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Rant Are you open on Saturday?

Active Sign

Sign Guy
Why do people keep asking me if I’m open on Saturday? We are a custom sign shop that caters to businesses Monday-Friday.

It seems like every week someone asks me what time we are open on Saturday.

I tried to open on Saturday for about a year in 2013. I would get soccer moms wanting a single decal or a heat pressed shirt or something small. I couldn’t justify my time.

Am I missing something here? Is your shop open Saturdays?


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visual800

Active Member
no im not and I dont take calls on those days concerning signage. if you didnt get it done friday you can wait till monday there is nothing i can do about it
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
Why do people keep asking me if I’m open on Saturday? We are a custom sign shop that caters to businesses Monday-Friday.

It seems like every week someone asks me what time we are open on Saturday.

I tried to open on Saturday for about a year in 2013. I would get soccer moms wanting a single decal or a heat pressed shirt or something small. I couldn’t justify my time.

Am I missing something here? Is your shop open Saturdays?


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I am "Open" on Saturdays because a few times I got emergency sign repair calls that I was able to clean up on. MOST of the time I get those crap vehicle decal orders that they don't want to pay over $20 and want it in an hour. SOMETIMES I get business orders or trucker small decal orders that I charge a nice premium for. My minimum goes up to $175 on weekends. My shop is behind my house and I'm usually lazing around and it's not that inconvenient for me to walk back there and stamp out a quick decal order if I know $175 is motivating me to turn off the TV and get off the couch.

One time I got a call about a sign in the process of falling down. Made $1300 in 3 hours on an emergency service call to re-install it.

I get like one call every Saturday and out of that...one in of 5 is an order I actually want to do. I don't think your phone will be blowing up on the weekends but it keeps you available for emergency $$ makers. When I get crap calls I just explain to them that we're on-call on the weekends for emergency service. I'll joke with them and say we CAN do it but the cost my be frighting compared to Monday... are you sitting down? Lol
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Years ago, I was open on Saturdays. I'd be the only person in there on a Saturday and it was 8:30 - 1:00. Did a fair amount of work, but more than new business coming in, I got 4 more hours to coat out boards, do some paperwork or layouts. It was my time to get things done while the phone wasn't going crazy. When we moved into our current shop 17 years ago, I decided to spend Saturdays at home and no longer at the shop. Since we had become so computerized and having digital printers and whatnot, time wasn't needed for painting or other things, as we progressed, so the rest is history.

If your place of business is in a mall or a main street, then maybe you need to be open, but otherwise, I highly doubt it.
 

Modern Ink Signs

Premium Subscriber
Not open on the weekend. I tried it was a waist of time. Good time to get caught up if you need to though.


My employees and I work hard during the week. We are 99% business to business. So the few individuals that we would get on the weekend is not worth it.


The weekend is time for us to spend with our families and friends.
 

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
I'm open on Saturday. 95% of what I do is business to business. On Saturdays, I tend to get the businesses that are part time. Typically those that are week nights and weekends.

It's no big deal with the customers that I have.

Now, I won't work on Sunday, but I have been known to work during vacations (something that my dad had to do while we went on vacations to help pay for them, so I'm sure I picked up that mentality from him).
 

Active Sign

Sign Guy
I personally feel that the weekend is for family and friends. That’s the main reason I closed up on Saturday other than the not making money part. It seems that many Americans have lost the concept of family time being important.


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ams

New Member
I used to be open on Saturdays for about 4 years, rarely got a customer, mostly one off cheap ones. But I used it for a day to catch up. Now I won't do it anymore, when I do go in on a weekend, I lock the door behind me and won't answer the phones.
 

OADesign

New Member
Closed on the weekends.

Although I do go in occasionally on a Saturday or Sunday evening. Me, some music, and a pot of tea or coffee can make magic. It is amazing how much work I can get done when its quiet I can focus on the work on hand. No tire kickers, chatty soccer moms, phone calls or vendor sales reps "stopping by". Seriously sometimes, 3-4 hours on the weekend equals 2 full weekdays. I knock out jobs that have stalled out for what ever reason. Pump out 20-25 proofs. Or sometimes I will go in and let the printers run while I watch tutorials or research fixes for problems I've encountered during the week. One of my favorite things to do lately is to use an hour or two to make / do stuff for the shop. Edit the job board to make it more efficient. Hang prints or art that we've collected over time. Poke around the production area to see how I can make my production guys' work flow better.
And then there are those weekends where I want nothing to do with that place. Between Friday 4:01p to Monday 7:01a is my time and my time only. Don't even look in my direction until 1st cup o'clock. Better yet let's meet at 2ndcup30. Yeah, that works better for me.
 
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CanuckSigns

Active Member
We used to be open from 9-12 on Saturdays, but like everyone else we just got tire kickers and tiny orders. We offer engraving at our shop and would get people coming in to get a pet tag or bracelet engraved, usually didn't make enough to pay the staff member who worked that day.

If someone can't make it in during business hours, we will make arrangements to meet with them on the weekend, I find that is a good compromise. Now don't get me started on people who make weekend appointments and don't show up.....
 

Bly

New Member
I'm usually there on Saturdays but just to catch up on bookwork, trying out new techniques or working on the business.
I don't answer the phone.
As others have said it's the only chance to do some things in peace.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
I'm usually there on Saturdays but just to catch up on bookwork, trying out new techniques or working on the business.
I don't answer the phone.
As others have said it's the only chance to do some things in peace.
0


Yeah, but you don't count. Your Saturday is not our Saturday. What....... are you a day ahead or behind ??

o_O
 

rjssigns

Active Member
Saturday if its a big pay day. Sunday too. Learned that from my dad. He always said to make money while its there to be made. Never know where your next check is coming from.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: 2B

Bly

New Member
0


Yeah, but you don't count. Your Saturday is not our Saturday. What....... are you a day ahead or behind ??

o_O

We're a day ahead on the clock but 10 years behind in other ways.

I have to agree with rj too. Sometimes you just have to put in a few extra hours to grab it while it's there.
 

bannertime

Active Member
We're closed on the weekends, but here I am at 4pm on a Sunday getting ready for an early Monday job. Our door says Saturday By Appointment, which means like a $5k or more job.
 

GAC05

Quit buggin' me
We end up working weekends as the ad agencies we work with tend to try to push their files out to us on Friday afternoons to clear up their weekends. Trying to work with them to change this habit but they also have to deal with the clients approval timelines.
In the end it is hard to complain about work coming into the shop instead of having to go out and chase it down.
 
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