what do I do with this guy?

[TyrantDesigner]

I also don't like the idea.

But here's another wrinkle. What are you going to say if he says the vinyl wasn't cut deep enough? That his employees had trouble weeding it? Or that the masking process messed up some letters? (his crew putting on the application tape)

Too many things outside of your control. Could result in him asking for his money back for the "improper" job you did cutting.

Or worse, he wants you to re-imburse him for vinyl he says was ruined.

Don't know, just sounds like potential for bad feelings. However, if you feel otherwise, go ahead and do it. Might turn out ok.

+1 ... I don't cut other peoples materials for just the reason above. Had a guy that brought in that confetti vinyl one time and I broke down to cut it because he was a "decent" customer (bit too much of a penny pincher in the wrong areas I'm afraid) ... his "vinyl" started tunnelling while plotting, skipped and tore ... wanted me to replace it.

Told him no and never saw him again. Gotta love being upfront with customers ... told him it might do that before I cut.

 

[Marlene]

add in the price of a new blade as reflective chews them up. take what you would charge for cutting what ever he is wanting as if it was using your material and then take a % off that , but not the whole price of what it would be if it was your material.

 

[Pat Whatley]

I don't plot vinyl for customers.....period, does a restaurant cook eggs you brought in? I am a retail business & if I wanted a partner I would have started with one. If I were you I would not have accepted the roll & would have told him I was offended he brought it in & sorry we can't do any more business.You can't let customers walk all over you like that or you will go out of business!

Wow.

 

[HulkSmash]

Wow.

this

 

[Gino]

Do what you want. Business for the most part is slow and everyone and their momma are trying to save money.

Tell him up front what the charge will be and you're not responsible for any flaws in the material, cutting or anything else, since it's his supplied material.

As mentioned, if something doesn't weed right.... too bad. It's their material, so they'll have to pay to have it cut again.

The simple formula is.... "Time Is Money', so charge accordingly.

 

[Pat Whatley]

It all works out if you stop figuring prices from the bottom up and figure his price from the bottom down.

Start with the price you'd charge him is you supplied everything and you did all the work.
Subtract YOUR cost on the materials.
Subract YOUR labor cost for weeding.
Subtract YOUR cost for transfer tape.

Charge him what's left. You'll make the EXACT same profit on the job, you'll cover the EXACT same amount of overhead, you'll have the EXACT same amount of room built into the price to cover replacing the material if you screw it up. If you figure his price that way there is no difference in risk or reward in cutting his material and cutting your own material. There's actually more profit in it because this method means that the markup you charge on material is still in the price.


Works for me.

 

[gabagoo]

I have a tinting company that brings me his frosted vinyl and I do his setups and then cut all the graphics. Roll it back and he does the rest. I make very good money doing that and if I could do it all day I would be pretty comfortable not having to supply material.

The catch here is that he is willing to pay a premium, in fact he might be paying more than had I supplied the vinyl, but he knows I set complex logos and layouts up fast for him as he cant, and in turn he pays quite well.

 

[Edserv]

We have a policy of not accepting any client requests for printing on their media/substrates unless approved by management (me.) In my short experience in this industry, you simply have no idea where the media/substrate is coming from, and, as I'm sure, most people would (hopefully) agree on this forum that medias/substrates from different suppliers vary greatly, and often vary greatly even from the same supplier.
Good luck,
Ed.

 

[signswi]

If you do do it have him sign something that says you aren't responsible for any ruined media. If something goes wrong and you lose some of it you can't eat whatever cost he paid for it, he has to accept the risk (in writing).

 

[BigfishDM]

Just hook him up, karma will come back to you for doing it..Common people Pay it forward!

 

[Salmoneye]

Charge exactly what you would have charged for the entire job minus the wholesale cost of a roll of that material.