Wholesale printing, charging for waste?

[TheSnowman]

You charge for every inch of vinyl that goes through your printer/cutter. I had a customer complain to me that I charged him for unprinted area the same as the printed, and he couldn't BELIEVE that I'd charge the same for an area w/ less ink on it. I told him it's all the same cost regardless. Needless to say...he didn't want to pay, so I cut him a deal to make him happy on this one, and told him I'd never be doing it that way again...essentially firing him. He was a waste of time anyway. Didn't value anything I did to save his butt.

 

[ericmitchell29]

by the way, when I said how do you charge when printing 24 on a 54.. I wasn't actually looking for an answer. I was just saying what others said in that... as a wholesaler, you need to have the right media for the job... some vinyls only come with a 54'' option... I wasn't asking a stupid question is what I'm getting at haha.

 

[PromoGuyTy]

I think the idea of charging based on production costs (including waste) simply doesn't make sense.

A market oriented pricing approach makes more sense.

As long as it is (above) your production costs, you charge what the market will bear.

Such an approach makes the idea of charging for waste a mute point.

 

[speedmedia]

You charge for every inch of vinyl that goes through your printer/cutter. I had a customer complain to me that I charged him for unprinted area the same as the printed, and he couldn't BELIEVE that I'd charge the same for an area w/ less ink on it. I told him it's all the same cost regardless. Needless to say...he didn't want to pay, so I cut him a deal to make him happy on this one, and told him I'd never be doing it that way again...essentially firing him. He was a waste of time anyway. Didn't value anything I did to save his butt.

this seems to be the only way that makes sense. If I am printing a wrap I take a rectangle of the entire finished side and if it Is printed or not or even not part of the wrap bu gets cut off and goes in the trash I charge for it. Not like it can be used for anything else.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[Mosh]

We have it built into the price. Back in the vinyl hey-day I had a customer complain I was charging him for the vinyl I weeded out of his design.

 

[Malkin]

We have it built into the price. Back in the vinyl hey-day I had a customer complain I was charging him for the vinyl I weeded out of his design.

Yeah, I have had a customer want to keep the letters that I reverse weeded out of his design.

 

[sjm]

Yeh it would be included in the price upfront not, hey we only sold one burger today so for you your going to have to pay for the whole cow.

So if this wholesaler had another job they could of fit on the waste would of it got charged or not? Would the other person have to pay for their 'waste' as well?

We supply to the trade and we don't add the waste ontop. It's calculated in our pricing model.

Chris imagine telling your wrap clients the cost to wrap is $2000. Then throw in at the end its another $400 for all that vinyl in the bin?

Seems unprofessional that a charge is beinng communicated as waste or just a pricing tatic to appear cheaper.

Sure but can you wait a week? Or better are you willing to pay for a full roll of material so I can complete your job?

 

[scarface]

To be honest i really don't see why you wouldn't charge for the entire material width. Being used for the customer's actual job or not, that extra 6-7" of unprinted material is still being used, you cannot re-print on it so it's used material nonetheless.

I had a customer yesterday actually call me and say "Hey those decals you made for me don't fit, i measured something wrong, can i just give you these back and you make me another set"

Not really related to the topic but something i wanted to say since he basically wants me to take that "waste" and swap it for the correct measured graphics. I told him it's not like someones going to buy those or like i can put it back on the roll lol

 

[Jester1167]

We have a 17% waste factor built in to our pricing. There is alot more waste than most people take into account.

Extra material before, after and sides of print.
Ink, time, and Material used in nozzle checks, cleaning, calibration, and normal maintenance.
Ink used when printer is not in use.
Wasted laminate when changing laminate.
And we use kraft paper in our laminator.

We also have a minimum charge for any digital prints. So if a customer comes in asking for a 5 - 5" x 5" decals, I quote them the minimum charge. The charge is based on 1 running foot of material and would tell them the would get 10 for that minimum charge. They get more than they were expecting and I get my minimum without throwing all the waste in the trash. We have now created a win win situation.

 

[cdiesel]

I think the idea of charging based on production costs (including waste) simply doesn't make sense.

A market oriented pricing approach makes more sense.

As long as it is (above) your production costs, you charge what the market will bear.

Such an approach makes the idea of charging for waste a mute point.

Keep in mind we're talking wholesale printing here. Very, very different than retail.

We stock various sizes of various medias. When we print customers' jobs, we do our best to use the appropriate sized media for the job, and nest jobs as much as possible. To keep turnaround times tight and prices low, we charge for the full width of the material, unless we are able to nest another job.

Now, 15 cent banner is very different than 180C with lam, especially on larger orders, and we are always willing to work out a deal.

 

[javila]

We build waste into the price. The less waste their is, the higher the profit margin is for us. When there is waste, doesn't matter because it was already built into the original profit margin.

Telling a customer to pay for "waste" is ridiculous, and spending time on figuring waste per job is an exercise in time wasting.

 

[jasonx]

We build waste into the price. The less waste their is, the higher the profit margin is for us. When there is waste, doesn't matter because it was already built into the original profit margin.

Telling a customer to pay for "waste" is ridiculous, and spending time on figuring waste per job is an exercise in time wasting.

I agree. I never said waste shouldn't be charged for. I said it shouldn't be charged for separately.

When we calculate our overheads we don't spread out the costs of the overheads across 24 hours a day. Even if we work 8 hours a day we don't calculate them on 8. You need to factor in times when your production isn't full so all the jobs that come in have to still cover your overheads.

It's no different to waste material or stuffing up prints.

 

[sjm]

Telling a customer to pay for "waste" is ridiculous, and spending time on figuring waste per job is an exercise in time wasting.

Not really. Consider having to produce an 8' x 25' banner, with pockets top and bottom.

That would need to be run on 10' wide material. That's approximately 30 sq. ft of wasted material.

It's not unreasonable to charge for waste and the educated client understands this.

 

[jasonx]

Not really. Consider having to produce an 8' x 25' banner, with pockets top and bottom.

That would need to be run on 10' wide material. That's approximately 30 sq. ft of wasted material.

It's not unreasonable to charge for waste and the educated client understands this.

Price = Cost of Materials + Cost of Labour + Cost of Overheads + Profit.

That waste goes into the cost of materials.

Would a 10' x 25' banner cost the same as a 8' x 25' banner using 10' material? No. But your using the same material?

 

[binki]

waste is built into our wholesale and retail sales. material used is material used.

 

[mountaingraphic]

So..What kinda printer did ya end up going with?

 

[javila]

Not really. Consider having to produce an 8' x 25' banner, with pockets top and bottom.

That would need to be run on 10' wide material. That's approximately 30 sq. ft of wasted material.

It's not unreasonable to charge for waste and the educated client understands this.

Sorry, but I can't bring myself to ring up a $10 charge of "waste" on a $700 - $1,200 job.

 

[sjm]

Sorry, but I can't bring myself to ring up a $10 charge of "waste" on a $700 - $1,200 job.

Would that price be wholesale or retail?

 

[sjm]

@javila,

Allow me with all due respect to tell you those are retail prices. While a newbie to this board I am a veteran of over 20 years in the business.

Also allow me to further qualify my statement about an educated client as I previously mentioned.

We as in our company deal with trades people only and they the trades people who we serve understand that the waste is a small price to pay. That is especially so when they stop to consider a) our prices are very competitive b) we don't charge a rush charge and finally c) we correct their file problems free of charge.

Things that are often over looked that value add and make the trade person look good while keeping their client happy. Yet the small price of waste as you point out for some strange reason impacts their bottom line more.

 

[JR Digital]

@javila,

Allow me with all due respect to tell you those are retail prices. While a newbie to this board I am a veteran of over 20 years in the business.

Also allow me to further qualify my statement about an educated client as I previously mentioned.

We as in our company deal with trades people only and they the trades people who we serve understand that the waste is a small price to pay. That is especially so when they stop to consider a) our prices are very competitive b) we don't charge a rush charge and finally c) we correct their file problems free of charge.

Things that are often over looked that value add and make the trade person look good while keeping their client happy. Yet the small price of waste as you point out for some strange reason impacts their bottom line more.

Well said. I don't understand why people are stressing over pennies to make dollars.