Sign Storage?

[Cross Signs]

I have a customer in the commercial real estate and property business, I do a lot of installs and removals of 4 x 8 and 4 x 4 signs for him, most all of them are on 10' posts. Today he called and asked to have two more 4 x 8 's taken down and stored and then asked How much to store them?. I have had this customer for a year now and have stored a few signs at my shop because I knew I'd be installing them sometime and never charged him anything for storage. But I am collecting more and more of his signs and I have a kinda small shop. I also hate to miss an opportunity to make a couple of dollars more. Does anyone here charge customers to store their signs? and for how much money...say per month. Thanks, Jeff

 

[OldPaint]

rent a storage space............AND GIVE HIM THE BILL!!!!!

 

[briankb]

rent a storage space............AND GIVE HIM THE BILL!!!!!

well actually

rent some storage space and INVOICE him at least double the bill you are paying. plus whatever fees you are charging to remove and place them in storage and then again to install them.

 

[OldPaint]

my thinking was...........when i said SEND HIM THE BILL..........is that YOU WOULD HAVE USE OF THE STORAGE SPACE, for some of youre STUFF........since you said you hada small shop..........AND LET HIM PAY FOR YOURE STORAGE!!!!!!hehehehehehehehehee
Realtors are NOTORIOUSLY CHEAP.........and "gouging" him on a storage space, which he probable HAS KNOWLEDGE of their RATES..... would more in likely...........send him lookin for another SIGN GUY!!!!!

 

[royster13]

Hmmmm.....

Years back I did business with a very successful tire store....But that all changed when the new owner decided he needed a few extra $$s......

Most years they did 100s of seasonal changeovers and it was a long established practice to store the tires when not in use......Then at changeover time the clients always came back.....

Well the new owner decided he could charge 5.00 a season to store a set of 4 tires.....Well at the 1st changeover about 1/3 of the folks took their tires home....Well come the next changeover most of those clients did not return.....

It took a few years but the new owner drove the business into the ground and as of Dec 01 09 the old owner was able to buy the business back for a song.....

So the moral is do what is reasonable but not something that will be detrimental to your business.....

PS...You could always ask the client what they had in mind....Sometime they hit the mark and you do not have to make an issue it.....Win! Win!...

 

[Cross Signs]

Royster, Thats some good advice! and actually what I was planning on doing. "If you don't know...ASK"

 

[Checkers]

When I worked for a trade show display company, we charged storage rates per cubic foot and billed quarterly, in advance, for the "reserved" space.

Assuming you want to keep the signs at your shop, how much floor space will they take up?

If you have a 1000 sq. ft. shop and you're paying $1,000 a month in rent, charge $2-$3 a sq. ft. The mark-up covers the expenses and profit.

Checkers