Quick rant

[Flame]

Eh... hate this business sometimes. Got a guy who calls and asks for a quote for a couple 4x8's. Could lead to more work as I know they do a fair amount of signs.

Happy to quote them out, I give them a price, he says go for it! I get artwork today at noon. It's a word layout.

Ugh... but I can work around it, start laying it out, say the 4x8's will be done in 2 business days (Tuesday).

Get a reply that they had to find a shop with a better turnaround time. Monday morning this other shop will have them done and for $250 a pop.

This could've been a great account, but in ONE business day... MDO signs? Do I look like officemax here?

I have been pushed by a lot of customers on turnaround time. Bike graphics next day, business cards in 2 days... sheesh, stuff takes time people. Seriously I wonder why I even put effort into design when they just want quick and cheap. I want to have pride in my work... but seems no one wants anything halfway decent.

Oh yeah, job earlier this week. Cyan with hot pink outline and drop shadow.... yep, hot pink. Put onto a beach scene. With digital fonts.

Guy wants a bunch of fox head stickers. ummmm, no.

Guy wants me to come deliver a $20 order, for free, he is 30 miles away.




Shoot me please?

 

[Doyle]

Your turnaround time sounds fine to me..... I tell everyone at least 1 week... sometimes 2 weeks on larger jobs.

You know what is funny about those hideous jobs that we get that we hope no one finds out that we did? Well those are always the customers who are so happy to tell everyone where they got the work done....

 

[TheSellOut]

I guarantee they won't have their signs Monday or the paint will be falling off by Fri.!

Chin up Flame...they will be coming back to you soon!

 

[Charlie J]

Guy comes in about and hour ago. Has a pretty good size lawn care company. Asks me for a quote on door lettering for a pickup(2 color job). I tell him $150. He says that the place across town makes em for $30.00

 

[J Hill Designs]

$30?!?!?

 

[Jillbeans]

Flamey I think some clients actually fib about their "other bids" just to see how high and how far we will jump.
He will probably call you crying on Tuesday morning, signless, expecting you to puke his signs out by Wednesday.
Love...Jill
PS
Like your new bad-ass little avie. Are you driving a mini van?

 

[Gino]

Some people are willing to work over the weekend to make ends meet in these hard times.

I understand your frustration, but it's kinda like..... where/when does one stop ??

Had a guy ask me for two 3' x 9' hockey dasher boards Monday night at 7:30 pm. He needed them by lunchtime the next day. I told him no problem. Had them ready with about 1/2 hour to spare and got $345 for each one. We only did the print, he mounted it at the rink. Not even laminated.

I've always scheduled things around here with a few hours of free time to spare at any given time in a week. If we aren't saving people's butts from last minute stuff [and charging dearly for it]... we're doing other busy work or working ahead on other projects.

A couple of digital printed signs by Monday am would be no problem, but I'd charge for my time.

 

[signrios]

now is my turn, i got a flat tire yesterday, went to a family owned place, while they were fixing it the owner saw the signs on my truck and asked if i did signs??

he wanted to get 2 18x24" both sides one color , my price $65

he walked off once he heard the price, later came back to explain
he could get them done for $14 each both sides!!
he gets this price cause he gives the guy a lot of work.
this was my first and last time going in there!

 

[PMG]

Eh... I give them a price, he says go for it! I get artwork today at noon. start laying it out
.

I see where ya got the art work........but what about a down payment....? Why would you even start without a down payment? If no money down you got yourself in this trick bag

 

[hydo1]

You got rid of a pushy customer with no respect for your work and sent them to a shop that is pricing themselves into failure. Sounds like they were meant for each other! Move on.

 

[Rick]

I don't know about you but I feel better. I have jobs that take years to even start construction. Logos can take me minutes to months and my answer to most of my clients is the process is usually done on a month. I do a different type of work, but the shops I worked at did do regular sign work, they always told the clients a week or 2 and if it was less, the price jumped considerably. Down payments always stop a client from looking around unless your state has laws allowing customers to do that (and they know the law)

 

[scarface]

Yeah, gotta love hearing that!

But hey, at least it sounds like you guys are busy. This month has been the absolute worst month i have ever had in 4 years. I made a whopping hundred and nine dollars this week. I'm defiantly losing money on my rent and utilities this month

I've been thinking of doing some direct mail pieces but the way things are going, I'm wondering if that will even matter. I need to do something, something fast.

 

[Flame]

I see where ya got the art work........but what about a down payment....? Why would you even start without a down payment? If no money down you got yourself in this trick bag

Because I made an ooopsy on this one and just started rushing without a downpayment. Not out anything, just a couple minutes (literally) on design time... oh well.



Oh, and thanks Jill. lol. That's me driving in a cube van, off to the motocross track.




Oh, and yeah, this has been the worst month I've had in 3 years. I had some nice summer months, and now... ugh. Horrible.