Bulk Supplies

[Farmboy]

What if any supplies do you purchase in bulk to get a better price?
I'm thinking of getting a skid of coro and considering a dozen rolls of vin and lam.
Just not finding much savings in either to justify the all at once cost.

 

[TomK]

We mainly do decals and small print jobs, so we keep qty 2 of our most used vinyl in stock, when we open the 2nd one, we order another backfill for it.

Where I live, I can get most things next day AM delivery (no charge) from Grimco, and 2 days away from any US Cutter orders, as long as I place the order by 5PM the day before.

 

[ChaseO]

You really have to be careful stocking up on colored vinyl especially. The shelf life just isn't long enough to buy a bunch to sit on. I buy real-estate frames, ACM and coro in decent quantities to get a break, but not as much vinyl as I can usually get it pretty fast.

 

[2B]

You really have to be careful stocking up on colored vinyl especially. The shelf life just isn't long enough to buy a bunch to sit on. I buy real-estate frames, ACM and coro in decent quantities to get a break, but not as much vinyl as I can usually get it pretty fast.

exactly, we follow the same process.

if the material has zero effect from storage than we stock up when the price is good.

 

[ExecuPrintGS]

When we got our UV Flatbed Hybrid we made the decision to buy coro and rolls of banner in bulk.
We also carry a minimum (10 4x8s) of a lot of substrates (foamboard, styrene, PVC) just to cover ourselves for rush orders.

We have done a good job with our suppliers trying to get the best prices possible, but also building a relationship that we know we can trust them in a pinch.

 

[Gino]

I think your location has more to do with this than anything else. If your suppliers can deliver in a day, just let them warehouse it for you. The small savings is hardly worth it in the long run, unless your turnover is a skid a week. Why have your money laying on a shelf for a few weeks ?? It does more good in your pocket, then saving 14¢ for a customer who doesn't know any better. We treat everything like it's a silk screened job. We buy about a 10% overage for rejects, misprints and whatnot. No mistakes, then we have surplus. After a while, a job will come through and we just use our surplus, which has been paid for by all the previous customers and presto, you save more than the 5% or 10% savings by ordering a skid and it wasn't outta your pocket. )))

 

[Farmboy]

What I'd like to find is a supplier that operates the same as our shirt supplier. No matter what quantity we order we get better than case pricing due to our volume and loyalty to their company. No one in the sign world works this way, at least none around here.