I thought he stated that if he had to pay $50, he'd only break even?
I would assume that meant that he had $50 worth of profit built in which on a slightly bigger than average set of magnetics is pretty good.
Our local market is being driven down so hard that we just lost an $84 pair of 12"x 18" magnetics that needed to have a logo recreated and they didn't want to spend the extra $37.50 for that work to be done. So, the fools up the road can have it. They just bought the newest $30,000 62" Roland with all the bells and whistles in order to do more underpriced EVERYTHING like usual. When the words "LOW COST" and "BUDGET" are actually in your company name, its no surprise where your business model takes you.
Either way you interpret his post, $50 for the pair or $65, he's still not earning a living. It's a classic example of quoting what one thinks sounds good without knowing one's costs or calculating what one's shop rate has to be. I'd be at $125 to $150 for the job or I wouldn't be doing it.
There's been a saying around for years that fits: "I bought a $
fill in the amount machine so I could make cheap
signs". I don't play the lowball game. While someone else spends their two to three hours making those mags, I will be spending that time making
signs that are priced high enough to cover costs and make a profit.