Rush Fees

[Signscorp]

Do you charge them?

I just had a problem go away when i said we had a $50 rush fee for someone's 'urgent' 12" x 18" sign. It has me thinking i should do more of them. Do people here charge them? and just to annoying customers or even to your good clients?

 

[Notarealsignguy]

if they are annoying, tell them your printer operator is out sick and wont be back for about a week. It's not even worth the extra 50 bucks

 

[Boudica]

We do charge a rush fee, but it depends on the project and the client. We have customers that are the "in-between", like a design agency. Their client farts around, and then it's an emergency, so they ask us to charge a rush fee - that gets passed on to the one who was farting around, to discourage that in the future.

In other cases, it's a good regular client, but they fall into a bad habit of waiting until the last minute for same day turnaround. So we start adding a rush fee, and they get better with their timing.

A walk-in who we've never worked with before... wants a sign today... They will pay for that.

 

[Signscorp]

That's a pretty good template Boudica

 

[Scotchbrite]

We tell them this is the time frame we can get the sign done, if that's not quick enough they have to find some other alternative. I don't like jerking our employees around with drop that and jump on this quick. Makes it hard to plan out their day and leaves them feeling like they can't get anything done. Next thing you know big jobs are getting pushed out even further. Every time you stop working on one project to pick up another, it's going to cost even more time getting back going on the first job.

It also seems like rush jobs are inevitably the ones that have some sort of screw up either on the customers end or ours.

 

[myront]

Rush fee is a must. Majority of our customers aren't swayed. A lot of boat registration numbers, realtor signs etc. Boat people are made of money. lol
Just the other day we did RTA vinyl, 2 day ship to California for a boat with a port of call in Pensacola FL. $60 to ship in a small 4" tube.

 

[Signscorp]

I'm surprised, i feel like I end up doing 1-2 rushes per day. We do lots of $100-$500 coroplast and ACP signs that end up making money, but it is a pain for the staff.

What timelines do you guys give for your average non-install project? 3-days?

 

[myront]

Normal turnaround after approval is 3-4 business days. Anything less gets a rush fee.

 

[Stacey K]

If it's a good customer and it's just here and there then I do it.

Here's the "one-man shop" problem with rush jobs. If I have other jobs that are due by 5pm and let's say I have my son's football game at 7pm and it's an hour away and I have to put my spirit gear and snowsuit on - no amount of money is worth being late for my son's football game.

I'm very careful with deadlines or rush jobs being that I have no other workers to fall back on. That's not to say I'm not here late or here crying or in a panic but not usually for a rush job, just because of my own stupidity - but never during a football game, football is more important than a sign.

 

[LarryB]

Usually we charge $50 rush fee if needed sooner than 3 working days and $100 rush fee for next day. Usually happens with realtors the most.

 

[visual800]

I love this topic. My old saying is "if you wanted it tomorrow you should have ordered it two weeks ago." People dont NEED things now they WANT it now. I dont do rush things UNLESS its an old customer and I have supplies on hand. Rush jobs in general can be a PITA, once you commit to doing them its all in your hands now. Someone down the line forgot to do something and they are looking to pass blame and responsibility on others. I tell people when i can do it and if they dont like it they can send 3 more days trying to find others

 

[White Haus]

Normal turnaround after approval is 3-4 business days. Anything less gets a rush fee.

And roughly how long from first contact from customer to approval? I find once jobs are figured out, proofed, and approved we can crank them out pretty quickly but the steps from first contact to proofing is usually what ends up being a bottleneck.

 

[Boudica]

And roughly how long from first contact from customer to approval? I find once jobs are figured out, proofed, and approved we can crank them out pretty quickly but the steps from first contact to proofing is usually what ends up being a bottleneck.

Our "clock" starts when we have approved artwork that I can put into production.

 

[rjssigns]

I love this topic. My old saying is "if you wanted it tomorrow you should have ordered it two weeks ago." People dont NEED things now they WANT it now. I dont do rush things UNLESS its an old customer and I have supplies on hand. Rush jobs in general can be a PITA, once you commit to doing them its all in your hands now. Someone down the line forgot to do something and they are looking to pass blame and responsibility on others. I tell people when i can do it and if they dont like it they can send 3 more days trying to find others

On point.

 

[jfiscus]

Yes, if you're not charging rush fees and you don't have minimum order pricing you're not doing it right. It's those piddly little jobs that eat your time, and most of the time once the client hears of the rush fee the project isn't as much of a rush anymore.

 

[rjssigns]

Yes, if you're not charging rush fees and you don't have minimum order pricing you're not doing it right. It's those piddly little jobs that eat your time, and most of the time once the client hears of the rush fee the project isn't as much of a rush anymore.

Yeah, just like the client that sends a sub par file. I tell them I can fix it, then they ask how much. I say it's a hundred bucks first click than shop rate after that. Then miracle of miracles a high res TIFF file shows up.

 

[2B]

YES, every rush is $$$$$

Have your "standard" production timeframe, if they need it faster it costs
Now, depending on who the customer is this will determine how much you charge them

"Procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine"​

 

[jjsportz]

We kind of use the same 3 day trun time. If its faster than that, we charge rush charges. You have to. its NOT a negative to do it.

 

[binki]

Do you charge them?

I just had a problem go away when i said we had a $50 rush fee for someone's 'urgent' 12" x 18" sign. It has me thinking i should do more of them. Do people here charge them? and just to annoying customers or even to your good clients?

We just make the price higher without adding it as a line item. Was it a graduation sign? They should have known when school ends, they get a calendar at the beginning of the year.

 

[SightLine]

I tell customers that wait until the last second, "we can do it as fast as you can afford". For the right price my guys will stay overnight and get something done. They are not going to do that for just regular OT though.