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FREE Welcome Home banners for the troops coming home

phototec

phototec

New Member
An Austin Texas sign company has been giving away FREE Welcome Home banners, they have donated nearly 200,000 banners to military family and friends since 2008.

http://www.buildasign.com/Troops


They came up with the idea after customers ordering welcome home signs for troops kept asking about a military discount.
"We thought, it seems like we can do a little bit better," said Andy Knopp, director of corporate development for BuildASign.com.

Originally, the sign company decided to giveaway 10,000 signs for troops and thought it would take a couple of years to do it.
"It really spread quickly on the Internet," said Knopp. "A lot of military spouses and organizations got a hold of it and ran with it and we ended up getting 10,000 orders in about three weeks."

They had to buy a bigger printer to keep up with the demand at their main printing facility in North Austin. Currently, they fill about 200 orders a day just for friends and family of returning military.
Customers only have to cover shipping, and can customize the banners while ordering online by adding their own message, pictures and backgrounds.

The company is well aware business will likely pick up in the next couple months after President Barack Obama announced all U.S. troops will be home for the holidays.

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/military/High-demand-for-welcome-home-signs

:wavingflag: :rock-n-roll: :wavingflag: :thumb: :wavingflag: :notworthy: :wavingflag: :clapping:
 
HulkSmash

HulkSmash

New Member
it cost about 5 dollars MAX to ship a 2x4.

that's about .80 in material cost + ink about .50 cents.
labor is like 4 minutes per banner.

total of about 3 dollars. + 5 for shipping.

they make all of their material cost back on shipping plus a few extra bucks for their pockets. I'm sure that brings them so much more business in the long run.


So, 200,000 x ~15 bucks is 3 million
30mil - ~ 1.8mil (material cost + shipping+ labor) =1.2mil in profits.

not too bad of a business plan.
 
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mikefine

mikefine

New Member
First of all, I applaud the mentioned sign shop's effort. They are doing a good thing.

From a business analysis perspective, what about other expenses other than material and ink? Don't you have to consider maintenance of printers, labor to print and produce, grommets, packing materials and tubes, clerical -- loading and labeling, ordering and stocking materials, etc.? I am not sure how they can turn a small profit, or even cover cost, with a few dollars added to shipping.

But on the flip side, they have captured the email addresses of the spouses of the returning military. What must that database be worth? Not to mention the free press and exposure they have received from their efforts.
 
Fred Weiss

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
It's not only a great thing to do but also good for business. After the attacks on 9-11, we donated several 1,000 "In Memory" edge printed decals to our local firefighters which they installed on people's cars in return for donations to the NYFD and NYPD funds. We did the same thing in our shop, adding flags, and donated what was received. There was no thought as to even recovering our costs.

In the next several months, however, we found our business doubled with customers remembering us and coming in for their own needs.
 
phototec

phototec

New Member
Fred Weiss said:
It's not only a great thing to do but also good for business.
Click to expand...


Yes Fred, I posted this because I wanted to share some GOOD karma and what one of our local central Texas sign companies was doing in support of our troops, and right away, some have turned it around and tried to make it into a profit resource.

I think some of the poster's are missing the big picture here, Build-A-Sign, started off by saying they were ONLY going to donate 10,000 banners, and like other good ideas, it just went viral on them. You can bet the banners, which are all custom designed are NOT making a big profits for them, I don't believe they are doing it for profit. And so what if they make a small profit, the FREE banners and LOW shipping cost they charge makes these banners very affordable for the soldiers families.

How many here would make a custom banner and ship it to a soldiers family member for $12.94 just to show support?

:help
 
Circleville Signs

Circleville Signs

New Member
phototec said:
Yes Fred, I posted this because I wanted to share some GOOD karma and what one of our local central Texas sign companies was doing in support of our troops, and right away, some have turned it around and tried to make it into a profit resource.

I think some of the poster's are missing the big picture here, Build-A-Sign, started off by saying they were ONLY going to donate 10,000 banners, and like other good ideas, it just went viral on them. You can bet the banners, which are all custom designed are NOT making a big profits for them, I don't believe they are doing it for profit. And so what if they make a small profit, the FREE banners and LOW shipping cost they charge makes these banners very affordable for the soldiers families.

How many here would make a custom banner and ship it to a soldiers family member for $12.94 just to show support?

:help
Click to expand...

If I knew I would bs doing 200,000 of them? I'd do it in a heartbeat.
 
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