Egads, but that's cheap......................................

[OldPaint]

Well, I sure wish all this attrition and evolutionary dropping off of the dumb, inefficient and inexperienced would start happening quicker. Its tough spending half your time justifying to so many of the customers why a quality job costs what it does compared to the bottom feeders.

HA.........being the Old sign guy"..........WHO saw this same crap with the plotter and idiots buying one..........giving stuff away so us old guys wouldnt get the work. yep, they could do it, and in the same process just stuck it to themselves at every PRICE REDUCTION. so now another guy buys a plotter, and he REDUCES THE PRICE even more so he can get the work. multiply this buy 100's......and now its becomes a BUYERS MARKET of a once well price commodity. now the "CUSTOMERS"............EXPECT and demand CHEAPER......and you, in need to keep the printer going.......AGREE TO IT!!!!!!!! so you created this mentality......its only gona get worse.....
NOW THOSE SAME PLOTTER OWNERS....... now buy PRINTERS........and since one printer is no different then another printer.........the only VIABLE VARIABLE IS PRICE........ he who sells for less gets more work..........but in turn HAS TO WORK LONGER and produce more, use more ink, more printable material to make what WE OLD SIGN PAINTERS MADE..........WITHOUT all the paying of ink & printable material COSTS))))
i hate to inform you who bought plotters, then printers............and now are complaining about low ballers......
THAT WAS YOU .....................when YOU ...............when you 1st started )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
when i did magnetics........for $150.00 a set, and later came down to $80.00, and will not do em for less.......the people EXPECTED those prices..........now i see em for $29.00...a pair.......stupid....
glad iam 70...............

 

[reQ]

I don't have much to add to discussions like this except to simply ask the question?

Are you are a signmaker or a wannabe banker/middleman?

Is your goal to simply never let a job go through your fingers even if all you are doing is playing middle man? Or are you in this business to mostly craft signs yourself?

We outsource only work we can't produce in-house or our workload won't allow us to squeeze it in.

I'd have gone to call center school or business college and not five years of specialized trade school and years of graphic design classes to learn this vocation if all I wanted to do was be a broker taking a cut off each job.

Not sure about any1 else, but i am in business to make money, and that is most important thing. After i made some money, i can screw around and do some stuff that i like and enjoy. Just did whole bunch of coropalst sign with 1 color helvetica font... did i enjoy making them? Nope, did i make money...? YES and that all it matters.

I am not a charity, i am a business and will not give stuff away just bacause I LOVE MAKING SIGNS.

Thats my point, if you do not agree with it, thats fine.

 

[Billct2]

If I can make more money/save time by subbing I do. That's the kind of stuff that's not any fun, other than the design, anyhow.
When I got started it was going to a pickup truck, a sign kit and a faithful dog...someday I may get back there.
In the meantime I have a family to support and to spend time with so that is my business goal now.

 

[TimToad]

Not sure about any1 else, but i am in business to make money, and that is most important thing. After i made some money, i can screw around and do some stuff that i like and enjoy. Just did whole bunch of coropalst sign with 1 color helvetica font... did i enjoy making them? Nope, did i make money...? YES and that all it matters.

I am not a charity, i am a business and will not give stuff away just bacause I LOVE MAKING SIGNS.

That's my point, if you do not agree with it, thats fine.

You quoted me, so I assume your comments about giving work away for less than its worth were somehow directed my way?

I'm not sure where any of my opinions gave the impression that we're not in this to make money or that we don't charge accordingly just because we're more interested in the creative side of the business, but you're wrong.

We make money, we like making money and we like making good looking signs. Seems like a win-win to me. We're quite happy with our profit margin.

Is making money the only motivation for owning our own business? No, but its the biggest reason.

We also do lots of charitable work for worthy causes we believe match our social values. I hope that's not viewed as some kind of waste of time, by the hardliners out there.

 

[Vital Designs]

OMG. Lets say it would be 600 sq/ft total (should be more than that) thats $2.5 sq/ft, laminted.... frack it

Don't be so sure it's laminated. I bid on 20+ 53 ft trailers and was low balled out of it pretty quickly. I found out who did it and that they outsourced the prints to a very large print supplier and were not laminated. The install was sad. I saw the "finished product" about a week after completion and they didn't even try and lay it over the rivets. There were creases and lifted areas everywhere. That's how lowest bid works.

 

[reQ]

Here is another one. 4x8 dibond sign, digitally printed, laminated & DELIVERED yet for $275 CAD. A guy 100 miles away from me

 

[Techman]

I wish I had a photo of a trailer wrap.
It was low balled beyond all reason. The low ball was so low the client asked me why I thought my work was so much better when the other guy could do it for about 1/4 of what my bid was.

It was parked out front of a business for a few days looking ok.
Then it rained all weekend. Drove by it on a Monday morning and the side was blank. I thought someone had peeled the wrap during the weekend. I had to stop and look at it because something just didn't look right. Can you imagine the vinyl was still there. Interior grade using a water based dye ink. The rain washed the ink right off the panel. They jockey didn't even bother to spray it with some spray clear.

The client was upside down with being upset. He was red faced yelling at his cell phone to the lowball jockey to come over and see the mess. Demanding the jockey to bring his check book for a full refund.

It was a good day to smile..

 

[reQ]

I wish I had a photo of a trailer wrap.
It was low balled beyond all reason. The low ball was so low the client asked me why I thought my work was so much better when the other guy could do it for about 1/4 of what my bid was.

It was parked out front of a business for a few days looking ok.
Then it rained all weekend. Drove by it on a Monday morning and the side was blank. I thought someone had peeled the wrap during the weekend. I had to stop and look at it because something just didn't look right. Can you imagine the vinyl was still there. Interior grade using a water based dye ink. The rain washed the ink right off the panel. They jockey didn't even bother to spray it with some spray clear.

The client was upside down with being upset. He was red faced yelling at his cell phone to the lowball jockey to come over and see the mess. Demanding the jockey to bring his check book for a full refund.

It was a good day to smile..

LOL thats a good one