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Minimum charge on small jobs?

mikey-Oh

New Member
There was only .125" (1/8") in between each one, so I actually only used 4 sq ft.

What about the following policy for a minimum charge:

Cut vinyl: $25.00

Digital print: $50.00

???

Could work, just depends on your aspirations. My employers adopted similar pricing grid before he hired me :D
 

HulkSmash

New Member
If someone wants a large square sticker. I charge them a flat Square footage price. and if they want DI-CUT stickers i charge double.

For example with random numbers...

Job 1: 1 sticker to replace existing metal face. (24sqft.) $5.00 a sq ft -$120

Job 2: Same material used to print the other sticker. But this time the job is 100 di cut stickers. (11sqft) $10.00 a sqft - $110.00

Even though it's the same material your doing an extra process on an extra machine you had to pay extra money for. Not to mention the time to weed (and mask if necessary) it takes your employee..
 
Yeah, mailbox number "205" scrap vinyl used, a little tape, 5 minutes time $4.28 with tax. Thank you! I see you guys point, I have PITA customers too BUT, word of mouth is the best advertising!!!! Keep grams happy with the mailbox numbers, his grandson then orders $2,000 sign later, or not. Hey $4.28 pays for lunch here in Nebraska City, especially when they pay cash!!!!

:goodpost: I have to agree with Mosh on this one!
 

natedawg9640

New Member
re-using vinyl that is left over from an already paid for source is the equivalent to using free material. do what you can to get the best reap and use leftovers from large jobs to run small jobs on. why would you throw EVERYTHING away so you have to tap into new stock for little odd and end jobs.
 

toli13

New Member
It needed me some time to figure out, what's called a PITA customer. Funny.
Seems, that these time wasters can be found all over the world.
I go with Mosh and similar points of view. These tiny orders may can be combined with bigger ones for effective production and sometimes a large order follows or may be a recommendation to someone else. If the customer needs his sticker (or whatever) very quick, he has to pay some extra for wasted material and machine setup - for example 25 € instead of 10 €.
And about the PITAs ... for me a working strategy is to consequently tell them that "Everything what costs me time will cost you money" (hope it's undestandable translated). Usually this is clear even to the biggest talker.
Tilo
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Care to copy & paste that formula here?

Sorry.... no can do. That's why it's over there.




A shop minimum on anything in your shop should be the norm. If you buy a burger at any fast food place.... you always do better when buying the meal package.

Whatever amount you set your price at... is entirely up to you, but when you think about it... if for one week, everyone that came in and ordered just little crap, you'd be complaining about all the little pint-sized orders. Why did I invest in this expensive machine ?? Where are the larger orders and so forth. So, prepare ahead of time for this and set your shop minumum to reflect those off times and you'll be surprised at how this small procedure enhances your bottom line.

No sense in giving stuff away. Smart people don't....... :thumb:
 

Colin

New Member
Sorry.... no can do. That's why it's over there.

That's so lame.




A shop minimum on anything in your shop should be the norm. If you buy a burger at any fast food place.... you always do better when buying the meal package.

Whatever amount you set your price at... is entirely up to you, but when you think about it... if for one week, everyone that came in and ordered just little crap, you'd be complaining about all the little pint-sized orders. Why did I invest in this expensive machine ?? Where are the larger orders and so forth. So, prepare ahead of time for this and set your shop minumum to reflect those off times and you'll be surprised at how this small procedure enhances your bottom line.
No sense in giving stuff away. Smart people don't....... :thumb:

Good advice - thanks.
 

Colin

New Member
Sorry, but I fundamentally disagree with the enire money-grabbing concept; it is contrary to what a public forum is all about.

Childish. Exclusionary. In-group/Out-group. Prohibitive. Preferential. Segregated. Restrictive. Selfish.......are some terms that come to mind, but it reminds me of children who construct their various little clubs and tree forts with secret passwords or membership requirements and then take great joy in excluding others.
 
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Steve G.

New Member
Who employs a minimum charge for small print jobs, and how much?

I ask because I just got an order for 100 1.5" x 3" decals, and while it's only 4 sq. ft. of material, it doesn't seem right to be charging a regular square foot rate for such a small job which I had to set-up and run through the usual process.


Pricing software usually address's these issues. I use graphix calc. It has (order) size multipliers built in and you can edit/tailor them to your needs, therefore i can price accurately, and quickly. If you understand how size multipliers work you can build your own pricing scale.. or just use an existing one.

example 0-1 sq. ft. = X times 10
1-3 sq. ft. = X times 7, etc. etc.

.. it's all been done before.

To answer your first question, I would charge a minumum, unless you're really slow. Ours is 38 to 75 depending on who the customer is. I think 50 min for digital printing is more than fair considering you just bought a printer. You should be charging at least a dollar a minute for your time.
Gotta make that payment
 
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