posted
I just came back from there. A customer of mine is getting married and they are purchasing a lot of items through me (i.e. invitations, table cards, place cards, etc.).
She was also interested in a banner. She said she had been at Kinko's before she came to me and they were going to give her a "big" banner for $140.50.
So I went to the infamous Kinko's to see what they were selling. I talked to a fellow there and he gave me their pricing brochure (I didn't say who I was).
Basically, they are offering full-color printed vinyl banners for $7.00 a square foot, up to 54" x 25'.
Now, I don't know about anyone else's prices, but I offer a 3' x 8' ONE color banner for $170.00. They will give a 3' x 8' FULL COLOR banner for $168.00.
Is it THAT much cheaper to print banners rather than using vinyl? It seems they are losing a lot of profit by charging diddly for them?
For any of you who print banners, what do you charge per square foot (rough retail estimate)?
-------------------- Randy Graphic Details Promotional Merchandise Distributor South Glens Falls, NY Posts: 381 | From: South Glens Falls, NY USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
We have an 54" Arizona inkjet printer. We can accommodate a six color image area of 52" wide x unlimited. The largest banners we have run have been for the Titans (48" x 60 feet). We've done about 20 of these without a hitch.
As for the pricing Kinko's is charging pretty much what we charge for full color banners. $7.00 per SF
Our bare costs per SF are only 3.00 per SF which includes ink and banner material. So here in the shop I can print a 3x8 banner in about 20 minutes and charge $168 for it.
We hem and grommet by hand, but its a perfected technique and takes no time.
We still do vinyl on banners but only when we need to find work for someone. It's simply too cheap to run them digital, and with the five year 3M inks its a good deal for the customer.
Of course to do this required the inital investment for the Arizona ($110,000 in 1999), which was paid for just doing Titan's work their first season here. The same Arizon is now running about $60,000 in this market.
We even run most of our 4x8 MDO (sintra) copy/graphics on it in a full 4x8 sheet. Mask and lay it down. Quick and easy $400.
posted
Stan, a machine that size must have a fairly costly maintenance contract, or else be an expensive repair if it ever breaks.
If you don't mind sharing information with us, I would be interested to know your machine amortization schedule and how you allocate for equipment maintenance and failures. You must be running a huge volume to make a gross margin of $4 per square foot pay off a machine that big. Vic G
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Well we are charging about $10-12 a sq.ft. for digital print banners on a Soljet... Material costs are about $3.50 a square and it takes about an hour to print one 4x8' banner... But that is at least $320 bucks. Still do a ton of vinyl banners at about 6.50 a square. But now I can add color by printing on cheaper calendared vinyl and apply it to a banner blank...
-------------------- Eric Patzer A.S.A.P. Design Lafayette, CO epatzer@earthlink.net Posts: 208 | From: Lafayette, CO USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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