• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

Can you do mugs with a print/cut machine?

digitalwoodshop

New Member
I have heard of the coating cracking and falling off too... The best mugs I was getting were from Thailand via Johnson Plastic. I think they now have engraved Thailand on the bottom of the mug too... Older cups just had a sticker I could remove.

Because it is a photo process you can do pictures so it gets Granny to open her wallet.... Grand Kids.... But for Tourist stuff... They would rather buy a $3.00 Silk Screened cup with text only.... Then a $15.00 photo mug... I calculate that it cost me about $4.00 to produce a mug including scrap. X3 for retail and I have a boat anchor that won't sell....

You must watch the whole bottom layer of the box of cups.... I have had many cups from the bottom row crack in the press from the case being dropped.

I have thousands of dollars worth of Sublimation Inventory that I have not sold much of in 3 years.... I do a bunch of FRP or Fiber Re Enforced Plastic and Epoxy Dome over it.

Go into this with your eyes wide open is GREAT advice....

It really depends on your location..... Go to Wally Mart and look at the Photo Mugs they sell.... Can you compete with that.... If I wanted to do Mugs only.... I would just buy them from Wally Mart and mark them up....

Good Luck,

AL
 

WildWestDesigns

Active Member
Because it is a photo process you can do pictures so it gets Granny to open her wallet.... Grand Kids.... But for Tourist stuff... They would rather buy a $3.00 Silk Screened cup with text only....

Thankfully, I've never had to deal with that demographic of the grandma. I've actually never done photos on my mugs, always been more of a graphic design on them, mainly businesses, HS sports teams etc.

You could actually sell a sublimation mug for 22 dollars here to the tourists or even the locals. Regional differences are amazing.

I'm thinking that this is more of a quality of mug issue then it is an epidemic, but like I said, I haven't had issues(yet).




It really depends on your location..... Go to Wally Mart and look at the Photo Mugs they sell.... Can you compete with that.... If I wanted to do Mugs only.... I would just buy them from Wally Mart and mark them up....

That is very true. I actually hate wal-mart on various levels. No one can really compete with wal-mart prices and that's why you have to have a nitch, do clubs, schools, local groups, the short runs that wal-mart doesn't see that good of a margin on.

Wal-mart has the ability to force people to lower their prices in order to get the Wal-Mart contract, so I really don't trust Wal-Marts products when it comes to durable goods.

But you are right, must diversify, I woudn't advocate Mugs only, but I wouldn't be too scared to do them either. There is a tidy profit to be made, just really depends on local or how much you are able to get the word out.
 
Top