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Need Help Is coro-platics sign profitable?

Nick Nie

New Member
Hello everyone, we are having more inquiry about 500- 1000 coroplatics sign, we never win any of them, the pricing goes down to $4-5 sign, we don't have flat head printer, only print on the vinyl and apply. the coro itself is cheap but the labor involved is high. if more than 100 signs, we will have to use 2 days for production. i calculated many times it seems not worth to do this kind of work. is there any tips or tricks on this business ? thanks a lot.
 

bannertime

Active Member
I think I'd rather die than apply vinyl to 500 coro signs. Even doing that on 4x8s and cutting down would drive me nuts. We'll do vinyl for orders less than 10. There are a few "trade-only" screen printers here in the US, but even then we're still at like $6 ea. To compete with those prices you have to do the work yourself. But one tip, don't race to be the lowest price. You're not alive and breathing to work, you work to live. Don't kill yourself by trying to outbid everyone.
 

Christian @ 2CT Media

Active Member
Hello everyone, we are having more inquiry about 500- 1000 coroplatics sign, we never win any of them, the pricing goes down to $4-5 sign, we don't have flat head printer, only print on the vinyl and apply. the coro itself is cheap but the labor involved is high. if more than 100 signs, we will have to use 2 days for production. i calculated many times it seems not worth to do this kind of work. is there any tips or tricks on this business ? thanks a lot.
You won't be able to compete with vinyl applied, it is just not possible. That being said Coro can be very lucrative if you find the right client. We have clients that pay upwards of $200/sheet buying 100's of sheets a year from us. We are nothing special in that regard but we have developed a relationship and we bend over backward for them. They have ordered from others in the past and have had some major issues.
 
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Gino

Premium Subscriber
Most likely, you won't be competitive, especially if they find someone with flatbed capabilities. Some flatbeds can print 4 or 5.... 4 x 8s out an hour and some can do 1 about every 2 minutes, which would be about a 2 hour job, plus cutting them down. You could easily have 500 started, cut and finished in a morning. Why not look into being the first in your area to have one, if no one else is offering it ??
 

BALLPARK

New Member
Hello everyone, we are having more inquiry about 500- 1000 coroplatics sign, we never win any of them, the pricing goes down to $4-5 sign, we don't have flat head printer, only print on the vinyl and apply. the coro itself is cheap but the labor involved is high. if more than 100 signs, we will have to use 2 days for production. i calculated many times it seems not worth to do this kind of work. is there any tips or tricks on this business ? thanks a lot.

I would not advise printing & applying them to blanks unless you really just need the work, if so do what you need to do to make it happen. There will come a time that you will be able to purchase a used flatbed and print them in-house. Until that day... I would suggest to sub them out and profit from them each and every day! There are multiple suppliers on this site that produce quality coro signs. I'm not sure if any of them ship to Canada.

I would suggest to google wholesale to the trade only suppliers in Canada for UV & Screen Print Coroplast Signs. Create some flyers and send them out to local governments, non-profits, construction companies, internet companies, cash for gold, title loans, etc... If you send out enough professional style emails with your marketing materials you could very well find a source that will lead to purchasing your own equipment, if you want that path. But I'm sure a good salesperson could make a very good living subbing out the work and profiting on volume.

Good luck...
 

printguyjohn

New Member
Signs 365 is like $10 a sheet or something, insanely cheap with free $10 next day production/ship - no one on this forum or any other trade printer, INCLUDING 4over (the king of trade print) can compete. I dare anyone to prove me wrong. :)
 

Texas_Signmaker

Very Active Signmaker
Signs 365 is like $10 a sheet or something, insanely cheap with free $10 next day production/ship - no one on this forum or any other trade printer, INCLUDING 4over (the king of trade print) can compete. I dare anyone to prove me wrong. :)

Well, I'll take you up on that dare... They are $40-$50 a sheet plus $10 shipping.

If your cost is $5 a sign for double sided, you can't compete with a screenprinter selling for $4.... thus my suggestion to buy them from ebay for $2.17/ea free shipping. https://www.ebay.com/itm/100-18x24-...333414?hash=item335e1da5e6:g:v3AAAOSw2x1XKRR7
 

printguyjohn

New Member
Well, I'll take you up on that dare... They are $40-$50 a sheet plus $10 shipping.

If your cost is $5 a sign for double sided, you can't compete with a screenprinter selling for $4.... thus my suggestion to buy them from ebay for $2.17/ea free shipping. https://www.ebay.com/itm/100-18x24-...333414?hash=item335e1da5e6:g:v3AAAOSw2x1XKRR7
I should of been clearer: I meant to say full color. I know 1 color and screen printed signs are still hugely popular due to the affordability. However, full color is equally if not more popular, especially come political season every 2 years.

When it comes to color, none of the other trade printers come close to matching Signs365. Not only in price, but speed, delivery and quality. And this is from someone who loves 4over and how they were able to stick to these silly "we're 10th generation Hedeilberg owners from INSERT_SMALL_TOWN here, Johns Lithrographics Inc who consistenly is posting on forums complaining their customers are leaving them because 4over lets little guys sell brochures dirt cheap. Even them, the king of Trade Printing, 4over, can't compete.

I gotta give it to Signs365, they came out of the woodwork and built they're whole business large in part...On...Buying ad space on the back of signs magazines.Yes, that's right. Not telemarketing, trade shows or direct mail. Buying and placing kick-ass full page back or front cover ads with extremely low pricing and an industry first flat rate overnight anywhere.

G'damn I love America. Unlike other folk, I love competition.

/rant

:)
 

unclebun

Active Member
Signs365 is $40/sheet for a s.f. 4'x8' sheet, no matter how it's cut up. What gets me is the $10 next day shipping. When we ship a lighter package of roughly the same size as a box of 18x24's from Signs365, by ground, we're getting charged anywhere from $10-$19 depending on destination address type. And next day shipping can be $75. Same thing with Amazon shipping. Basically the large shippers are being subsidized by the small shippers. I know, volume, yada, yada. But the Post Office would be in a lot better shape if they weren't undercutting their own price to ship Amazon's packages. And though Jeff Bezos might be a million or two poorer if Amazon had to pay the same rates as everyone else, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Considering the volume that they ship, if they just made Amazon pay half what I do, they (UPS or FedEx) could send my packages for free and be making twice the money they are now.
 

Quark

Merchant Member
I should of been clearer: I meant to say full color. I know 1 color and screen printed signs are still hugely popular due to the affordability. However, full color is equally if not more popular, especially come political season every 2 years.

When it comes to color, none of the other trade printers come close to matching Signs365. Not only in price, but speed, delivery and quality. And this is from someone who loves 4over and how they were able to stick to these silly "we're 10th generation Hedeilberg owners from INSERT_SMALL_TOWN here, Johns Lithrographics Inc who consistenly is posting on forums complaining their customers are leaving them because 4over lets little guys sell brochures dirt cheap. Even them, the king of Trade Printing, 4over, can't compete.

I gotta give it to Signs365, they came out of the woodwork and built they're whole business large in part...On...Buying ad space on the back of signs magazines.Yes, that's right. Not telemarketing, trade shows or direct mail. Buying and placing kick-*** full page back or front cover ads with extremely low pricing and an industry first flat rate overnight anywhere.

G'damn I love America. Unlike other folk, I love competition.

/rant

:)

So how do they do it ?
 
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