Dearest Bruce. If you really made that many candle I don't feel you would all this free time to sit on the net. For your information, the pieces in the pictures have been made simplier to allow any user to make them. That is what I have doing for the last 2 years. I have also been making candles and testing them with every new batch of appliances. May I suggest that in the future before you snap you try the idea before you dog it. I was offering for anyone to try the wick for free first. After that your comments would have been appreciated. This hate is unreal and very unexpected. Yes, to answer your question the cost projection has played a role in trying to keep cost down. We our little company estimated that a regular wick that now goes into candles cost less than a penny. The cost of these wicks would cost .08 cents. How we determine the rate increase is that you allow the candle to each the cost. Hate it! You do not have to use it. But before you put a new product out there Bruce, it takes about 1 year to do projected cost and profit margins. Determining the demand for items. Talking to consumers and doing surveys. That's what I have been doing for the last two years. If the feed back that we recieved was not positve, we would have stopped long ago. Next time, instead of being so nasty, trying being a little supportive. That is how I would have been with you. Yes, we make candles. Maybe you can purchase one when you see them on the store shelves.