Bumper Sticker Printers?

[Joe Diaz]

Give the guy a break... if he has 25 cents in a sticker and the rest is his labor and he sells 10 a day for 5 bucks each then he has a good little side business.

Is it really? You are focusing on material, but I would say time is much more valuable. While he is spending his time working on those bumper stickers, he isn't spending it on other, I would argue, more profitable endeavorers.

The other thing you aren't taking into consideration is that the OP wants to invest time and materials on things he isn't certain will sell yet, So he would first have to sell enough of that already produced product to cover all of that initial time and material investment before he can make any type of profit. It's high risk, low pay.

The OP says he(or she) is a graphic designer. The OP could spend his time creating one logo a day and make way more money without the hassle of printing.

I seen a lot of people bashing...

You are being a bit defensive or sensitive. It isn't bashing. People are simply giving advice based on their experience. And that advice is that this idea doesn't sound very profitable. Argue it is tell you are blue in the face, but don't call it bashing.

 

[jwright350]

Me & your Mom are proud of you.... but what does this have to do with some guy trying to figure out how to make 5 prints each of 1000 designs?



I suppose making $50 a day is a "good little side business" in Wichita KS!

I was just trying to get down to your level was all. I turned a 1 at time business into a $750,000 per year national account my friend. I took me 5 years, but I kid you not. You prove yourself time and time again, and then it happens...you blow up!

And if you are working from home... $50 bucks a day will at least pay for some beer!

 

[jiarby]

Fred got it "wright" (LOL!)

Gang up a bunch of designs and job them out to a wholesale printer. Maybe even one in Kansas...

 

[jwright350]

Is it really? You are focusing on material, but I would say time is much more valuable. While he is spending his time working on those bumper stickers, he isn't spending it on other, I would argue, more profitable endeavorers.

The other thing you aren't taking into consideration is that the OP wants to invest time and materials on things he isn't certain will sell yet, So he would first have to sell enough of that already produced product to cover all of that initial time and material investment before he can make any type of profit. It's high risk, low pay.

The OP says he(or she) is a graphic designer. The OP could spend his time creating one logo a day and make way more money without the hassle of printing.

But if his other option is sitting a home watching TV...you can consider the labor to be free. This isn't something he's trying to do to support a huge company. He's doing ALL the work himself.


..... this thread crack me up. Can't you guys just be happy for him?

 

[jiarby]

I was just trying to get down to your level was all.

Not sure what you mean by this.... I was being serious with the OP...

I can go MUCH lower!

Do you find that leaving your own fake reviews of your own business was helpful in building your business?

$750k contract? Looks like you are doing something else with the profit besides investing in your storefront!

 

[jwright350]

Not sure what you mean by this.... I was being serious with the OP...

I can go MUCH lower!

Do you find that leaving your own fake reviews of your own business was helpful in building your business?

$750k contract? Looks like you are doing something else with the profit besides investing in your storefront!

I've got nothing to hide, my building looks like hell and shame on me for testing out the Google review, I'm a horrible person! My website also sucks...just too busy printing to mess with that stuff. ( FYI, That pic was taken during road construction that lasted 2 years...they ripped all the land out in front of my building and relocated the sign up next to the building...so we didn't even have sign faces in!)

But hey, I can't blame you for not knowing that the building on West street is just our old retail location and that our business office is across town.

But I think you are the one checking up on people to find the liars... maybe you should look in the mirror and ask yourself if thats how you'd like to be treated. Stop trying to tear people down and try to help!

I also never said contact...you have to fight for stuff today...I did $750K last year for that one brand..the year before it was $600K. Next year it could be zero! But hey, thats just life. I'm sure you know how the business can come and go overnight.


...geeze how we have digressed... now they'll probably lock this guys thread because of this. my bad

 

[Malkin]

Buy a used Gerber Edge? It would seem to be ideal for your short run production needs.

 

[Joe Diaz]

But if his other option is sitting a home watching TV...you can consider the labor to be free. This isn't something he's trying to do to support a huge company. He's doing ALL the work himself.


..... this thread crack me up. Can't you guys just be happy for him?

I haven't done the math, but I would guess that collecting unemployment might be more profitable.

Besides, His other option isn't just sitting at home watching tv. A better option would be making more money doing something different.
"you can consider the labor to be free"
It's basic economics. That time spent doing something for free is time you aren't spending making money.


Those of us that think this is a poor business plan didn't come to this conclusion just because we want to be a$$es or fill our weekly forum bashing quota, but if you feel like that is the only reasons we took the time comment, then that is your opinion, I won't try change your mind. But if you want to try to change my mind or anyone else that thinks trying to sell bumper stickers in this way won't be profitable. I'm all ears. Prove it to me.

 

[jwright350]

Hey... I was just trying to help the guy. How many little sticker orders do I do today... probably the same as you, almost none unless its the right customer. Did I have any customers back when I opened my doors...nope. I took a big leap of faith and the business trickled in...1 small order at a time.

 

[CentralSigns]

I took a small leap of faith buying a printer with not enough market as well, I sourced out 10% of my sign jobs for printing. 5% of that was decals, now 20 % of my sales is decals, or bumper stickers and I'm doing OK. Jobin out the work is the best way to check a market. Build a print file that has a bunch of decals per shot, say 1 of 100 different patterns. Have a printer print 5 copies of it and send it to you uncut. Cut them yourself and save money. The biggest thing for you to do is research, you need to do some more research, $5 per is too high a price. Look at materials and equipment, you'll lose at that price. Look at a good printer, a name brand, eco-solvent or foil. A Roland SP300 or a Gerber edge could work to start. Buy used, less money if it doesn't work out for you. Get started, then once it takes off, upgrade to a better printer, by then you will have contacts to help you to get the right stuff, the best for the job. Maybe then you'll see the market different and just job it all out to Stouse, who knows. God luck to you, you need it.

 

[petesign]

New server.. same Signs 101

 

[jiarby]

I was just trying to help the OP out too. Forums are tough for hearing the inflection and nuances in a conversation. It is easy to misunderstand subtle sarcasm. It is not "tearing him down" to ask pointed questions and challenge the OP's plan.

Blowing sunshine & ice cream up his butt will not be helpful if his plan stinks.

You didn't do $750k printing bumper stickers on your Colorspan. He won't either.

He wants to test drive designs. Ok...
He doesn't have equipment. Ok...
He wants to do 100's of designs on spec... Ok...

What he SHOULD do is get the printing equipment and then crowd source the designs. He can become the shirt.woot of the bumpersticker world (gasp). Other people do all the design. He just picks the good ones, then prints & ships.

 

[jwright350]

I was just trying to help the OP out too. Forums are tough for hearing the inflection and nuances in a conversation. It is easy to misunderstand subtle sarcasm. It is not "tearing him down" to ask pointed questions and challenge the OP's plan.

Blowing sunshine & ice cream up his butt will not be helpful if his plan stinks.

You didn't do $750k printing bumper stickers on your Colorspan. He won't either.

He wants to test drive designs. Ok...
He doesn't have equipment. Ok...
He wants to do 100's of designs on spec... Ok...

What he SHOULD do is get the printing equipment and then crowd source the designs. He can become the shirt.woot of the bumpersticker world (gasp). Other people do all the design. He just picks the good ones, then prints & ships.

Man... I saw woot sell like 5,000 $300 hard drives for an Xbox the other day by 8am CST. We are both in the wrong business! LOL!

By the way...its blows that HP bought MacDermid! My Colorpans are awesome printers. My Mutohs are great too..but they require way too much work to keep running. Their idea of heavy duty and MacDermid's are polar opposites. My UV flat bed can have head crashes so bad the whole head carriage jumps off. You put it back together and it still prints like new!

... I expected some hazing being new.... guess I'm gettin' it.

 

[jiarby]

I can relate... my Mutoh chews through capping stations.

 

[Pat Whatley]

Fred's suggestion to gang them on one page and sub them out is BY FAR the best plan for what you're trying to do.

If you're insisting on trying it yourself you can buy laser printable bumper sticker paper at Office Depot. I can't tell you a whole lot about it, I noticed it one day and invested all of 30 seconds into looking it over because of the WTF factor.

 

[iSign]

Those of us that think this is a poor business plan didn't come to this conclusion just because we want to be a$$es or fill our weekly forum bashing quota, but if you feel like that is the only reasons we took the time comment, then that is your opinion...

dude, speak for yourself...

meeting my quota has been suffering seriously after the server upgrade

 

[mark in tx]

Does Cafe Press do bumper stickers? Seems like the place to "test market designs".

But seriously folks, the reason bumper stickers cost so little is because they print 10,000 at a time. The real trick is getting them distributed to 500 different stores. And managing the books for those 500 different customers.

 

[Signworks_WI]

My suggestion would be a Gerber edge also, for test runs, use an intermediate vinyl and those "test" decals will last 3-5 years. Then outsource them to a screen printer once you have your final pieces. We have one in our shop, I was doing about 100 of them, then the customer wanted 500, I outsourced it and made a profit both ways.

 

[Jet Fast Printing]

So, do ten or twenty designs and gang them in a nest of five of each. Send it to your outsource and then order more as needed.

Not every wholesale printer has minimums. Or at least not large ones. Ganging them up and wholesaling should work.

 

[rushworks graphics]

we do a fair bit for people who want to "sample" a decal/bumper sticker idea. we run them through our edge fx and we've been doing this for several years. granted when they want x amount of many hundreds or thousands then get it out to a screen printer, but for low volume or samples our edge fx is ideal. maybe buying an old edge would be an option for the op?