muppetrabies 0 Posted February 21, 2012 Hi everyone! I usually stick to the most common sizes for signs and magnets but have a customer wanting a custom size magnet. He is wanting it to be 14 inches tall x 7.5 feet long. Simple red text to go on it. I have no idea what to charge on this. Anyone have any opinions? Thanks!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BannerJohn 1,324 Posted February 21, 2012 figure what the price per square foot is for the magnets you normally charge,and price the larger one accordingly. If you charge $50 for a 12x24..that's $25 a square foot. 14x7.5 would be 8.75 square feet. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
muppetrabies 0 Posted February 21, 2012 Thanks for replying. I think I was making pricing this too difficult Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Muffoletto 2 Posted March 1, 2012 Don't forget to add in wasted "unused" materials. Everything you toss in the trash, you had paid for. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BannerJohn 1,324 Posted March 1, 2012 I never throw away a magnet piece that is at least big enough to make a magnetic business card. Very little waste on magnets at my shop. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mabscotthandyman 1,410 Posted March 1, 2012 I never throw away a magnet piece that is at least big enough to make a magnetic business card. Very little waste on magnets at my shop. I even save the small pieces for attaching notes to metal entry doors and truck doors I even use to stick up reminder notes in my work trucks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alien 11 Posted March 4, 2012 I even save the small pieces for attaching notes to metal entry doors and truck doors I even use to stick up reminder notes in my work trucks. I still charge for the full size because otherwise I would not have cut the magnet. Any peices left over are scrap. If I can find a use for it... my gain, otherwise it goes too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mabscotthandyman 1,410 Posted March 5, 2012 I still charge for the full size because otherwise I would not have cut the magnet. Any peices left over are scrap. If I can find a use for it... my gain, otherwise it goes too. Yes but just stating unlike vinyl scraps I keep all my magnet pcs. for other uses but then I dont throw much away I recycle all of my aluminum scraps and removed aluminum signs also all the metal junk from removed signs or fabrication scraps an employee takes to recycle. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Muffoletto 2 Posted March 5, 2012 I never throw away a magnet piece that is at least big enough to make a magnetic business card. Very little waste on magnets at my shop. I even save the small pieces for attaching notes to metal entry doors and truck doors I even use to stick up reminder notes in my work trucks. Oh alright.... Sorry, guess I'm way off track then. The way I understood the OP was how to price the job. Charging by the sqft? of coarse. "by charging for the amount of raw media used to create the finished product" If the OP is using 24" wide mag creating a 14",7-1/2' mag, he's left with 10" tall x 7-1/2' piece of magnet. I have made a bunch of mags for over 9 years now and have had very little "profitable" use for left over materials this size. Yeah I do save pieces like these for those jobs when you need them that small but how often do they happen really? . Lots of uses for mag scraps tho. Work great for cutting strips from one to three foot pieces to measure up vehicles for graphics or to help hold graphics in place on a vehicle for application etc. So yeah, I've used pieces for small jobs and to hold up notes and such but the handy left overs just don't pay the bills . Just sayin.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stetson5331 80 Posted March 5, 2012 I agree on keeping the left overs..I too charge for the entire piece used..If it's 24" wide and I need a 14" I charge for the entire 24"..If I order special vinyl I charge for the whole roll, even if not all is used..Same with paper I print stuff on..If you ordered it you have to pay for all of it or stock whats left at your expence. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BannerJohn 1,324 Posted March 5, 2012 my actual cost of magnetic sheeting is $1 a square foot,give or take a few cents. If I charged $25 a square foot for adding a dollar or two worth of vinyl, I'm still way ahead if there is waste. As for a 10 inchx7 foot strip....that's 21 magnetic bumper stickers without an inch of waste.I sell a LOT of those. probably more than any other magnet I sell. The profit on those 21 magnets pays for the entire roll. If you expect to operate a business at a profit for the long term...waste is not a term that should be in your vocabulary. Worst case...there are tons of people who would buy small magnet pieces on ebay...at a profit for you. And,another thing...the ONLY time I charge a customer for an entire roll of vinyl is when it is so specialized that I never expect to ever have another use for it. In 8 years, that has happened once. If I charged a customer for an entire roll,then ended up using the rest on another job which I also charge for, I am cheating two customers. And I don't cheat people. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stetson5331 80 Posted March 5, 2012 my actual cost of magnetic sheeting is $1 a square foot,give or take a few cents. If I charged $25 a square foot for adding a dollar or two worth of vinyl, I'm still way ahead if there is waste. As for a 10 inchx7 foot strip....that's 21 magnetic bumper stickers without an inch of waste.I sell a LOT of those. probably more than any other magnet I sell. The profit on those 21 magnets pays for the entire roll. If you expect to operate a business at a profit for the long term...waste is not a term that should be in your vocabulary. Worst case...there are tons of people who would buy small magnet pieces on ebay...at a profit for you. And,another thing...the ONLY time I charge a customer for an entire roll of vinyl is when it is so specialized that I never expect to ever have another use for it. In 8 years, that has happened once. If I charged a customer for an entire roll,then ended up using the rest on another job which I also charge for, I am cheating two customers. And I don't cheat people. Specialty is what I was talking about..Sorry didn't make that clear...I always get a roll paid for when special ordering for a job...If it is something I would use again I should'nt had been out of it in the first place to have to order it..I normally keep what I use in stock..Not my customers fault if I dont have it in stock so no need to call that a special order...I don't cheat either customer out of anything...I am up front and offer the leftover to them whith their product on it as well in most cases...They are happy to get more than they asked for the same charge as the one piece they wanted..If they say no then I have done my part by offering to give them more than they wanted for no additional charge...When I typed my reply earlier it was way in the early morning hours and I couldn't sleep..Sometimes I shouldn't type while not sleeping....Don't think my fingers were keeping up with explaining my intentions on answering.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Muffoletto 2 Posted March 5, 2012 Well, that's the difference between our businesses.... Some make magnetic bumpers stickers with there scraps and some don't. I print everything "ink" so a business card size piece isn't going to fit on my printer so that piece is what it is... just a magnet. A 10" x7' maybe..... Would I go thru the hassle, probly not. Oh, I charge $10 sqft on magnetic, printed packaged and shipped..not $25 so I don't feel like I'm ripping anyone off! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BannerJohn 1,324 Posted March 5, 2012 Well, that's the difference between our businesses.... Some make magnetic bumpers stickers with there scraps and some don't. I print everything "ink" so a business card size piece isn't going to fit on my printer so that piece is what it is... just a magnet. A 10" x7' maybe..... Would I go thru the hassle, probly not. Oh, I charge $10 sqft on magnetic, printed packaged and shipped..not $25 so I don't feel like I'm ripping anyone off! I just used the $25 as an example. It was easy to do the math in my head. $10 a square foot is more than fair. In fact,around here,way cheap. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rodger 527 Posted March 5, 2012 I have seen many companies actually wind up making more money off the by-products than the original product . An example is the local saw mill . The slab wood they cut off squaring the log up , started making alot of money selling as firewood years ago . When they installed a debarker , the mulch sales paid for everything & showed a overall profit for the whole operation . They still have the slabs to sell , plus the boards . timbers etc . The owners & I are friends & they have told me they are not sure they would have stayed in business without the by-product revenue . As competitive as the economy is , never overlook ways to profit , the competition isn't !!! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slice&dice 2,450 Posted March 6, 2012 Funny you should mention that story about the by-products, Rodger. Just this week, I managed to cobble together around $200 in sales just by using scraps I had around the studio. I had some narrow magnets (drop pieces from another job), and got a client to buy them to put company advertising graphics onto his pickup truck bed sides. --- $85. Then, a house number on a small square of leftover MDO --- $35. Another was a coroplast leftover piece that I quickly lettered with "No Free Papers" ( a popular sign for homeowners who want to stop those local advertising newspapers being tossed onto their driveways) --- $25. Also, four little 8 x 10 pieces of poly turned into "Maximum Occupancy 125" signs for a local hall --- $50. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
