B!tch and Gripe Session........................................... ....

[Gino]

How many times has this happened to you ??

We just finished lettering 4 trucks for a customer yesterday. After they picked up the last truck, they called and asked if we could make a quick decal. 8" x 66". Sure, how many do you need ?? Just one. Alright, I'll find a scrap and fetchya a good price. They picked it up a little after lunch today. They liked it and just ordered another one. Good grief, now I hafta print into a 54" roll for an 8" high graphic..... and they're gonna expect the same pricing. Cripes.

​

Good thing, they're a good customer of ours. ​

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

That's why I leave my pricing the same. I don't do deals on scraps. If I have a piece and I can use it then kudos to me for saving the extra money and making more on the job. Instead you get the kudos for the cheap price and then on the next one you have to eat it. If I was going to drop down the price for something like this. I would make sure the customer knew they were getting the good deal because I had leftovers and that this was a one time price.

 

[Tony McD]

Hate it when that happens...it is a pain.
Sometimes able to gang these in with another job if they aren't in a big hurry (which never seems to happen)
Usually my scraps are an inch short.

Not long ago, had a boat dealer wanting pin stripes for a 30' boat.
Sorry, not going to burn 1 1/2" off a 24" roll 30' long.
Then he showed me his book where he could order any combination of stripes he could ever need,
for way less money than I would have had to charge.
Didn't want to wait for ups I guess.

 

[Baz]

I know that situation!

I have allot of success in asking my customers if they can wait a couple of days for their last minute add-on item so I can print it up along with other small orders.
I make them understand how much waste it would be if I printed their order on it's own.

Nobody has complained ... yet.

 

[Gino]

Yeah, we usually do the same with walk-ins and whatnot, but really good customers, I try to take some extra good care with them. Kinda like going to your favorite butcher and he always makes sure you get the finest cut of meat or tells ya when a sale is coming up.


:Oops: Anyway, maybe I was a little misleading. I started this thread to have everyone join in with their own B!tch and Gripe stories. Things that just make ya go ...... sh!t

Let's hear other stories that upset y'all........... ​

 

[Vinyldog]

To me, if I can make a product out of it, it's not scrap. Maybe consider giving them the small order in exchange for some good-will that you could cash in on the next big one.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

One of my big ones. I always go out of my way to send proofs to customers and make sure to tell them check he proof thouroughly for design, spelling, and punctuation errors, as I check them myself also. It never fails we send out a project signs with names misspelled. They were spelled that way on the order, and on the proof that you approved and now you want me to make you plates to cover up your mistakes for FREEEEE..



GOOOOOOO $^##^$^$&^##*&$^$ yourself. But I don't say this. Make the covers and inform the customer they are ready. If I charged for every mistake that I didn't make. I would probably have another 10% income.

Never the less we still do everything we can to please them.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

To me, if I can make a product out of it, it's not scrap. Maybe consider giving them the small order in exchange for some good-will that you could cash in on the next big one.

This is the shop full of 3"squares and 2"x10foot strips stacked under the table. If you account for it in pricing, you can just save the big pieces and toss the tiny ones. Too much wasted time, trying to find the right size piece and right color by the time you get it done I have two signs done with the same profit as your one sign that took forever to make.

 

[sfr table hockey]

How about this one....

I had a customer a couple years back need a poly metal sign about 8' x 3' mounted onto the side of a building. She delayed in getting me her logo for over a month and when I finally got it she wanted the sign done right away. She was moving in within a week or so of when I got the file. With being busy and just time you need for off gassing and laminating and the contour cutting around the logo on the sheet itself and as a one man shop, it took two weeks before it was installed. She was not happy with the time it took and made a point to say so. I thought to my self this is the last job I do for her and then just the other week she called up and needed a job done quite soon...... I said I was too busy to get at it for at least another month.

2nd part: I get along with my competition in town here very well, and in fact I do all the print jobs he needs done as he can't print. He calls up and needs a job printed in the next couple of days for a wall decal....... guess who the job was for.....HER.

Well after I laughed and told him about it I printed it right away for him. At least I stood my ground on not doing work for her again.

 

[TheSnowman]

I have a customer that orders postcards on a fairly regular basis. They normally expect me to make little tiny changes 10X for each project, and normally they've gotten a pretty good deal from me. The last time they must not have liked the design costs because they designed their own this time and emailed it to me. I said "This will be fine, it'll come out to a 5" X 5" postcard, and look just like the files you sent me." Ok, they say..."Print 1000." No problem, send off the order, customer picks them up, and I get a call the next day...."I don't know who screwed up on this, but this IS NOT a postcard. Postcards are supposed to be rectangle, and this is a square!"

I kindly informed her that was was crazy, because it was INDEED a postcard, and that they come in about 40 different sizes, and I told her the size before she ordered them, and she approved it.

She's now been working on a new design for two weeks. We'll see if they ever order again.

 

[GAC05]

I have a customer that orders postcards on a fairly regular basis. They normally expect me to make little tiny changes 10X for each project, and normally they've gotten a pretty good deal from me. The last time they must not have liked the design costs because they designed their own this time and emailed it to me. I said "This will be fine, it'll come out to a 5" X 5" postcard, and look just like the files you sent me." Ok, they say..."Print 1000." No problem, send off the order, customer picks them up, and I get a call the next day...."I don't know who screwed up on this, but this IS NOT a postcard. Postcards are supposed to be rectangle, and this is a square!"

I kindly informed her that was was crazy, because it was INDEED a postcard, and that they come in about 40 different sizes, and I told her the size before she ordered them, and she approved it.

She's now been working on a new design for two weeks. We'll see if they ever order again.

Heh,
you should have told her a 5x5 square is actually an Isometric Rectangle according to Common Core doctrine......

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Bretbyron]

I can get that same banner online for $55.