Those blasted 18x24 Cor-x signs!

[Gino]

Just figure the math for a moment.​

• You have people here doing these for $2 to $5. a pop.
• You have people here doing these for $44 to $72. a pop.
• Do you really want to work 15 times harder or dumber than the guy making one for $72. ??

If ya ain’t gonna get paid decent, then go fishing and do something ya like for nothing. :Sleeping:

I can never figure these people out that want to just get by instead of making a living. Trying to figure out how to compete with dumbness is just plain dumb. Trying to better yourself is doing business and growing. Sure, we all made a sign for next to nothing, but the smart people say, I’ll never do that again…. and don’t, while the dumb ones keep trying to make money by competing with a ghost. There’s always gonna be someone making signs real cheap, but they won’t be in business long if they keep up with that business savvy. However, there’s always gonna be a new guy on the block trying to weasel his/her way into the trade by undercutting everyone else in the neighborhood. Ignore the dumb lowballers and stay above board and you’ll set a pace that others will yearn for eventually.


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[Marlene]

How much time per sign? All of the time? Not merely applying vinyl but schlepping blanks, media, setting the job, wrangling your equipment, etc?

You're working for nothing.

For a one off I get $44 for a single side and $72.80 for two sides.

I've got to agree with bob on this and I'll add that any design, extra colors or anything else is at an extra cost.

 

[Arlo Kalon 2.0]

What's the problem with simply saying "I don't fool with those". Right there - end of discussion? Let the pregnant pause take place in the conversation, then add something to the effect "there are plenty of people willing to work for next to nothing. I want to still be in business when you need your windows or trucks lettered, so I prefer not to touch no profit jobs". It's honest and to the point. You people spend waaaaaay too much time sweating this insignificant small stuff. It's either that or command the prices bob gets and be done with it. If somebody tells 'em you robbed 'em, just repeat "there are plenty of people willing to work for next to nothing. I want to still be in business when you need your windows or trucks lettered, so I prefer not to touch no profit jobs".

 

[Signalaugh]

Commodity

Since when do signs become a commodity? I am curious. 2-3 bucks a piece. Are they retarded? It ain't chick peas or pork bellies. I like the flatbed idea. Turn em and burn em for one year. You need a bit more than 100 k but the idea is right. The next time someone puts out an ad like that, move next to him and drop your pricing to free and put the dumb jerk out of business. Then buy his equipment, trucks and products for nothing. The good business people will survive because they think about tomorrow and the bad ones will be gone.

 

[Bradster941]

I say "Sure, did yo want 100 or 500 of those signs"?

When they say "Just 2 signs"...I just laugh, and tell them on one in his right mind would do 1 or 2 at that price. Those are bait and swith come ons, or for muliple hundred silk screened on color signs.

Classic,

 

[Marlene]

there are different reason for buying coroplast signs. the people I deal with are using them more for site signs to sell their abilities and to get more work. I make a coroplast sign look as nice as I would a high end redwood sign so the customer looks good. I also do coroplast signs for different towns. I do custom slow down, don't run over our kids signs and I make them look nice so people will not only read them, they will look OK in neighborhoods. those are the kinds of coroplast that I deal with so if they need a lot of them, I have them screen printed and it saves them money but mostly I do small runs and they are pricey.

there are people out there who could care less for the aesthetics and just want a message blanketed in an area with a ton of cheap signs. there's a market for these but I just don't want it as it is working for nothing. there are those out there who do it and are happy doing it so why not let them have that side of the market as the rest of us can't compete.

 

[Pro Image]

Just sold 3 this morning for 20.00 each......print and place.....out the door...........

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

as you know...Deegrafix ... you'll see the 18x24 coros signs stuck all over the public right away .... many advertise signs ... as low as $1.50 per 100 ...or even tricks for other cheap offers .... Now they are adding $39 a pair of magnets signs also

no the county seems to let them get away with it cause of the 3 stores now connected selling, not sure how many numbers and emails they use now

Orlandos been a high supply good demand city for signs

 

[phototec]

Which tack?

We sell 18 x 24, single sided, one color vinyl, $10.00, 2 sided $13.00.
1- 18 x 24 Coroplast......my cost .75 cents
1- 18 x 24 Vinyl............my cost $1.00 dollar
I make $8.25 dollars on one sided.
I make $ 10.25 dollars on two sided.
I can and do live with the profits.
Been selling at that price for last 10 years. One of my best money makers and lead in items. By the way, we use a SpeedPress to apply all of our vinyl to these signs which is a zero cost for application.

Which tack do you use with your SpeedPress?

 

[jiarby]

the only thing that works on my speed press is the HIGH tack.

 

[Marie]

When someone asks the price for 2 or 3 of these and then seem surprised that the price is $30 plus (depending on the specs), I always say something like, "Now if you get the higher qualities - 250 or 500 - like politicians do, the price gets down to a couple of dollars each because they can be screen printed - but at a low volume, the signs have to be individually made." That usually satisfies a legitimate customer, and we go ahead with the order. Sometimes, my comment will make them ask for prices on a slightly higher volume (like 10 or 20) and I can help them out a little more with the price at that point. Communication is key

 

[gabagoo]

Seems a lot of people are charging based on just materials and not time.

The solution is clear, get a $100,000 UV flat bed and churn them out at cost until all the signmakers in your area are gone, then jack up your prices. (don't forget to turn out thousands of bandit signs saying "banner $1 per foot").

Nobody cares for quality and designs are there to be stolen.

oh you heard about those guys too?

 

[deegrafix]

The solution is clear, get a $100,000 UV flat bed and churn them out at cost until all the signmakers in your area are gone, then jack up your prices. (don't forget to turn out thousands of bandit signs saying "banner $1 per foot").

Yeah, That's the only way to make money on the &^%$# things!

I remember well the days of making the aluminum blanks with the welded frames. There were always a few orders of a dozen or so in production and they were bread and butter for years. How times have changed!

Thanks for all the responses. I feel better and have some great ideas now on what to say.

 

[GeneralJR]

A costumer from the same plaza where my shop is came by while I was out and left a note to me. It is a Real State School and Supplies and when I got there I see hundreds of coro signs of all types, colors and shapes that she sales for $3 to $5 each. I know she doesnt make them, so I tought: "Dang shes probably paying $1 each for these things"

And she wanted 4 - 18"x24" 2 colors coro sign. I confess I was a little embarassed to give her the price. But so I said: "The price is $28 each. I will have to do them on vinyl which costs more and takes way more time due the small quantity."

She looked and said: "Ok I will talk to my partner and let you know by tomorrow"

I tough she would never place the order, but sure enough, she came by the next day and ordered it. That was last week... Yesterday a real state agent sent me an email for custom signs, that SHE recommended.

 

[Farmboy]

These signs are advertising for anyone that buys them. Have any of them even looked into the cost of any other advertising? A one time ad the size of a business card can run in the hundreds depending on the where it's published. I just got a call from a state run agency putting together ads in a county publication. They wanted $2,300 for a 8x11 ad. Holy F#$*ing Crap!!! Really! I don't wanna hear anyone say one word about my pricing. Move along cheap a$$.

 

[TheSnowman]

The only ones I'll do for under $25 are golf outing signs that are generic, and I'm donating a portion of them so I don't have to sponsor a hole, and I still get the job. We'll do them for $17 for a one sided, just print it, and big squeegee it down.

On the flip side, we're doing some 10MM coro's right now, that I'm gonna get well over $50 a piece for, and they will be worth it, because they will actually last a while.

 

[anotherdog]

oh you heard about those guys too?

I buy from them

 

[signguy54]

we do coroplast signs every day

of course we don't lowball. in the past 2 weeks we've done orders for 75, 50, 25,100 and 20 as well as a few onesies and twosies. These are just the 18x24's. typically we charge 17.50 each for 25 d/s with the cheap h-stakes. We have a valujet loaded with very cheap media and let it work away. 25 signs typically will take about 2 man hours to feed into the cutter, weed and apply with our cold roll laminator. Of course there is design time, printing time, ink, machine maintenance, etc. We can actually make them look good 'cuz it only costs marginally more than single color. We sell these kind of orders every week - especially in spring.

Today a regular customer ordered a sign-i-cade aframe (cost 52) two coro panels with velcro (cost 17 including digitally printed graphics) 10 minutes design time - 30 minutes employee time processing (cost 35). total cost $104. order phoned in at 2 done by 3. charged $110 for the a frame and 50 each for sign panels. And it didn't effect our other production.

We'd love to do multi-thousand dollar works of art - but it just doesn't happen that way for us. We sell lots of coro in different sizes for many different applications. We have found that cash from coro signs spends as well as cash from channel letters or vehicle wraps or sandbasted redwood signs.

 

[MilanoGuru]

This is the crazy market we live in... Coro signs and Banner material have crippled alot of company's over the past 3 years. We have come along way... Yet we are all still on this roller coaster. We have a local company that takes the signs and distributes the signs to the street corners and so on. They have heard about other printing company's in the Area stealing the signs in the middle of the night and stripping them down and reprinting them below cost. This is the crappy world we live in and it sucks. But those company's stealing those signs will always lose out on the big jobs that will make the rest of us rich. We have a UV Flatbed and we charge $10 a sign and it is still hard to compete because no matter how you try and dice it... Its always Time, and its always quality That keep the lights on. Keeping customers happy is always the number one but if those customers are shopping around and they find the 2 dollar price from someone 99% of the time they will come back to you because the job was effed up by some n00b. But... thats my take on it. Im not surprised that we all seem to share the same view about Coro signs

Good Luck! Dee

 

[signpro]

actually some good info in here for handling customers. thanks!

personally, i use Stouse for these as well. and by the time i ship them here, with stakes, and i do the layout... i'm getting $19.50 each, dbl sided, 2 color, with stakes. usually about 40% profit, for only laying out a simple 2 color design + customer time. Profit= close to $175/hour

and when people call in for 3-4 pieces, i give them the same schpeel everytime, approx $48 each, 8-10 @ $45, so if you're buying 10, you might as well buy 25! i explain the production process, and even if they don't buy from me, at least i explained my price and feel OK about it. sometimes they call back for other jobs, sometimes they dont.

i learned a long time ago, someone will always be cheaper (or faster, if your into cars like i am). that's not the guy i want to deal with, nor do i want to be that guy. I prefer a FAIR price and GOOD SERVICE, cheapest or not, service is what sells me.