What Price for Vinyl Only?

[MIkeyB036]

We have an opportunity to bid on a fleet of trucks, renumbering them all.

We will NOT be doing the install, only cutting/weeding sending them the numbers.

Obviously, outdoors, we will use premium vinyl, like 3M, etc. to insure they last.

Numbers are 2 - 3 inches high (hasn't been determined which yet).

Seems simple enough, sets of numbers 0-9.

They want 3,000.

I want to put the price at 3.50, partner thinks it should be closer to 1.00 each.

So whose price is more fair to US?

P.S. Not that it should matter (necessarily) but it's a governmental agency, and they have the money!

 

[Gino]

So, are you supplying 300 zeros, 300 ones and so on..... or are you going to put the numbers into their correct sequences ??

Besides cutting and weeding, will you be taping them, too ??

 

[MIkeyB036]

So, are you supplying 300 zeros, 300 ones and so on..... or are you going to put the numbers into their correct sequences ??

Besides cutting and weeding, will you be taping them, too ??

Yes, we are supplying 300 of each no. individually cut, weeded, masked, ready to apply.

Highest quality vinyl, since it will be in AZ sun!

 

[WhiskeyDreamer]

how much vinyl are you using? would it not be easiest to figure that out, add in your mark up for the vinyl, cutting/weeding and 15% for misc. costs? i mean, that's how i'd bill it out.

 

[MIkeyB036]

how much vinyl are you using? would it not be easiest to figure that out, add in your mark up for the vinyl, cutting/weeding and 15% for misc. costs? i mean, that's how i'd bill it out.

Well, my estimate for 30" - since that's as wide as our plotter will cut - and 60 yards (if my math is correct).

Somewhere in the neighborhood of $1600 to purchase just the vinyl.

There is the mask needed, blades, time, etc. to figure in, too.

And shipping costs.

 

[WhiskeyDreamer]

for me, how i'd price this is kinda simple.

1600x2=3200 Add in for time to cut and weed, say 4 hours at $95/hr=380. That puts you at $3,580. add 15% to that for misc costs (which covers your blades, tape, squeegees and such), which is $537. that's a total of $4,117, which at 3,000 pieces, puts you at $1.37/pc. if you want a higher profit margin, bump that up, but that would be my bare minimum selling point.

 

[kcollinsdesign]

Why not just buy them from Sticker Mule for 20¢ each (plus shipping, of course). I'm guessing around $625 for everything.

PS: Don't let the client know or let him anywhere near a computer or smart phone. Sticker Mule is the first thing that pops up in a Google search.

 

[MIkeyB036]

Why not just buy them from Sticker Mule for 20¢ each (plus shipping, of course). I'm guessing around $625 for everything.

PS: Don't let the client know or let him anywhere near a computer or smart phone. Sticker Mule is the first thing that pops up in a Google search.

My concern for buying from a company I've never used before is that I don't know the quality of materials they will use.

I don't want to give a guarantee without being familiar with the product.

That WOULD be the easier way, tho!

 

[victor bogdanov]

Something repetitive and easy to weed like this project I would just charge 3x of the material cost (vinyl/transfer tape) but remember you are bidding and if you want to win you might want to be a little more aggressive with pricing, even doing this at 2x of material might be worth it to someone

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Why not just buy them from Sticker Mule for 20¢ each (plus shipping, of course). I'm guessing around $625 for everything.

PS: Don't let the client know or let him anywhere near a computer or smart phone. Sticker Mule is the first thing that pops up in a Google search.

Why be in the sign business at all? Theres more to selling things than price.

 

[Vinyl slayer]

My concern for buying from a company I've never used before is that I don't know the quality of materials they will use.

I don't want to give a guarantee without being familiar with the product.

That WOULD be the easier way, tho!

If this project is in your wheel house, what you DO, then there is no need to outsource and charge your customer more money. If it's way larger than your capacity, and you can sub out and still keep the same cost as something more in your capacity ... Do what the math says.

And potential business relationship. Sometimes huge clients need small repeats... Is it worth The work of a huge client to accommodate, or this is a one time request and they won't need you again?

 

[jfiscus]

Government work usually means lots of paperwork, etc for every piece. I would weed them all with a .1" box around them so that they're all the same height after you mask them and cut them down. Sounds like a lot of work to me, even though others here think it's a half day job. I would definitely be closer to $2-3 per piece. Use a premium vinyl, you will have to provide a warranty.

 

[Stacey K]

I like WhiskeyDreamer response. If you have to cut all these apart also, that's going to take some time. For something like this I would just spend a few minutes setting some of it up, cut it on cheap vinyl, mask, cut apart and see how long it takes. That will be your maximum time spent per x amount of numbers.

For shipping, I would just weigh a full roll of vinyl and a full roll of masking, calculate how many rolls of each you need and that's your maximum weight since you will be removing the weeded area. Shipping goes by weight so if it's 60# however you calculate it you need to at least be paying for 60#'s of shipping. Not sure how many will fit in a box if you are cutting them apart, cut some out and see where you are by measuring how thick 20 of them are and how high your box is. Paper printers used to measure paper that way with a micrometer thing (can't remember what it's called). They can get within a few sheets. If you get 1000 in a box that's 3 boxes at 20#'s each. Sometimes a few minutes spent calculating a larger job is worth it.

 

[MIkeyB036]

Above two posts are exactly where my thinking is!

Yes, this is the majority of what we do, but not on a scale such as this, so it's hard to just price it out based on "a roll of vinyl," etc., as there will be tons of time involved. I do want to cut them all the same width, to allow for easy installation - if one is not familiar with installs of a product such as this.

And as Stacey said, the shipping costs will be difficult to calculate ahead of time because vinyl IS heavy!


Thanks, everyone, for the input. It sounds like I'm a little "high" on the price. I was just about $3.25 per, but my partner wanted to go $1 each, so that's way too low! I guess we'll meet somewhere in the middle and hope for the best.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

3.85 for a 2-3" cut vinyl number, you could get them cheaper at Disney World? It shouldn't take a ton of time to do. 48" wide material, 48" wide take and cut them down with a long straight edge. I'd be surprised if $1 each would even get it.
If Kcollins is correct and sticker mule does them for .20 each, then that should give you some indication that 3 bucks is crazy. I thought that they used graphtec plotters and the rest would be regular ole human labor unless they had a flatbed cutter. Labor is labor, none of these wholesalers are employing magicians. Even still, hand splitting wouldn't take all that long. Warranty? Really, whats gonna happen unless the material itself is bad which would be highly unlikely.

 

[2B]

Government work usually means lots of paperwork, etc for every piece. I would weed them all with a .1" box around them so that they're all the same height after you mask them and cut them down. Sounds like a lot of work to me, even though others here think it's a half day job. I would definitely be closer to $2-3 per piece. Use a premium vinyl, you will have to provide a warranty.

Exactly and well said!
Since this is a Govt project you will have specs you MUST follow, warranties, paperwork, sample submittals, ETC...

 

[ChaseO]

Well, my estimate for 30" - since that's as wide as our plotter will cut - and 60 yards (if my math is correct).

Somewhere in the neighborhood of $1600 to purchase just the vinyl.

There is the mask needed, blades, time, etc. to figure in, too.

And shipping costs.

1600 in vinyl? What are you buying???

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Exactly and well said!
Since this is a Govt project you will have specs you MUST follow, warranties, paperwork, sample submittals, ETC...

That's not always true. We get a fair amount of government work and the process for most of it is no different than quoting any other customer. They get the number and then they send whoever they select a PO.

 

[Gino]

1600 in vinyl? What are you buying???

That's what I thought, too. Seems quite high, unless all his overhead and profit is already figured into that number. Somebody is fudging around with numbers and expecting us to believe their malarkey.

Also, we do a fair amount of government jobs for various branches and departments and there's no real extra paperwork or fiddling around with specs. In fact, we've already corrected their specs and we were thanked for noticing what others didn't notice.

 

[DPD]

We have an opportunity to bid on a fleet of trucks, renumbering them all.

We will NOT be doing the install, only cutting/weeding sending them the numbers.

Obviously, outdoors, we will use premium vinyl, like 3M, etc. to insure they last.

Numbers are 2 - 3 inches high (hasn't been determined which yet).

Seems simple enough, sets of numbers 0-9.

They want 3,000.

I want to put the price at 3.50, partner thinks it should be closer to 1.00 each.

So whose price is more fair to US?

P.S. Not that it should matter (necessarily) but it's a governmental agency, and they have the money!

Price it at time + materials and see if that makes sense to you. Sometimes I do this and say darn, is this what things really cost?