A con Artist Customer

[john1]

Have your wife c*nt punch her.
Love....Jill

Yes!

 

[beericityinc]

I believe I've heard this before..... hmm, where?

Give me good price now, I get you tons of work.
I gladly pay you tomorrow for hamburger today.

Whimpy,lol

When I get that customer, i have no problem(unless of course they have gottem me tons of work, in which i would give them a deal) would tell them to take their offer it is a great deal and have a nice day.

Simple so you doent come off like an ass and then eventually they will just come to you because you do good work.

 

[Techman]

The only issue I have is I am 100% confident they have something big brewing and a potential

Just speculation and gambling. I too am 100% sure i will win the lottery. All i gotta do is pay for the tickets.

There is no sure thing in business until you got the check in yer hand. Walk away from those that dangle a carrot. Walk away from those low price requests. Get what you deserve.,

 

[Custom_Grafx]

Every watched dogs day afternoon with al pacino?

Tell her to kiss you...

why?

Coz you like to kiss when you're being $@#$ed.

 

[S'N'S]

As you are not sure she has actually got another price, just ask her to bring a detailed quote so that you can check to make sure your both quoting on exactly the same thing.

 

[jc1cell]

ask her to bring a detailed quote so that you can check to make sure your both quoting on exactly the same thing

Definitely!!!

 

[Baz]

As you are not sure she has actually got another price, just ask her to bring a detailed quote so that you can check to make sure your both quoting on exactly the same thing.

Didn't think of saying that but yes ... absolutely. A number of times i have been asked to lower my cost because of a customer "saying" they were quoted lower from someone else. Well ... I just asked to have a copy of these quotes so i could at least compare.

I have yet to receive any of these quotes and luckily still got the jobs.

 

[midnightmadman]

I offered to meet her in the middle between my cost and what they told her last night. I havent heard back. I found ways to do them for less, by using larger sheets of coro... so we all win if this works. Of course until she does the same thing again down the road.

 

[ucmj22]

I was wondering if you were actually using 18x24 blanks or not. I'm assuming that now you will print to cover a 4x8 sheet and then cut right?

 

[sfr table hockey]

Have your wife c*nt punch her.
Love....Jill

Now Jill you have said this many times....... but what is a "can't punch"....

 

[midnightmadman]

Now Jill you have said this many times....... but what is a "can't punch"....

You must be joking if you don't know what she is saying! LOL

 

[mikefine]

She is not a con artist. She is a consumer shopping around for the best price. You do it. I do it. We all do it. In fact there is a smart phone app just for that. Based on your title, I was prepared to read something totally different.

You are 1 in a million shops that can handle coroplast signs. You offer nothing unique for this project, as far as I know, other than she is your wife's friend. Be grateful that she is giving you the opportunity for "last look" at pricing-- and as I understand for a potentially big job. Don't act emotionally. Either you can make a profit, or don't take it.

 

[signswi]

Have to agree with mike, responding with "why did you even ask them for another price when I was already making them for you" is just rude and naive. Either you can compete at that price or you compete a bit higher and provide better service or better design or whatever, or you don't get the job. Not that hard. If she's looking for bottom barrel prices use your charm to sell her on your service or let the job go, but ask for a chance to quote on the huge bulk order coming up.

 

[Jillbeans]

I wouldn't work for her at all.
I don't allow customers to dictate my prices to me, and I also don't give discounts on promises of future jobs where the old "I can get it cheaper" record will again be played.
You are going through all kinds of hoops, making more work for yourself, for less profit.
That's a long trip to nowhere on the crazy train if you ask me.

 

[PC Signs]

For those that have flatbed, why would you take an order for 20 coro sign, 18x24, at $1.25/sf, a woppy $75 order? Even for wholesale?

Just thought I would throw my $.02 in toward this comment, regarding wholesale coro at $1.25 sq/ft. Lets assume a $90,000 midrange flatbed printer that prints 400 sq/ft per hour, I will use 80% or about 8 boards (equals 10 qty 18" x 24" signs) an hour actual throughput. I will also assume only 1 shift per day, and 2 weeks vacation per year.

$7.00 Coroplast per sheet
$5.00 ink/lamps/maintenance
$2.00 labor
$1.00 portion of shop overhead
$1.50 payment on printer
------
$16.50 cost per board

$21.00 profit on one board
x 8 boards per hour
x 8 hours a day
x 5 days per week
x 50 weeks a year
-------
$336,000.00 profit per machine, per year

These are rough numbers and I do not intend to agree or disagree with you, I just thought that running rough numbers might shed light on why someone might wholesale at these prices.

 

[10sacer]

I didn't say I would do it for $1.25 a square foot but there are a ton of wholesale guys who will. A simple Google search for "cheap coroplast yard signs" will yield you quite a few.

I am not a wholesaler and don't even play one on TV. I suppose it also depends on how much competition you have locally. I am surrounded by flatbeds and they are giving stuff away - so yes, in essence - if you desire that type of work (coro) - then you are somewhat saddled by the competitive price ceiling.

You can run alot of numbers and get varying results depending on what you are trying to do - Vutek is the king of this and they will tell you with a straight face that you can run your QS2000 for only 3 hours a day at $5 a square foot and make a profit.

 

[Bly]

Like plenty have said - give her the price you're comfortable with then if she's not happy let her shop around. If she goes elswehere sounds like it'd be a favour.
Let her know you're happy to quote the upcoming job with massive quantities though.


Or get your wife to c*nt punch her.

Heh. Nice, Jill.

 

[10sacer]

Coro costs

Your costs and profit only add up to $36.50. Are you subtracting for material waste for the 2 sq. feet left over? I try to figure in wastage so it should be $1.25 x 32 = $40 - $16.50 (costs) = $23.50 profit per board... you know... theoretically

Just thought I would throw my $.02 in toward this comment, regarding wholesale coro at $1.25 sq/ft. Lets assume a $90,000 midrange flatbed printer that prints 400 sq/ft per hour, I will use 80% or about 8 boards (equals 10 qty 18" x 24" signs) an hour actual throughput. I will also assume only 1 shift per day, and 2 weeks vacation per year.

$7.00 Coroplast per sheet
$5.00 ink/lamps/maintenance
$2.00 labor
$1.00 portion of shop overhead
$1.50 payment on printer
------
$16.50 cost per board

$21.00 profit on one board
x 8 boards per hour
x 8 hours a day
x 5 days per week
x 50 weeks a year
-------
$336,000.00 profit per machine, per year

These are rough numbers and I do not intend to agree or disagree with you, I just thought that running rough numbers might shed light on why someone might wholesale at these prices.

 

[Techman]

$2.00 labor

If the day was full and the operator was working all day long on one set up then maybe.
In the world of small orders like this it is bullscat. That labor cost is a fantasy under the conditions of this order.

 

[skyhigh]

Just thought I would throw my $.02 in toward this comment, regarding wholesale coro at $1.25 sq/ft. Lets assume a $90,000 midrange flatbed printer that prints 400 sq/ft per hour, I will use 80% or about 8 boards (equals 10 qty 18" x 24" signs) an hour actual throughput. I will also assume only 1 shift per day, and 2 weeks vacation per year.

$7.00 Coroplast per sheet
$5.00 ink/lamps/maintenance
$2.00 labor
$1.00 portion of shop overhead
$1.50 payment on printer
------
$16.50 cost per board

$21.00 profit on one board
x 8 boards per hour
x 8 hours a day
x 5 days per week
x 50 weeks a year
-------
$336,000.00 profit per machine, per year

These are rough numbers and I do not intend to agree or disagree with you, I just thought that running rough numbers might shed light on why someone might wholesale at these prices.

I think you should drop your "profit on one board" down to $7. That would pay for your machine in one year, plus put 22k in your pocket on JUST your flatbed work. All subsequent years will be all profit.

Gawd, why do "wholesalers" need to make so much money?

 

[10sacer]

So they can afford to buy all those machines to help every small sign shop who can't afford to buy them.


I just got this quote from a regional wholesaler:

Hi Sean,


For 30 coroplast signs, 18x24, 2 sided, 3 colored is $195.00.
and shipping to NC is $29.00


Total $224.00


We can ship them tomorrow plus 2 days- UPS ground

Including shipping - thats $7.46 per sign or $3.73 per side.