Printing 24" x 36" sign pricing

[NitroStickers]

i have a customer who is look to have 2'x3' signs printed up to be applied to his shipping container. these signs will be applied to steel containers that will be boated around for years to come. Curious what someone would charge just for the signs to be printed and install ready. there is no design work involved and is probably looking for about 50. would 3651 be ok?? i have no laminator, liquid laminate?? thank you

[airal20]

Ridiculously low price!

[GraphiXtreme]

Are you kidding me? That is a ridiculously low price!!! Only doubling your cost of media alone?!?! C'mon that is simply nuts. If you are doubling the cost, where are you getting 3651 for only $.19 PSF? Feller's has it for $.26 PSF, not to mention you're COST of ink which depends on if you're running MAX carts, bulk ink or what have you. I'm running Triangle bulk inks (the absolute cheapest to use system I know of for the 540V) and it is $.15 PSF. So, even at pure cost here, that is $.41 PSF, merely doubling it brings it up to $.82...WHICH IS STILL AN ABSOLUTELY NUTS PRICE! In this case, I would highly suggest film laminating, which for Oraguard 200 that runs about $.25 PSF. That brings your hard costs to $.66 PSF. You'll be out of business in no time if that's all you charge. I can't believe you really sell for that.

Just for comparison, I use mostly 3551 which my cost is $.35 PSF, Oraguard 210 olam at $.28 PSF and ink at $.15 PSF...hard costs are $.78 PSF...I'd sell this job at $38.31 EACH ($6.39 PSF) which includes a 40% qty discount.

[eye4clr]

Fully agree w/GraphiXtreme. It doesn't look like you're taking all your costs into account.

There is no amount of quantity that could justify that picing with your equipment.

[airal20]

whoa, ease up on the roids Giambi. I'm just a rookie at this fellows, so take it easy. My bad, nitrosticker, for the obviously misguided advice.

[GraphiXtreme]

Originally Posted by airal20

whoa, ease up on the roids Giambi. I'm just a rookie at this fellows, so take it easy. My bad, nitrosticker, for the obviously misguided advice.

Don't get the correlation there, but no matter.

Rookie or otherwise, how is it you can have a $20,000 machine, plus all the other ancilliary equipment and software, with no reasonable clue as to how to price?!?! Surely, you must have done some cursory investigation as to WHY you would want a printer, and in that investigation would discover some pricing related information. Further, if you've had it for any length of time, you must have noticed that you are losing a lot of money with that pricing strategy...I mean you can't even break even that way, let alone make money.

I know I'm coming down pretty hard here, but I feel that this is a really big deal - especially if this is at all a common practice. This is what kills the economy for sign shops in general, when folks don't charge appropriately.

[airal20]

Originally Posted by GraphiXtreme

Don't get the correlation there, but no matter.

Rookie or otherwise, how is it you can have a $20,000 machine, plus all the other ancilliary equipment and software, with no reasonable clue as to how to price?!?! Surely, you must have done some cursory investigation as to WHY you would want a printer, and in that investigation would discover some pricing related information. Further, if you've had it for any length of time, you must have noticed that you are losing a lot of money with that pricing strategy...I mean you can't even break even that way, let alone make money.

I know I'm coming down pretty hard here, but I feel that this is a really big deal - especially if this is at all a common practice. This is what kills the economy for sign shops in general, when folks don't charge appropriately.

Oh no the world is coming to an end because Al's suggested price is really low. Dont flatter yourself. It was a "off of the top of my head" suggestion, not a "pricing strategy". This is only a portion of our business and we profit plenty. I suggest you get off your high horse and drop it.

[bob]

Originally Posted by airal20

It all depends on the environmet that it will be in. I would say that 3651 is sufficent for most situations, even with out laminant. But if it will be outside in the rain and direct sun light, then i would look into geting it laminated. If using just 3651 i would charge about .38 cent sq ft.(doubling the cost works for me). So that would put you at about $114.00.

Have you taken leave of your senses?

Perhaps in your rustic backwater people work for free or less. Here in my village if you want 50 2'x3' prints they'll cost you $2,150.00 unlaminated or $2,603.00 laminated.

[BDodson827]

Boy, tensions are high here at PrintingDigital, today!

Airal, this is a community for helping one another. Plain and simple.

All eye4clr is trying to get across is that, misguided information, could quite screw somebody else up pretty badly. Especially if they're a rookie, such as yourself. I'm getting my footing here with a lot of stuff, as I generally read, and if I DO know what I'm talking about, I'll comment.

From what I've seen eye4clr is very rational, and only wants to provide help. Whether you see it as him being on a high horse or not, he's simply saying "HEY. YOU CANNOT MAKE MONEY THAT WAY. YOU'RE SETTING YOURSELF UP FOR FAILURE"

[airal20]

10-4. All is well.