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firemalt

Need pricing help on my first coroplast order

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I have a customer that wants 100 yellow coroplast signs(no stick or wire), with black vinyl(2 large words & 2 small lines of text), on single side.

I was thinking $600.00... is that way way low? This is a new customer, and will probably be a fairly profitable customer in the future, so I'd hate to lose this quote!

Thanks for any help!!!

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Guest fivestar

I'd have them silk screened and charge 'em around $300.00.  You can get 'em done for around a 1.00 and make a quick couple hun.

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Just about every place I've called today wants $2.50 to $3.50 each... I'll give it another day, and go from there.

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Need a little more info ...

Single or double sided?

what size?

what thickness?

Here's what I've found in the past.

If they're internet savy in the least, you'll loose on price at $600.  Sad to say, unless they prefer to work with someone local (and there are no big screen printers around) you might have a chance.  I see them advertised on the side of the road around here starting at "$4.99"

www.supersigns.biz are about the best I can personally recommend.  Great guys. 

Their 06 pricing guide is all I can dig up at the moment... but looking at this...

Single sided 18x24 - one color =$2.73 each

Double sided 18x24 - one color =$3.37

Yellow Coroplast I think is an additional .33 each

The nice thing about them is if you order on their website, 100 of them or less at 18x24 they guarantee next day :)  That's a NICE feature!!  They send you a nice book with wholesale prices on one side, and "retail" prices on the other so you can remove the wholesale side.  Their "retail side" of the book you can hand to the customer and their company name isn't in it anywhere, so no fear of them cutting you out.

I would personally feel your customer out   :o

Metaphorically speaking of course...

Find out what their needs are.  If they are planning on having these be disposable, and one time use, then definitely push them towards screenprinting.  If they're wanting them to last and be reused at different locations, then I would pitch them on vinyl.  If they want them to last, then you sell away from screenprinting on

- Ink Scratches

- Ink Fades

- Doesn't pop as well as vinyl

etc etc

If they want them throw away - then do the reverse

- Vinyl is more expensive (labor intensive)

- Not designed for throw away use

- Longer Production Time

- Signs are slightly heavier (I dunno - make it sound good)

Yeah... I was a salesman for many many years.  Tomorrow we'll discuss the 'Chicken Head Bob'  that is pretty much your Sales Jedi Mind Trick  :o

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As Knob said... excellent post, thanks for the information.

I don't do silk screen, so my only option is to offer vinyl, unless I sub it out as Five said. I'm waiting to hear back from a few people, so helpfully I can still come through for this potential customer.

The coroplast signs were just the first of 3 jobs they were looking at getting done!  :o

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I don't do silk screen, so my only option is to offer vinyl,

That's fine.  There are enough companies that do.  I don't mind subbing it out and making a hundred or two dollars and not get my hands dirty.  I think they even drop ship to customers but I prefer to drop it off.  Lets me move in for another sale :o

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BTW... thanks for the link. I submitted a quote for the job, so we'll see how their prices compare to my local guy.

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FiveStar makes a good point in having them screened. Most folks who get into the "decorating" bidness, be it signs, shirts, whatever, try to do everything in house ... that has it's good points .... but, many times they are outweighted by the bad.

Look first at how much it would cost to contract it out, weigh that against how much it would cost you to make them. Consider the time you would invest and how much you could make doing other more productive work, or simply selling, in comparison.

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It would be a good thing to learn the art of silkscreening. You may be able to pick up a beginners kit off Ebay or from Dick Blick.

Vinyl vs Silkscreening, they will eat your lunch everytime.

I once made $5,000 a week because I knew this skill and my competitors were bogged down with work and couldn't get it out in time.

I was in the right place at the right time.

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It would be a good thing to learn the art of silkscreening. You may be able to pick up a beginners kit off Ebay or from Dick Blick.

Vinyl vs Silkscreening, they will eat your lunch everytime.

I once made $5,000 a week because I knew this skill and my competitors were bogged down with work and couldn't get it out in time.

I was in the right place at the right time.

absolutely agree! Once you learn silk screening,it opens up all kinds of possibilities. T-shirts being a very lucrative part. If it wasn't for my illness and the chemicals involved, I'd be doing it right now.

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Im 99% sure that silkscreeners use vinyl cutters to cut their emulsion, funny circle eh?

Wayne

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I thought they burned the image into the paper using lights...

I looked into it once.  I just didn't have the time and space...although... I kinda do now... Hmmmm....

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I did some silk screening about 15 years ago in high school. We used this green material that we drew  our design on, then cut out the waste material, laid the sheet on a screen that had a wooden frame, soaked the sheet with a chemical, and once it dried we were ready to start printing! I could see where using a vinyl cutter to cut the silk screen material wouldcome in extra handy!!!

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I remember doing that (working with the green film)!  But that was more like 25 years ago for me (8th grade class).  :o

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I did screenprinting for a while using emulsion and a light exposure unit. It is cool, but require a lot of steps and one gets very dirty. I wouldnt go back to it, I would rather sub it.

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Maybe at another date and time... I got too many things on my plate as it stands now, but thanks for the offer.

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what are you asking for it joe?

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oh and as far as using your cutter for screen printing Beardown has a video

<embed src="

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

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Great Video!!!  :o  Got me interested in trying it.  Can't wait for the one on how to build your own screen printer and flash dryer.

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Yes you can cut film with your computer and do it perfectly. You can also use your vinyl scraps to seal the edges etc. and stop any leaks.

Much faster on clean ups.

Around 53 years ago we cut our letters out of news paper and glued them on the screen in reverse.

Things have improved since then. Laid/drew the letters out by hand.

Cackle, cackle. :o

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Chops... I can see why vinyl and silk screening were able to be priced so high in the past years!!!

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Hmmm...That's an interesting video.  Thanks for the post.

Anyone know a way to do 2 or 3 colors with that process?  Couldn't use the same screen or it would be toast after 1 shirt I'd think and I'm not sure lining up 2 different screens would even be possible, but I'm definitely interested in knowing how to do more than one color.  Oh and what band was that?  lol

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