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Turnaround Times

MariaMartini

MariaMartini

New Member
I have an order for 10 double-sided 18x24 two-color coro signs & 4 pairs of 12x18 two-color vehicle magnets. I got my proof approval and deposit Monday night.

I told him they would likely be done late Wednesday early Thursday. At think point I have the coro signs 3/4 done but I haven't touched the magnets.

How long would you'all usually spend on these and what's a typical turnaround time?

Thanks!
 
rdm01

rdm01

New Member
After proof approval about two days. Obviously I wouldn't be working on them
the entire time, but I consolidate all of my design and output, then work on
production, so I would output the job one day and hammer out the production
the next.
 
Kottwitz-Graphics

Kottwitz-Graphics

New Member
Yeah, 2, 3 days turnaround for me as well. Like said before, I ask when they need them, and juggle it into the schedule.

One thing I do is if I think it will take 2 days, I tell the customer 5. If it takes me a little longer to finish, I can still come in "earlier" than when a customer thinks. It's all a mind game.
 
Checkers

Checkers

New Member
The whole job should take less than a day.

When they get done is up to you and the client. Since you promised them to the client either "late wednesday or early Thursday". That's when they should be done. If they're not done now, you broke your promise to the client - which is not a good business practice.

I tell my clients that my standard turn-around is 2 weeks or less - depending on the project and my work schedule. Some jobs can take much longer while others can be completed the same day.

Checkers
 
weaselboogie

weaselboogie

New Member
What if you get swamped and here comes Johnny-come-lately wanting things in 2 days and not about to pay extra for a rush? I typically tell people 1 week or more because you don't want customers EXPECTING everything to take 2 days to produce.... but a pleasant surprise to them when you finish it early.
 
Red Ball

Red Ball

Seasoned Citizen
Hello,

Are you asking the labor time to produce the job or what is the length of our back log?

We try to build a few extra days into every delivery promise.
You cannot anticipate every hour of every day going exactly as the "Grand Schedule"
dictates. You are never criticized for being a day early and nor are you ever forgiven for being a day late.
Ten double sided coroplast signs we would try to screen print and the turn around is a minimum of two weeks. Maybe four hours total labor. Cutting vinyl and applying a simple design, would also be about four.
If we got more money we would print on the flat bed. Maybe two hours labor.

Cutting vinyl and applying to mag maybe two and a half hours labor. Trim the mag, radius the corner and wax the backs.
Edge printing half that.

Good luck on the time extension.
 
animenick65

animenick65

New Member
Probably 2 days. Could bang them out in a couple of hours but you have to finish whatever is due before that. It can really be a juggling act sometimes.
 
MariaMartini

MariaMartini

New Member
The weeding is holding me back. These signs have a lot of words and of difficult to weed fonts. I don't think I cut the vinyl quite deep enough. So the weeding is taking forever.. once it's weeded I am getting it applied in a heartbeat.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Based upon your profile and type question.... you're not really a business.... or at least not set up as a business.

You have approximately a $1,150 order. Time is about 7 hours of copy input, cutting, weeding, taping and applying everything and very little substrate and vinyl outapocket cost.

Most of the time we will tell customers it is a 10 day to two week turnaround for most little projects like this and if they need it faster.... they pay for a rapid turnaround. Once you start getting busy, you'll never keep up with your orders.
 
animenick65

animenick65

New Member
Gino said:
Based upon your profile and type question.... you're not really a business.... or at least not set up as a business.

You have approximately a $1,150 order. Time is about 7 hours of copy input, cutting, weeding, taping and applying everything and very little substrate and vinyl outapocket cost.

Most of the time we will tell customers it is a 10 day to two week turnaround for most little projects like this and if they need it faster.... they pay for a rapid turnaround. Once you start getting busy, you'll never keep up with your orders.
Click to expand...

WTF are you charging your customers man? I understand marking it up a bit for the heavy copy, but my customers wouldn't pay $1000 for that, especially seeing how cheap and flimsy coro signs are.

Set it up, get approval, cut, weed, apply and ship em out. If the customer is requiring more design then you should be upselling to something that lasts longer. If it's heavy copy, making sure your plotter is setup correctly is key. Also, if it's heavy copy and it's going on 18x24s, we use a nice block sans serif here no matter what. Can weed a whole 18x24 in one sheet.
 
Kottwitz-Graphics

Kottwitz-Graphics

New Member
If your charging $500, your in the red. I just did up a quick quote in estimate, and entered just the coro signs, and it came out to $811 (not including the mags).

According to my figures, at $500, you have $131 in materials, $30 in design, $445 in production, which leaves you 21% in the red.

Do yourself a favor. Get a good estimating program. I recommend Estimate { http://www.pricingmadeeasy.com }. You have control over all the factors that make up prices, and it won't leave you in the shape your in now.

Or if there is a good bit of weeding involved, I would have gone and have them digitally printed on coro. But that does take a bit more of a lead time.
 
jiarby

jiarby

New Member
Even though you may not have a printer yourself I was wondering why do it in cut vinyl at all?? I promise that there is SOMEONE in your area that will wholesale print them for you.... Probably even a guy with a flatbed that can print right on the coro. Job out the coros, and do the mags youself.

Oh yeah...
Adjust that cutter BEFORE you cut everything! Work with blade depth, force, and speed combinations to see what works on this material.
 
animenick65

animenick65

New Member
Kottwitz-Graphics said:
If your charging $500, your in the red. I just did up a quick quote in estimate, and entered just the coro signs, and it came out to $811 (not including the mags).

According to my figures, at $500, you have $131 in materials, $30 in design, $445 in production, which leaves you 21% in the red.

Do yourself a favor. Get a good estimating program. I recommend Estimate { http://www.pricingmadeeasy.com }. You have control over all the factors that make up prices, and it won't leave you in the shape your in now.

Or if there is a good bit of weeding involved, I would have gone and have them digitally printed on coro. But that does take a bit more of a lead time.
Click to expand...

Not in the red by a long shot.

$20 for that one sheet of coro
$40 for the Mag Material
$40 for Vinyl and Tape
5 Hours MAX for design, tape and apply time @ $30 an hour.
Throw in an extra $50 for the extra design time
That's $300 right there. $600 would be decent for this order.
If I got it approved fast, could easily get this out in 3 hours.

If we charged anything more than $600, the guys down the street would be laughing all the way to the bank with this lost job.
 
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