posted
He's not paying that little for 20 pieces. I suspect he has been getting them die-cut from another company when he ordered a much, much larger quantity.
posted
No, Glenn, he told me he's been buying them 20 at the time @ 7.50 per set of two. He also said that he would show me the invoices. I told him that wouldn't be necessary but he insisted and left to go and get them. That was three hours ago. I had given him a price (@20pieces) of $13.10 each or $26.20 per set. Is that too high? I certainly can't compete with $7.50 per set.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
Had a similar situation a few years ago. I ask the client why he wasn't going with the other shop. his answer was that the other shop wasn't in business anymore..
soooo..I told him that I want to stay in business and held on to my price...took him a couple of days ..but he came back and is a good customer from since then.
É
-------------------- Élaine Beauchemin scrip Lettrage Scripsit inc. St-Hubert, Quebec, Canada www.scripsit.net Posts: 1096 | From: Saint-Hubert, Québec, Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Wayne, intermediate vinyl is about 30 cents psf so you are marking material up about 4 times. Now, there's nothing wrong with that. What you are interested in are the total dollars left for you after the bills are paid. The point is, margin on material is part of the total margin.
I would hold for the higher price at the risk of letting the business walk, but let me give you another way to think about it.
IF he comes in once a month and orders exactly the same thing, and IF you have a low cost person in the shop who can weed and tape this without tying up your valuable time, and IF this person can send you other business that is richer, THEN you might want to consider a slightly better price to gain the incremental work plus opportunity work.
My guess would be, his last shop bounced him,or was too slow, or had a quality problem, that's why he is at your door. Speed-Price-Quality: Choose two
Never take a job you can't make a living at. The time you spend on it is better spent looking for work you can make a living at. Vic G
-------------------- Victor Georgiou Danville, CA , USA Posts: 1746 | From: Danville, CA , USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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posted
Thanks Victor. The price I had given the customer was for high performance vinyl which costs me $.74 per sq, ft. Yes the cost I posted was with markup.
You are right, the customer did mention slow times, shoddy work, and product failure. Not to mention one of the shops which supposedly did them for that price is out of business. The other two are out of town.
For intermediate vinyl I would do them for $12.30 each.
That was my thought exactly, Elaine, when the customer mentioned the now defunct shop. I keep hearing time after time, from customers, about their ultra-low prices.
[ March 13, 2002, 02:27 PM: Message edited by: Wayne Webb ]
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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I'd hold out for the price also. I think your price is a good one for that large of a sticker.
I recently had a company want a bunch of stickers from me and I thought they SHOULD be "cheap" because they were just stickers. I ran the size and vinyl pick through my EstiMate software (Thank you Mark) and came up with a figure I thought was way to high. So, I started figuring it out the old fashioned way (all material costs, how long it would take me to do 1, 10, 50, etc.) and I should have just stuck to the software's price as it was on target and took me 1/10th the time.
I thought my customer would choke at the price but they asked me to do the job.
Like Ryan, I tell folks that want low prices that - I can go out of business or go out of business really tired.
-------------------- Brian Diver PDQ Signs Everett, Wa
posted
I just did a bumper sticker job for a windshield replacement company.They wanted 100 3"x10"stickers in different colours.Charged him $200.00 and he had no complants.Stick to your guns!!!!
-------------------- Randall Campbell Randy's Graphics, 420 Fairfield N. Hamilton Ontario Canada Posts: 2857 | From: Hamilton Ontario Canada | Registered: Jan 2002
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Glenn, He mentioned 3 different shops he had been getting the decals from: The first is out of business. One left town abouty a month ago. The other one is about 40 miles away in Alabama.
I suppose he wanted someplace more convenient since his place of business is only 4 miles or so from here.
Thanks all
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
wayne iam glad you posted where the other shops where...figured they wher here in pcola,,,,,"where everything is cheaper"....hahahahaha
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
I had a similar experience, I do motorcross graphics A customer can in & wanted a price on a complete set, 2 shrouds, front & rear fender, Front & Side # plates. I gave him a price of $220 he said he was getting them for $58 ( out of state ) for the entire set. I told him to go ahead & get them done. He called back the next day & said because I was local he would have me do it. Like I figured, trying to low ball me.
STICK TO YOUR GUNS
Later Gary
-------------------- Gary Wiant Vinyl Graphics Unlimited Shippenville, PA Posts: 66 | From: Shippenville, PA U.S.A. | Registered: Mar 2000
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Rob, Based on 1.5 hrs time and my cost for materials(vinyl and tape). I'm coming up with about $47.97/hr without marking up materials. Which ain't bad for this area. With materials marked up I'm figuring about $37/hr.
Yes the thing is a logo.
I'm just wondering if I need to reconfigure my pricing. Thanks
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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If your hourly rate is $30 per hour based on the article by Jeff Cahill, and you can talk to the client, take the order, create the file, cut it weed it, mask it, trim it, and make out the invoice with in 1.5 hours, it can be done. And, it can be done with reasonable profit.
***************
I also think it is the way many shops are calculating their jobs. One of my newer competitors prices their cut vinyl by the linear foot. This particular one is charging $3.50 per sq. ft for cast vinyl and $2 per sq. ft. for calendared.
This does not include installation.
[ March 16, 2002, 11:07 AM: Message edited by: Glenn Taylor ]
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