What should I learn from this?

[petepaz]

next time even though there may be jokes and snarky remarks ask before you do the job.
if i am doing a new job (new type of process, vehicle or whatever but i never did it before) i will ask other friends in the business or ask on here to get some idea of what i am getting in too. if nothing else you can at least confirm you have the correct material. or google, youtube, the internet is your friend. those box trucks can be a pain in the ass if not cleaned properly (the rivets alone are a nightmare)

 

[ikarasu]

You guys are derailing our Windex discussion with all your attempted help!

 

[Gino]

I was under the impression that notarealsignguy's flair was sarcasm? Unless i'm just misunderstanding internet tones again.

From what I'm able to gather though, chris keena is crabby that notarealsignguy was annoyed that a sign painter (interpreting as a sign maker, as he's creating a sign by painting it regardless of medium (substrate? The proper word for the surface the sign's going on)) was going to do a sign install really cheaply because the end client didn't want to put in the effort and money to do a rather large sign the right way in a plaza, where I also assume people will be, or hire someone to install the sign in a proper way.
Gonna be honest here, I would be pretty annoyed if I gave good advice and had other other person fixate on just the temporary part of the solution. I can't imagine how THAT would ever not go well in the location given. :|
Even if the plywood isn't going to be thick, a single 6'x2' or 8'x1' piece is still going to be a bit heavy even for absolutely coating the back side with duct tape and hope. That type of install hasn't stopped things from falling on me though. I'd say that decking screws like notarealsignguy talked about would be a good idea for that type of install, especially if you were able to paint them to match or blend into the sign.

Anyway, I don't think I've got anything useful to contribute and feel like I'm missing something important so I'll shut up now.

Where is this thinking now ?? See what I mean about people not remembering what they say an hour after saying it ?? No focus, just living for the moment.

 

[Boudica]

Where is this thinking now ?? See what I mean about people not remembering what they say an hour after saying it ?? No focus, just living for the moment.

Now I'm lost... You quoted a post from 5 months ago.
Notareal's flair is his rooster.

 

[Gino]

Exactly. All the things he pointed out and made fun of 5 months ago, he did in this thread. I was scanning through some stuff and saw this and it's pure BS how he handled it and turned it all around. It goes to show, he has nothing from which to pull. He says anything to blend in with the crowd at the moment. Not a thought in his noggin.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Exactly. All the things he pointed out and made fun of 5 months ago, he did in this thread. I was scanning through some stuff and saw this and it's pure BS how he handled it and turned it all around. It goes to show, he has nothing from which to pull. He says anything to blend in with the crowd at the moment. Not a thought in his noggin.

Me? I thought that I was fairly consistent. Got 20 years of Windex under my belt over here and am not afraid to admit it.

 

[Johnny Best]

I put Windex with ammonia on jellyfish Man of War stings.

 

[ikarasu]

I didn't get a chance to do my Windex experiment...so I'll contribute in the boring way!


I just had a job from someone I do a lot of work with - This is my "Side business", not my normal "Real" job. Printing 2 full rolls of banners, going to about 40 different schools. The art is supplied - so I just print, trim, hem pole pockets into it, and kit it for each school with some decals / posters, etc. Pretty big job, while working another 8 hour job anyways - Worth about $2500, and I do it in the night after my day job...so it's about 3-4 days of work, few hours a day so I dont kill myself.

Well, on Day 3.... after staring at these damn banners for hours and hours... I notice when she setup the artwork adding the school names in... she moved the vector, and it wasn't grouped - So theres a big piece of the wing where it shouldn't be. This has gone through a bunch of vendors - 1000 posters were made, some coasters, flyers, every single school signed off on the proof... no one noticed it. I go and point it out to her...And ask if its supposed to be that way... to which I know it's not, but I didn't want to sound like a know it all. She's so stressed... because its on her, and everything has to be re-done.

I know if I charge her the full price to re-do it all, she makes zero profit on the job...so I offer to do it for material / ink cost.... about $500. She's extremely happy... because she has 3 other vendors she has to pay to get everything re-done as well - turns out every single vendor re-printed it for a discount, and apologized for not seeing it before printing it, even though it was her artwork.

It's 100% her fault - Everyone of us could have been dicks and re-charged full price - but you need to keep your customers happy and work with them. Here I am at 3 in the morning cutting up and putting pole pockets in banners to help a customer in a jam, and making no profit on it.

Using the wrong material for the job, no matter the reason - or doing a shitty job, and not wanting to fix it because you'll be out some money is a good way to lose customers. I probably shouldnt have been so forgiving since it's not my mistake at all - but I take pride in my work... I convinced her to re-print everything VS sending it out and hoping no one notices... because I didn't want to put out a bunch of shoddy artwork, whether it was my mistake or not.

Don't try to make excuses - I can wrap vehicles pretty easy... but I dont have space to do it properly at my house - I could do it in my drive way and get away with a bunch of dust under the wrap... but I don't - If you can't do a job right... you shouldn't try to do it. Focus on what you can do, and can do well - Otherwise word will get out about the crappy work you do... and being in a small town / island... no one will want to work with you. 1/10 customers who are happy with your work will leave a review, or sing your praises - 9/10 customers who are unhappy with your work will do the same.... And that word travels faster and further.

You can buy most vinyl by the Ft - Black ,white, buy 10-20 FT of the popular colors - Store it at home under your bed if you have to.

 

[Johnny Best]

This Girl lives in a fishing town in Alaska. Sleeps in a hammock, no bed to store stuff under. Every thing she owns is in a duffel bag.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

If we're gonna go down the do it right road, it's your responsibility to thoroughly check customer supplied art before printing. Also watch as the first one rolls off the printer before hitting go on the entire lot in case something got jumbled during the file export or during the rip.

 

[Boudica]

I printed one of those big fake checks yesterday. It was sent by a broker, the artwork came from his client. I received the whole email thread. There were three things wrong with the artwork. 1. A background graphic didn't extend to the edge on one side, 2. I saw in the thread that someone asked if 2022 could be in the top corner as the check number (it wasn't there) and 3. It wasn't to scale with the size called out to us. I asked about the size discrepancy, but didn't mention the other two... They were in a big rush to get it.

 

[Stacey K]

Last year for school banners they gave me photos and names in an email. Nobody bothered to check the names and they gave several of them to me wrong. The lady just assumed I would either know how to spell them or I would look them up. I was NOT happy. I reprinted them at no cost but told them no more --- they provide the correct spelling, some of these names these days are ridiculous. After that each kid wrote their name on a piece of paper and it was their first photo, it made it much easier to match kids to names and ensured the names were spelled correctly.