Wha?

[HulkSmash]

Ive met a guy who has 1 54 inch solvent printer. He has ZERO overhead. he's a one man show. ALL he does is banners banners banners. He does banners at $2.50 a sqft and makes a killing. It all has to do with overhead.
Does 25-35 banners a day. at 50+ on average per banners. not bad.

 

[rushworks graphics]

i guess if you have zero overhead and buy your materials in bulk so your costs are even lower then yeah! does he sell online or locally?

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Costs to the company are going to be the biggest factor. I think a lot of people think in terms of what is the absolute lowest cost that they can endure when they compare their prices to someone else's.

Case in point, the ole ball and chain works for a national company and has a friend whose daughter does all the sign work (she just does signs, sometimes I do her embroidery/sublimation work) for the company. She even does the sign work for the company's California office, because even with shipping it costs them less then dealing with someone local to the California office and this woman isn't the cheapest in town here, but she is far and away the cheapest compared to California prices.

It can be done and people can make money off it, it really just depends on how efficient you are. Now if you are totally out of sync with your cost vs revenue then you won't last long.

 

[rushworks graphics]

my wifes sister works for a large company in cali and we just quoted them on banners etc. they were getting there banners far cheaper in cali than what we could do them for plus shipping. we thought we would be cheaper sue to the overall higher prices in cali but this company is near enough giving stuff away!

 

[Colin]

Ive met a guy who has 1 54 inch solvent printer. He has ZERO overhead. he's a one man show. ALL he does is banners banners banners. He does banners at $2.50 a sqft and makes a killing. It all has to do with overhead.

Zero overhead?





Was his printer free?

Was his computer/software free?

Is his ink free?

Is his banner material free?

Is his printer maintenance-free?

Does he do any advertising? If so, is that free?

Does he use electricity?

Was his shop free?

Is his business phone free? Yellow pages?

Does he have insurance?


These, and likely a few other things I've missed, are all overhead. All he avoids is a commercial lease (rent).

 

[rushworks graphics]

thats what i thought when i read that, even if he has no lease, or lives in a mortgage free home, he still uses electricity, gas, etc etc.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

my wifes sister works for a large company in cali and we just quoted them on banners etc. they were getting there banners far cheaper in cali than what we could do them for plus shipping. we thought we would be cheaper sue to the overall higher prices in cali but this company is near enough giving stuff away!

That is true. If you do get a shop that is skewed in their pricing schedule or is far efficient compared to the others in the area that can happen.

 

[ucmj22]

quick solution to make it easier on everyone would be for ebay to limit its percentage take to say, 85% of the final sale price for those who offer free shipping. I know this doesnt ad up if you are selling something that costs $200 and ships for $5 or something that sells for $20 and ships for $40, but it could be an option to turn some of the heat down on sellers.

 

[Blaney]

Please explain "no overhead". My shop is paid for. My equipment is paid for. I still owe property taxes, utilities, trash pick up, insurance, materials, etc.

 

[GAC05]

Please explain "no overhead". My shop is paid for. My equipment is paid for. I still owe property taxes, utilities, trash pick up, insurance, materials, etc.

here you go:

http://www.nh.gov/nhdoc/nhci/sign/

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Colin]

Do you suspect that the banner I referenced on ebay was from a prison shop?

 

[GAC05]

Dunno Colin,
I was referencing a zero overhead shop.
It's not that prison sign shops have zero overhead, just that I would imagine the bulk of it is paid by someone else - like tax payers.....

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Colin]

Oh nice, now the office supply places are giving it away:

 

[Gino]

Nothing new about that..............

 

[FrankenSigns.biz]

Three years ago I was making six figures in this business. It's getting tougher by the day to clear a decent profit. I just found a post on Craigslist from some idiot operating a sign business out of his apartment trying to sell banners for $1.99 per sq. ft.

 

[threeputt]

Kids, seems to me to be just too much "ringing of the hands" here.


1) These are non-custom signs. A guy could fill in his slack printer time by running these. Doesn't say whether they're hemmed or not. Grommeting is quick.

2) Print 50 ahead of time, stock them, heck you could even pre-package them in mailing tubes, ready to have a label slapped on them. Order comes in, bam out they go.

3) No sketching, no counter sales time, no back and forth about layout/design, heck this seems easy to me.

My business is not threatened by such products being out there. Non- custom products are cheap to produce. What we do is custom...that's where the money is. You can charge for your layout expertise, quality service, etc.

I can see where nearly any shop could "walk both sides of this street". Really.

 

[Colin]

These are non-custom signs. A guy could fill in his slack printer time by running these. Print 50 ahead of time, stock them, heck you could even pre-package them in mailing tubes, ready to have a label slapped on them. Order comes in, bam out they go. No sketching, no counter sales time, no back and forth about layout/design, heck this seems easy to me.

Sorry, I just don't see that in the graphic. Anybody buying a banner stand is going to want a particular content/layout/colors etc.

 

[Colin]

Oh wait, you must mean the graphic in the O/P. I see your point. But I imagine that if I made two generic banners, I'd still have 'em in 5 years time.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Sorry, I just don't see that in the graphic. Anybody buying a banner stand is going to want a particular content/layout/colors etc.

Yea, but the cheapies, the ones that are going to do buy this type of stuff, are going to be limited to certain specific layouts.

Most of us here are capable of delivering totally custom from the "ground" up. Unless the cheapie places don't know how to accurately price their goods, they won't be able to afford to do totally custom layout/designs, so they will have pre-fabbed ones that they can do a little tweaking here and there, but not by much.

No matter what business you are in, there will always be something like this that will be a concern. The specifics might change due to the industry, but the trials and tribulations will be the same.

 

[threeputt]

Sorry, I just don't see that in the graphic. Anybody buying a banner stand is going to want a particular content/layout/colors etc.

Okay, maybe I missed something. But I thought we were talking strictly about someone mass producing a sign (or banner) with a non-custom message on it that can be sold to the masses.

Sort of a "one size fits all" type of thing.

We have a division within our company that is strictly logging signs. We preprint by the hundreds (and stock them) 31 different messages onto orange material and sell them all around the country. Thousands yearly.

You've seen them. Messages like Logging Operations Ahead, Truck Crossing, etc.

We fill orders every week. Right this minute we're filling (3) different ones for about 45 signs each.

So we know all about the concept of pre-printing signs that a specific user will need in his industry. No...these aren't custom signs, but heck, it's nice to have them go out the door.