Minimum Charge

[papabud]

i guess i am the odd one, i dont have any minimums. but i dont get a lot a Walmart shoppers either. If someone comes in and needs something and I have the time to do it. they get it. Or I could sit on my butt for 15 minutes making nothing and enjoy the fact that they didnt meet the min order requirements.

 

[customquint]

Man how can you have a $20 minimum? Are you a one man shop? We lose $20 just by spending 10 minutes haggling over the price. We're not a large shop, but our overhead is enough that we have to get at least $75 for a minimum order...sometimes we go for $100. It really depends. Like others, we don't adhere to minimums for all of our big clients. Generally just for the walk in "I need a car decal" or "I need a garage sale sign". Some we can upsell to make that minimum work, others just end up going elsewhere. But we aren't even loading a plotter with vinyl for $20.

I have 2 full time employees plus me, over a quarter million dollars in sales with growth every year, been in business for 17 years.

I don't really like doing the "I need a car decal" or "I need a garage sale sign", normally my first line is that we are primarily a commercial sign shop and everything is custom made, the "I need a car decal" would need a setup charge done. The garage sale sign I would sent them to Walmart or Home Depot. And the I need a logo on our cornhole people I tell them I don't make Licensed Logos for resell.

Often these clients you mention are the I Need It Now customers, and I save a lot of time and don't get them ticked off with my pricing by telling them we are currently at 2 weeks out.

I also think typically when one of those types of customer walk in and see some of the work/projects we have going on they fell a little funny asking for a small decal job.

 

[Gino]

Your 100% right swaggins.. that IS what everyone is saying.

You my hero Bilbo Baggins...............................

 

[eahicks]

So, I guess what everyone is saying is......... if someone comes in with a million dollar order, you'll take it. But if they want a million signs for a dollar a piece, y'all will turn it down, huh ??

If the million dollar order means not making a million little signs, then yes. Work smarter, not harder.

 

[neato]

So, I guess what everyone is saying is......... if someone comes in with a million dollar order, you'll take it. But if they want a million signs for a dollar a piece, y'all will turn it down, huh ??

Hopefully this was a joke.

 

[Gino]

Were you guys born a day or two ago or did you just get in off the banana boat ??

That's one of the oldest jokes there is......

​

 

[mfatty500]

Just like wining a $1,000,000.00 lottery, A $1.00 a year for a million years

 

[Gino]

Now, if you wanted to step to the other side of the fence..... we could always say, you have a million signs to produce at a dollar a piece, but they are vinyl decals of which you could get maybe 60 up and 96 across, thus producing 5,760 units. Screening them on our one-armed bandit would produce 5,760 in one pull which would take maybe a minute. You'd need 174 pulls which would be theoretically 3 hours. So, take into consideration loading, taking off and later cutting them apart..... you might have a week invested to make those million little signs. Hmmmm, now it seems it might work...... if you have the right equipment.

No matter how you look at it with materials, inks, labor, overhead...... even if it took you 2 weeks to do it (which it wouldn't) you'd be making a killing.

 

[GAC05]

Minimum charge here is 12.4 volts, anything lower and the engine may not crank.

We are flexible with our minimum, never can tell what is going to happen.
Had a customer come in from one of the smaller outer islands for a decal for his truck.
Didn't really want to do it but customer seemed like a nice guy and I took care of him.
Now every time he flies in he stops by. On his last visit he paid cash on a set of special order custom seat covers.
They are expensive enough that I am surprised when customers agree to spend the money.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Now, if you wanted to step to the other side of the fence..... we could always say, you have a million signs to produce at a dollar a piece, but they are vinyl decals of which you could get maybe 60 up and 96 across, thus producing 5,760 units. Screening them on our one-armed bandit would produce 5,760 in one pull which would take maybe a minute. You'd need 174 pulls which would be theoretically 3 hours. So, take into consideration loading, taking off and later cutting them apart..... you might have a week invested to make those million little signs. Hmmmm, now it seems it might work...... if you have the right equipment.

No matter how you look at it with materials, inks, labor, overhead...... even if it took you 2 weeks to do it (which it wouldn't) you'd be making a killing.

Are you on meth?

 

[Gino]

Are you on meth?

Nope, why do you say that ?? Even if it took you 2 weeks....... or 3 weeks........ or even 2 months. What is wrong with an order taking a month or two, which will yield one million dollars ??

Are you just that rich and not like to look outside the box ?? Just stuck on using your same ol same ol logic and not advance, from window washing and stuff ??

Ya get 1/2 million dollar deposit and you can buy whatever machine will get you there the fastest.

Yep, I'm the one on meth, but you're the one on back street blues, bilbo.

 

[Enola]

$125 seems a little stiff for a retail shop minimum. I don't have a problem with shop minimums, although I don't have one myself.
If the price works out to $30, then I charge $30. If its a PITA job I will adjust my price accordingly or direct them to the shop a mile down the road.

baggins? swaggins? bilbo (or dildo?)
guess I'll have to google those.

Not feeling the love since that "ban" thread.

 

[bob]

A minimum charge is a manifestation of arrogance. A warning to potential clients that you are so special and important that you must have a minimum charge to keep out the riff-raff.

Get over yourselves.

 

[Jester1167]

This is a good for everyone to think about. I tend to be on bannertime's side, each process has a minimum and design and layout should be a separate issue. Too many clients can draw out that part of the process.

When I worked in a shop we had a board with 30 or 40 fonts divided by styles along with a letter height and basic color chart. This took out the small order layouts for boat #s and real simple stuff. Using this process we were at $25 on cut vinyl for walk-in's. We helped sell this minimum by letting the customer know that on smaller fonts we would cut extra and they get whatever made it through production. This way when the guy weeding (lowest guy on the totem pole) lost a letter we didn't have to reload the vinyl saving time in the long run. Vinyl is cheap, billable labor isn't ($1 a minute).

With printed vinyl you can't do anything less than 1 hour of your hourly charge even for good customers. And, that's if the art is correct and ready to print. Think about each step you have to go through; talking with the customer, emails, files, rip, load material, print, dry, load the laminator, laminate, cut down, invoice, deal with the customer again, collect... Again we offer value for those minimums for our customers. They want qty (2) 3" decals we let them know we'll print as many as we can fit in 3" x 50" so they'll have extra. It doesn't seem as bad when they are paying 5 or 6 dollars each for 15 decals and we were going to throw that extra away anyway.

Each job is thought of as a separate job. Batching jobs together to save time and money is a juggling act where the real money is made or how you stay completive on the larger jobs. Those savings aren't typically passed on to walk-ins.

For now I am an install only shop and I install on site with a $125 minimum. I know shops that have a $250 minimum. They run guys in 2 man installation teams.

Before establishing minimums think about each part of the process and how long it takes. How many times have you done the task and wish you charged more, how small customers interrupt large important jobs, and how many of them are truly a pain in the azz.

Most of us have done a small job for the regular joe who turned out to be a successful business person and ended up getting larger contracts. Just because you have a minimum doesn't mean you have to be a jerk, or always enforce it. Use good judgment and when you do enforce it sell it.

 

[bannertime]

Bob, you have such a convoluted view of the world. There is a minority of shops that develop a a minimum order out of spite for certain types of customers. There is a majority that introduce shop minimums to avoid jobs that fall out of their production norm.

I'll break this down elementary style for you.

It takes Peter five minutes to make a 6in red, cut vinyl decal, with a cost of $0.53.
Peter sells this decal for $1.00 and makes $0.47.
It takes Peter six minutes to make a 24in red, cut vinyl decal, with a cost of $8.30.
Peter sells this decal for $16 and makes $7.70.
Because Peter runs a business, and is not a hobbyist, he makes the choice to not sell individual, 6in decals.
Instead, he sells sheets of 24in x 24in cut vinyl filled with however many decals will fit on it.
This effectively creates a minimum order of $16 for cut vinyl decals.
However, if Peter is currently cutting red cut vinyl on his plotter, he can nest a walk-in's 6in decal into that job and bypass his minimum order requirement.

If you're still confused, I'll create an intermediate lesson for you on why a shop might have a much higher minimum. Mine ranges from $25 to $150 depending on the job.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm thankful that I don't have to enforce a minimum often.

 

[Gino]

The minimum amount for an order, usually takes into account for time spent working and talking with the customer, fabricating said order and writing out a bill and waiting for the customer to come in and pick it up.

Some shops have several to many machines running at any given time and may not have one turned on needed to put out a 'quickie' order. Rather then tell someone they can't have a particular itme due to it's higher than normal cost, you just point to your minimum.

For regulars and repeat customers, I don't think in over 40 years, I've ever enforced a minimum charge. They all know about it and generally order enough to make any job worthwhile.

Personally, I like having the sign citing we have $125.00 shop minumum, cause it goes right along with the policy about if your vehicle isn't washed we charge $125 ah hour to do it.

We're a sign shop, not a nickel and dime store or a car wash. Want it cheap...... ?? Keep using the search button on google.

 

[bob]

Bob, you have such a convoluted view of the world. There is a minority of shops that develop a a minimum order out of spite for certain types of customers. There is a majority that introduce shop minimums to avoid jobs that fall out of their production norm.

I'll break this down elementary style for you.

It takes Peter five minutes to make a 6in red, cut vinyl decal, with a cost of $0.53.
Peter sells this decal for $1.00 and makes $0.47.
It takes Peter six minutes to make a 24in red, cut vinyl decal, with a cost of $8.30.
Peter sells this decal for $16 and makes $7.70.
Because Peter runs a business, and is not a hobbyist, he makes the choice to not sell individual, 6in decals.
Instead, he sells sheets of 24in x 24in cut vinyl filled with however many decals will fit on it.
This effectively creates a minimum order of $16 for cut vinyl decals.
However, if Peter is currently cutting red cut vinyl on his plotter, he can nest a walk-in's 6in decal into that job and bypass his minimum order requirement.

If you're still confused, I'll create an intermediate lesson for you on why a shop might have a much higher minimum. Mine ranges from $25 to $150 depending on the job.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm thankful that I don't have to enforce a minimum often.

Well then if you have a minimum that ranges from $X to $Y then you don't have a minimum.

Confused? Not hardly. Your rationalization is, however, mildly entertaining.

Peter is Yet Another arrogant fool.

 

[BIG EASY DOES IT]

No job is too small. I will make you a letter 1inch letter A if you want. It's going to cost you $35 though. That is the price it costs management to write up an order and invoice it.

 

[Johnny Best]

I just hope Peter is not stealing to pay Paul, who works there also.

 

[Gino]

So, how much does a Peter Paul Mounds bar cost these days ?? Or do you hafta buy in bulk ??