IDIOTS, VINYL CUTTER & NO PROFIT!!!

[OldPaint]

just came back from one of my clients who just opened a business. he called me as i did his marquee and a door. he needed the license # put on the door, so since i did the other work for him i cut the 1.5" letters and took them up and applied them N/C.
i noticed as i drove up a new 3 FOOT X 15 FOOT white banner installed up on the facia. i asked him where he got it....he tells me this guy drives in the other day, told him he could do this size banner for now get this...$160.00!!!!!! THATS $3.56 A SQ.FT. banner cost is $45.00, vinyl& tape used is minimum $40, time is at least 1 hour at $50....install shoulda been minimum of $35....so the way i figure it he pocketed A WOPPIN $35.00!!!!!!!!
on top on that its 20 feet in the air where its mounted...AND THIS IDIOT DID THAT FOR FREE!!!!
i quoted him on a 2 x 10 FOR $160!!!!!AND NO INSTALL!
so i lost that sale.....now the real kicker..the guy didnt write a reciept, leave a card or give tell the cleint his name!!!!!! REALL GOOD BUSINESS PRATICE !!!!!!! now you see why i posted the title the way i did.......and i hope he enjoyed workin for less then MINIMUM WAGE....THE IDIOT!!!!!

[THATgirl]

Hey OP......happens all over Seattle. When I go get supplies I always check out the list of who else bought supplies that day. There are carpet companies....tow truck companies etc. all calling themselves sign shops now. funny.

[phyllis racicot]

Same boneheads up here too....I just can't figure out why they leave sooooo much money on the table.

[exsigns]

Hey guys to be honest with you I'm one of them... When you just started up it is difficult to understand what to charge & actually to get paid that much. In a year or two this guy will also charge $400 for the job like this... if he won't go out of business first. Like I started the same way just with a plotter in my living room. There is always will be people who is ready to work for nothing and we cannot do anything about new guys starting and hurting the industry....

[nodrenim]

Hey Gang, Dig this one. I used to screen print most anything to make a living. I always tried to be fair with my pricing. This also happened to be in a military town. A retiree from the base screen printed nylon jackets at his cost of the jacket, no screen prep, no freight charge either. His reason was this, I'm retired from the military and don't need the money, just something to do. Guess he never thought of volunteering to help the less fortunate. Go figure. nodrenim

[jimdes]

By now, a lot of folks know that I had a helping hand getting started, pretty much had no overhead in the beginning BUT I still charged a fair price. Fair to me, fair to my customers and fair to the people I was competing against. And yes, I even charged the guy that lent me the money.

I think this did something HUGE for my business. By charging the same as established sign shops for the same work, I was able to cover the cost of mistakes, build a decent inventory, purchase legal copies of software, build a library of good books, compile a collection of great fonts and clipart and pay back the loan. Finally, this spring I'm moving the biz into a new location . . . try doing that in three years while charging rediculously low prices. Not gonna happen.

If you wanna play with the big boys, you gotta act like the big boys.

Oh yeah, it also helped to establish that I was a professional and not some Yuk Yuk who would bend over backwards and drop his shorts on a price just because you could get it cheaper at the Flea Market.

[Rick]

Great post Jim....

I see a lot of newbies getting into this that are very short sighted...then again, so are some veterans.
This guy won't be along very long, and will be replaced by 10 more....why should I care, are they really my competition...after a while, we ourselves need to grow, if after 10-20 years we are still stuck at doing a lot of cheap banners and coro signs and lettering, we should question our direction....(I think if you like doin it, go for it)....Many self-taught still have a lot to overcome, even after 5 or 10 years in the business, taking time to learn new skills, keeping current with hardware and software, look beyond what you think looks good and actually design can take you in a diffrent direction. Now I will do a coro sign or banner if thay will pay for it, I gotta eat too, but why have that bother you if someone undercuts you, there is always someone cheaper, there will always be someone better. I ignore them and keep growing.