This actually started as a response to another thread and some things I see going on in my town and on here at 101. Decided to post it as a thread instead. It started as someone talking about making a 2sf print/cut decal, it also caused me to attempt the longest run on sentence in history.
I can't believe what people will do a one off anything for a few dollars. I have a minimum, 1 custom sticker like that is going to cost lets say $65 It doesn't matter what the material costs. I have to take the order, bs with the customer, receive the file, make sure it is ok to print, add cut lines, check color profile and possibly convert, fill out a work order, make a file, send the job to the rip, load correct material, rip file, print file, have the finished print sit somewhere for 2 days, unload material, there is wasted material making room for the crop marks, laminate, extra laminate for the extra space of the crop marks plus even more waste fore and aft if you are using an actual laminator for such a small piece, time to reload and setup sheet, back to the rip and cut file, unload job, weed, trim, updating work order, calling or emailing to say that it is ready, write invoice, meeting and bs with customer when they pick up, explain how to hinge a 24" sticker to customer, give them a cheap squeegee, collecting and or running credit card, paying credit card fees, giving them a receipt, depositing their payment...
I am sure that I have left tons of stuff out and that isn't even taking into account standard overhead like lights, advert, legal, acounting, rent, taxes, material, ink, equipment depreciation, phones, paying for all the jobs that get screwed up or not paid for or bounced checks, the holding costs of your inventory...
This is all assuming that the file was really ready for print and that nothing goes wrong. If we think that 5 decals really costs any notable amount more to make than one decal we are fooling ourselves! I tell customers that 1 of whatever might cost $65, two for $80, 5 for $110... 1,000 business cards might cost $100 but you wouldn't sell 10 for $1
I know that this is just going on and on but I am really tired of seeing people giving away work and destroying so many small businesses in so many different fields. I don't care if you work out of your moms basement or a huge high tech shop, a decal has value, price it at what it is worth. If your overhead is low than your margin will be larger, you will also do less volume. If your overhead is high, you will charge the same, have less margin and make up to it in volume and efficiency. Many are in this business because they are creative people or some just know how to run a printer, whatever the case we are in business, act like it. If you really want to do it as a hobby and give away your work than actually give it away. I would have much more respect for that.
Do quality work that shows the difference and value between a professional and a customer produced job and charge for it.
I am not a big shop or the best sign maker but I aspire to be. I don't care to be the cheapest price in town nor necessarily the most expensive, I do however want to make an honest living, proud of what I do and add to this industry.
(Totally made up, hypothetical prices so don't give me any crap about them)
I will get off of my soapbox now but in closing, a banner in a small shop does not cost the price per sq foot of material and ink. Let's say just to use a number that the true cost is a hypothetical $4 per sf when you include ALL of your costs. We can sell 100 banners at $4.50sf and try to keep the doors open while using all of our time that could be better spent selling or producing high end product or we could make 16 and a half banners at $7 per sf making the same profit with 16.5% of the time, materials and wear and tear. We could spend some of that extra 83.5% of the time that we just created designing something to be proud of and developing relationships with our customers. The rest of that time could be used for actually making a profit.
We are not China and their business model is not going to work for us here, that market is already being served. Why don't we do something that adds instead of takes away?
My preachy 2 cents, only my opinion but it drives me crazy and I wanted to vent.
I can't believe what people will do a one off anything for a few dollars. I have a minimum, 1 custom sticker like that is going to cost lets say $65 It doesn't matter what the material costs. I have to take the order, bs with the customer, receive the file, make sure it is ok to print, add cut lines, check color profile and possibly convert, fill out a work order, make a file, send the job to the rip, load correct material, rip file, print file, have the finished print sit somewhere for 2 days, unload material, there is wasted material making room for the crop marks, laminate, extra laminate for the extra space of the crop marks plus even more waste fore and aft if you are using an actual laminator for such a small piece, time to reload and setup sheet, back to the rip and cut file, unload job, weed, trim, updating work order, calling or emailing to say that it is ready, write invoice, meeting and bs with customer when they pick up, explain how to hinge a 24" sticker to customer, give them a cheap squeegee, collecting and or running credit card, paying credit card fees, giving them a receipt, depositing their payment...
I am sure that I have left tons of stuff out and that isn't even taking into account standard overhead like lights, advert, legal, acounting, rent, taxes, material, ink, equipment depreciation, phones, paying for all the jobs that get screwed up or not paid for or bounced checks, the holding costs of your inventory...
This is all assuming that the file was really ready for print and that nothing goes wrong. If we think that 5 decals really costs any notable amount more to make than one decal we are fooling ourselves! I tell customers that 1 of whatever might cost $65, two for $80, 5 for $110... 1,000 business cards might cost $100 but you wouldn't sell 10 for $1
I know that this is just going on and on but I am really tired of seeing people giving away work and destroying so many small businesses in so many different fields. I don't care if you work out of your moms basement or a huge high tech shop, a decal has value, price it at what it is worth. If your overhead is low than your margin will be larger, you will also do less volume. If your overhead is high, you will charge the same, have less margin and make up to it in volume and efficiency. Many are in this business because they are creative people or some just know how to run a printer, whatever the case we are in business, act like it. If you really want to do it as a hobby and give away your work than actually give it away. I would have much more respect for that.
Do quality work that shows the difference and value between a professional and a customer produced job and charge for it.
I am not a big shop or the best sign maker but I aspire to be. I don't care to be the cheapest price in town nor necessarily the most expensive, I do however want to make an honest living, proud of what I do and add to this industry.
(Totally made up, hypothetical prices so don't give me any crap about them)
I will get off of my soapbox now but in closing, a banner in a small shop does not cost the price per sq foot of material and ink. Let's say just to use a number that the true cost is a hypothetical $4 per sf when you include ALL of your costs. We can sell 100 banners at $4.50sf and try to keep the doors open while using all of our time that could be better spent selling or producing high end product or we could make 16 and a half banners at $7 per sf making the same profit with 16.5% of the time, materials and wear and tear. We could spend some of that extra 83.5% of the time that we just created designing something to be proud of and developing relationships with our customers. The rest of that time could be used for actually making a profit.
We are not China and their business model is not going to work for us here, that market is already being served. Why don't we do something that adds instead of takes away?
My preachy 2 cents, only my opinion but it drives me crazy and I wanted to vent.
