• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

Vinyl Choices - in lieu of Avery

S

signsofparadise

New Member
I'm curious what others are using. I used "Avery" A-9 vinyl almost exclusively from Beacon Graphics for the past 22 years.

We had (5) large box trucks fail this past summer, cost a fortune to remove & re-identify. I refuse to use Avery product(s) now, have been currently using Vector from Beacon Graphics. Avery reimbursed us for the material, but we were out 30 hours per unit which took 4-5 weeks to complete.

I am told that the problem has been rectified, but I can't get past the fact that I was burned on this, after being a very loyal customer for so long.

I have just priced various suppliers on Oracal, Vector, 3M, and Arlon. Trying to figure out which products are comparable to the A-9 and any performance issues both pro and con and the opinions of others and what they are using.
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
Oracal 751 or 3M is what we use. Fellers stocks most Oracal colors so it is what we use the most of.
 
Jillbeans

Jillbeans

New Member
I have never had a failure in 13 years using Calon 2 from Arlon.
I also use a lot of Oracal.
3M is good stuff too.
Avery chapped my @ss but good, I will never buy anything from them again and will whine about them wherever and whenever possible even if they've changed.
Love.....Jill
 
P

prime signs

New Member
Like so many others Avery stuck it to me also. A dozen trucks with vinyl failure. There was so much adhesive under the vinyl It was a nightmare to strip. Ate all the jobs and repaced them so I could stay in good standings with my customers. Nothing good about Avery. I had used it for many years without a problem and then it all started.:banghead: I now use Oracal 751 and 651.and have had good results. However it is always in the back of my mind could it happen again.
 
Kottwitz-Graphics

Kottwitz-Graphics

New Member
I'm yet another person that has been burned by Avery, but not as bad as others. I was working at a shop and they owner insisted on using it, even after replacing reflective on a fleet of police cars (4 times on one unit).

After I left and started my own shop, I knew I wouldn't use Avery, even if they said they fixed the issue. I use Oracal 751 99% of the time, and 3M for the rest. (I use only 3M reflective.)

Its not the fact that they had the issue, or that they say they fixed the problems, its how they handled the issue. Deny, deny, deny, then blame the installers for their issues...
 
Marlene

Marlene

New Member
+1 to 3M 3630 and gerber 220/230 series. Using them as long as I can remember without fail
Click to expand...

me too, been using it since the 1980's and have never had an issuse. the only problem that I ahve found is they haven't updated their color palette since the 80's so getting the nicer colors like Avery offers isn't going to happen. for that, try Oracal.
 
Steve G.

Steve G.

New Member
We had over twenty jobs to redo from the avery failure... a few years back. Since then, we use 3m, FDC and Oracal with no problems. I would recommend all three.

I'm downright Amazed that there is still trouble with avery vinyl.
To the OP, When was the vinyl (that failed) purchased?
 
B

bayshorecreations

New Member
We use mostly Oracal but we have recently used some of the Vector vinyl from Beacon with good results so Vector is looking to be a good option also.
 
Blaney

Blaney

New Member
I used Calon for years. Never had a problem with it. I switch to Oracal 651 and 751 last year when the local wholesaler started carrying it. I like the way Oracal weeds compared to Calon and I like the blue backing paper for white viinyl.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
What everyone else is saying..... 3M, Oracal and just about anything other than A V E R Y due to its bad reputation.

The odd thing here is..... you just had this problem occur recently, while A V E R Y has been making announcements that they have made the necessary changes to rectify this problem from some 5 or 6 years ago. Evidently, they're still lying their butts off. :omg2:​
 
Joe Diaz

Joe Diaz

New Member
Vinyl Choices - in lieu of Avery??????

ANYTHING. we like Oracal here.

It blows my mind that people are still using Avery. I blame the distributors. They don't warn their customers at all. In fact, I can't even count how many times a sales rep for one of these distributors has tried to convince us to use an Avery product again, claiming that they have "fixed the problem" and we shouldn't worry. Since we are still seeing posts like this years after our problems with them, I can only assume they fix the problem over and over every other month. That makes me wonder if the distributors allegiance lies more so with it's customers or the manufactures.

Even if they did fix their product we wouldn't go back. They burnt that bridge. I can forgive a faulty product but I can never forgive how they handled it.
 
S

signsofparadise

New Member
Pat Phd:
They were 26' van body straight trucks and cab processed in 2006 and 2007 - Black vinyl was delaminating w/ Reflective Red - we were able to get the copy of with heat gun and sun in approx. (4) hours - used Glue-Off and it took approx. (18) hours of Glue-Off and scarping with a squeegee to get them ready for re-application - another (3-4) hours to re-cut the material and (6-7) hrs to install (customer added a bunch more copy to the rear portion and back door). link to pic - https://picasaweb.google.com/signsofparadise1/TruckLetteringGraphicsWraps#5375115746630622370 - fortunately I have (3) teenage sons (16, 17, and 19) and (19) year old nephew, who knocked out the removal and glue removal, and now know how to apply vinyl. So some good had come from this, sent them to vinyl school and they got paid too. Past knocking Avery, just making some changes so it doesn't happen to us again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top