Why are we trying to work for $15.00 an hour. The union guy down the road makes more, has benefits, has a pension fund,and gets paid for paid holidays! HIS INVESTMENT? A hardhat work boots and his lunchbox. O-ya his work boots and hardhat are supplied by the company.
Because it has an entry level that is largely unregulated and is treated as a business opportunity. Structural and electrical sign contracting is treated much more like builders, plumbers, electricians, and mechanics are treated. Most of those professions have active apprentice/journeyman/master programs in place with most jurisdictions providing support by law.
Entry level sign making however is treated more like an extension of desktop publishing or commercial printing. Once Gerber and others established that a commercially viable market existed for plotters, printers and vinyl, the flood gates swung open and technology found a huge market among opportunity seekers and do-it-yourselfers as well as many established sign companies.
That was good for quite a while because the cost of the technology was kept high and the business opportunity aspects were held in check. I think one of the major reasons that prices and perceptions changed was the advent of the retail located sign store followed quickly by franchises such as FastSigns and Sign-A-Rama. They demonstrated that the easier, everyday stuff could be highly profitable and as much or more a business than a craft.
That resulted in an ever increasing population of new sign businesses ... each seeing ever cheaper technology being made available. But more importantly is the acquired productivity of the technology. Today even a total newbie with a $300 computer, CorelDraw and a $300 plotter working from home can produce an exponentially greater amount of work than a master sign painter could produce in 1980. His barrier to entry into the business is less than $1000.00! And then you will hear complaints about the cost of equipment and materials.
I started full time with a Gerber Signmaker III in 1983 @ $10K and bought two more before the end of 1984 out of profits. Fonts were $285 each and by the time PCs and electronic type became available, I had purchased more than 200 fonts @ $285 each. By 1986, I had purchased more than $250K in equipment, fonts and accessories as reinvestment of profits.
Regrets? None. I made a good living and created jobs for others. Today's problems at the cut and print end of the business are purely the predictable result of too much technology and productivity at too low a price chasing too few a number of customers.
