, honesty of the Pope, service of Nordtrom. We no longer state a name. Our goal has evolved more to the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you want others to do unto you. We're a small business who appreciates every customer. Quality is still of utmost need. We now offer wildlife photos taken by a world class photographer...wonderful for office or home. One photo even has 3 squirrels standing around a tree stump - a great photo to announce a meeting! We offer the photos 16x20 - but other sizes are possible too. We have a lot of crystal animal statues that are made in USA. With over one thousand items, we sell quality products in many categories. "Teamwork" heralds the "boys in a boat" theme. Over 400 piggy banks. Check us out!

5-4-24

It's Kentucky Derby Day! In our HORSE category, we have RACING as a subcategory (also Cowboy & Indian) etc. We supply Horse Statues with Jockeys aboard for several Horse Races. Love horses!

4-23-24

We are adding several new items. In the Inspiration category, a new item tells a story of "Choose to MAKE A DIFFERENCE"...you customize it with the name of the organization, the name of a person, perhaps a date...and have bottom text read YOU MADE A DIFFERENCE. There seems to be many things in the world today that might like to recognize a person who did choose to make a difference. With breeding season beginning for our birds, we offer several exclusive photos of different birds. The Egrets in full plumage are spectacular.

3-12-24

A new web site is being worked on. In our 28 years we have launched at least 20 new designs of our web site. Always a fun time. Several years ago we had 15 different web sites such as: banksbanksbanks.com, bullsbullsbulls.com, cowscowscows.com, ponyponypony.com. An "expert" convinced us we were competing with ourself so we transferred all to Wall Street Gifts. This year we are going to revive one of those 15 sites - banksbanksbanks.com. We will begin with about 600 banks. Fun time for us!

12-20

Whew! It's been a busy December. It's always fun to be part of the gift process. We have some very ingenius customers! To group the various moon globes we have, we added OUTERSPACE as a subcategory of GLOBES. We also split our wall art, our exclusive photos, into several subcategories: whimsical, animals, birds, eagle and landscapes. Christmas delivery is still possible for some of you. Depends on ship to STATE and shipping state. We have products that ship from CA, IL, MN, NJ, NYC, NY state, PA, TX. Tell us the SKU (under the price on product page) and we'll tell you state from which it'll ship.

11-30-23

We have some interesting Globes. We have one that is Venus. Two that are moons of Jupiter. We have our Moon showing all the landings, etc. And, we use National Geographic to make certain all markings on each globe are accurate as of the day you purchase. You'll be fascinated. In 2024 we deleted all globes from our site. We thought the manufacturer wasn't being fair to you.

11-25-23

The Holidays are here. Happy Shopping. We're here to help; however we can.

11-21-23

Just posted a new photo from our acclaimed photographer. A Mom and Dad Bald Eagle and their 2 day old babies. Large photo measures 16x20" shows so much detail of each bird. Exclusive ours.

11-18-23

Sold out of lawyer bookends that were on sale for more than half off....but, have added new set of lawyer bookends today...regular $129.95...today's price $59.97....discontinued item...when sold out they're gone.

11-8-23

UPS has announced that effective December 26, 2023, the rates for UPS® Ground, UPS® Air and International will increase an average of 5.9%.

11-4-23

Wall Street Gifts offers over 100 globes on our site. For the remainder of November there is FREE shipping on ALL of the globes that have a SKU that starts with RG. We are in the process of adding another 50 RG globes to our site. So, check back.

10-31-23

Happy Halloween! Just added a new photo that tells a fascinating story. We're approaching 50 of our exclusive photographs from our acclaimed wildlife photographer. Posted on our site (Wall Street Gifts>Wall Art) RM68 is a photo of a very angry pelican who just had a fish stolen from his beak! Our 2nd photo, just posted, shows the Osprey with the stolen fish in its talons! Doubt if many people have ever seen this happen. Our photographer is amazing....obviously not a planned photo!

10-25-23

Wall Street Gifts moved from California to New Hampshire to better serve our customer. The State of New Hampshire has no sales tax. Thus, you the customer pay no sales tax when you order from us. For some states, you're saving 10%.

10-23-23

So excited. A good friend who is the most amazing photographer I've ever known has agreed to share some of his photos with Wall Street Gifts. At age 9 he studied with Ansel Adams. He walls of blue ribbons and rooms of trophies he's won from Internationa Photography Groups. He is so patient and spends hour in the wildlife waiting for "that" moment. Like catching a Bald Eagle fly upside down! All photos are 16 x 20" and can be framed or unframed. For large orders he'll photoshop the photo itself with your personalization.

9-25-23

The Holidays are coming. Some grandparents are already purchasing an artist original piggy bank for all of the children on their Christmas list. We just added 3 new pigs. ALOHA could be useful to collect $$$ for Maui victims. Put it on your counter at work.  We have a cute Calico Cat Bank - our best cat piggy bank we've had. We now have over 35 dog statues from the Yorkie to the German Shepherd. Even a Labradoogle and a Chocolate Lab.

We have a major SALE happening. Some really reduced prices - medical & lawyer items, desk items, military and even golf. All items are discontinued and when they're gone...that's it. Have large quanties of a few. Maybe you can give everyone in the office a gift.

Most of our BIG sculptures sold out quickly. We've just gotten a shipment of the 33" Leopard and the 52" wolf. Such amazing animals.

6-13-23

Sadly, many of our BIG animals are sold out, discontinued and no more. The $1500 lion, the $1000 bear, the $900 wolf....and others. However, we decided to special order two of these BIG ANIMALS and they arrive after Labor Day. We're ordering the BIG wolf, $899.95 and the life size leopard, $399.95. We have activated those two so you can order now and receive in September. After that,,,,time will tell if there are more.

To compensate for the sold out African Animals, we now have Dogs. You can find them under SCULPTURES. Life size and smaller. You can create a family! Once we get all the dogs loaded we should have about 35 breeds on our site. Enjoy!

5-15-23

We created a new category of BIG this year. These are large animal sculptures, many are lifesize. They have been so popular we are now sold out of most of them. We still have a few in stock like a howling wolf, python, peacock, tortoise, etc. Costs continue to escalate. So, BIG animals arriving will be more expensive. We're in the process of deciding which ones to re-stock. You can see those we have...go to Home Page and you'll see BIG on the green bar. Just got the lifesize alligator back in stock.

4-14-23

Too much bad news so we deleted part of the blog. Thankfully, we have loyal customers that have purchased from us for years.

This month we have been adding lots of dog sculptures. Some of the dogs are actual size of that breed - from Chihuahua to German Shepherd. You'll find over 20 dog breeds that are BIG. We also adding have of smaller dog statues that are much less expensive.

Wall Street Gifts continues to have the most colors of ceramic piggy banks - around 80. All are ours exclusively. We also have over 100 designs of piggy banks that our artists have created. We'll even try to create one especially for you. We've had the rainbow piggy bank for years. This year someone wanted the stripes vertical, not horizontal. Looks great!

4-3-22

Yes, prices have risen. Example - the ceramic piggy banks. Wall Street Gifts was founded 27 years ago. Within the first couple of years we began to sell piggy banks. Typically the "large" pig sold for $19.95 and the shipping cost was $5 or so. Today UPS and FedEx assign "dimensional" weight to a box. (It had been actual weight) Today the same size of box with a large pig inside ships for $20 or so. That's huge increase. But, we can't put a ceramic pig in a smaller size box.

Then you look at cost of material. Besides manufacturing cost, we have had to add more cost due to transportation time. Thus, our $19.95 pig that shipped for $5...now sells for $49.95 and ships

 

10-4-21

It's called scrambling for your life. Went to the Atlantic Gift Show...so many empty spaces. We've just added 500 new items to our site. We've had a few vendors go belly up. Here's accurate news from today: 

"A historic backlog of cargo ships in Southern California has left the supply chain and shipping industry in a crisis, Mario Cordero, the executive director of the Port of Long Beach, warned this week. Cordero, who oversees one of the busiest ports in the country, advised people to start holiday shopping as soon as possible due to the disruptions in the supply chain. The port will move about 20 million containers this year, more than ever before. Consumers will definitely feel the pinch, as companies across the board – from raw materials to durable goods, electronics, furniture, and auto parts – have been hit with shortages and delays. The situation is in a crisis mode.” 

Earlier this month, ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach broke multiple records for the number of ships in the locations, as well as the number of cargo ships waiting to dock. On Tuesday, the ports housed 144 ships – including 41 container ships waiting off shore at anchor or in drift areas, according to data from the Marine Exchange of Southern California. Before the pandemic, the ports typically saw an average of zero to one ship waiting to dock, but now the ships wait weeks to unload. The cargo on the ships currently at anchor in the California ports – which handle nearly half of all US imports – will likely not be seen until the end of October or November."

This is what we're dealing with....

7-11-21

So much is happening. Decisions need to be made. If you have input, let us know! Practically all of the piggy banks we sell are made in China. For 20 years we have tried to find a manufacturer in USA or Mexico to no avail. We paint our pigs in Philly, so, therefore, can claim made in USA. Just like a Made in USA car...not all parts are made in America. Costs are rising dramatically. To bring one 40 ft container from China used to cost $3500-4000 based upon which USA port it went to. Today that price has jumped to $20,000 or so. That's a 500% increase. Who owns the shipping line? China. Our XXL piggy bank has been sitting in a container in a China port that is closed. Container's been there 2 months. Will it be there all year? If so, no more XXL pigs this year. The last container of sculptures that arrived in June. We lost money on every item sold - due to the high ocean freight, higher raw material cost, and the fluctuating currency.  Do we double the price of what we sell? Troubling times.

6-5-21

For years we tried to get ceramic piggy banks within the USA or from Mexico. Have never found a source. Thus, all ceramic piggy banks are made in China. We sell about 400 sculptures on our site. 99% are made in China. These sculptures are electroplated. The US does not allow electroplating. Why someone hasn't developed a room, or even a factory, for electroplating in US that is environmentally friendly I don't understand. But, bottom line most of our sculptures and all piggy banks are manufactured in China.

 

 

 

 

4-17-21

Saw an awesome bird event. A Bald Eagle was soaring overhead and a crow began attacking it. The crow would fly to within 5-6 feet of the eagle then u-turn....this happened 6 times with a bunch of birders watching and exclaiming. The 7th time the crow began its approach the bald eagle rolled over on it's back. It extended its talon in the air. When the crow approached and saw what the eagle had done, the crow left, not to be seen again. The eagle rolled back over and resumed soaring. Never saw that before! The king of the air!

 

 

 

2-8-21

Wow. Time passes when you're having fun. We've now been in business for 25 years. How did we get to be that old! Starting with 8 products on wallstreetgifts.com we grew to 6,000 products. Then Amazon came along and we selected products that were exclusviely ours or practically all ours. Our goal is quality and happy customers. Since we are a New Hampshire LLC there are no sales taxes.