everyone is in a rush ???

[petepaz]

are there any customers that can give me a week to do a job.
we are busy as hell right now so i am not complaining but it seems that everyone needs their job yesterday.
normally depending on how busy we are a digital job is 5-7days
and silk screen 10-15. if it's a larger job we add days accordingly
lately everyone is waiting till the last minute.
again don't get me wrong i am glad we are busy and i will get the jobs done but it would be nice not to have to rush through everything

anyone else experiencing this?

 

[Gino]

That reminds me.... I gotta get going, I'm late for a drink.

 

[ChicagoGraphics]

That's everyday for me, most of my customers for some reason wait till the last minute to place orders and expect them the next day, some even want them the same day. There tune changes when I tell them I have to charge them a rush fee.

 

[signage]

That reminds me.... I gotta get going, I'm late for a drink.

Gino the ice cub has melted:Big Laugh

 

[petepaz]

That reminds me.... I gotta get going, I'm late for a drink.

beer in the fridge at the office (benefit of working late..haha)

 

[petepaz]

That's everyday for me, most of my customers for some reason wait till the last minute to place orders and expect them the next day, some even want them the same day. There tune changes when I tell them I have to charge them a rush fee.

we charge rush fees also or if we feel the customer will make a stink we just bury it in the unit cost. it's not so much the money as it is finding time to do the jobs.

 

[2B]

we charge rush fees also or if we feel the customer will make a stink we just bury it in the unit cost. it's not so much the money as it is finding time to do the jobs.

you mean we are suppose to have lives and sleep

 

[binki]

We feel it here too. Jobs coming in so fast we can't even clear the front to get them all lined up.

Some of our wholesalers basically tell is they are FIFO and that is it. Sometimes they are a few days and other times they are a few weeks.

What we try to do is squeeze the smaller jobs in between the larger ones to get everyone out. Repeat customers with no changes in artwork or design locations get preference since we can knock those out pretty quickly.

And of course big jobs that pay 100% up front go to the front of the line.

PITA fees are never disclosed though we may charge them.

 

[TheSnowman]

Most of mine are that way. Some are forgiving. I tell them I'm a week + out and they normally freak out on me. Then the best is when they take forever to pay afterwards. Put some simple stuff on a trailer for a guy that I told to go somewhere else cause I didn't have time, and he INSISTED that I do it. I went above and beyond for him, including hooking his massive trailer up to my truck and delivering it, because for some reason two hours after he dropped it off, he didn't have his truck to pick it up anymore, and then when it came time to collect money I got the "I"ll have to get it to you Monday" story...that was almost three weeks ago.

 

[d fleming]

are there any customers that can give me a week to do a job.
we are busy as hell right now so i am not complaining but it seems that everyone needs their job yesterday.
normally depending on how busy we are a digital job is 5-7days
and silk screen 10-15. if it's a larger job we add days accordingly
lately everyone is waiting till the last minute.
again don't get me wrong i am glad we are busy and i will get the jobs done but it would be nice not to have to rush through everything

anyone else experiencing this?

Only for the last 32 years.

 

[visual800]

NOT MY PROBLEM!....thats my usual comeback. I would guess about 80% of the "Need it NOW!" group is either lying or they just wanna see if they can make you their b****!!! You would not believe how many do NOT need it now and just get off on making people do as they tell.

You wanna know how to break them? When they come in all hopped up making demands and hyperventilating, tell them to go somewhere else. What you have done is removed all their defenses, now they cant use the "WELL Ill just go to another shop" People are a$$*****! and I do get sick and tired of it. They have to be taught you cannot have what you want when you want it when you wait til the last minute.

The most irritating thing to me is to stay on a contrator for 6 months while he builds a project about any signage and he never responds but then calls and demands he need a monument sign in 1 week......NOT MY PROBLEM!!!!

 

[graphix45]

It's the same here! Everyone seems to put off ordering there signs until the last minute. They must want to hold on to there money as long as possible. Then I have a few customers that say "Ol no hurry, take your time" and then call the next day to see how the job is going or say "Just wondering if you might have got it done early".

 

[SignManiac]

I feel your pain. I'm running 4-6 weeks lately and everyone thinks I can bang em out in a week or two... We live in a "Right Now" society, instant gratification. Me, me, me, world...

 

[TheSnowman]

Oh yea, that reminds me as well! I had a guy come in last week wanting a whole bunch of existing signage cut so that he could splice it together on his backlit cabinet. I told him it'd look hokey and it'd probably take me a couple weeks to get to it, and I'd call him when it was done. He said he'd look for a place to cut part of it, and leave part of it with me. So since I told him "a couple of weeks" since it wasn't high on my priority list, he stopped back by three days later wondering why it wasn't cut yet. People drive me nuts.

Oh, and he wanted to quote my insurance stuff for me and he "needed" to know how much money I made, and how many sq ft my work area was. Never needed that in the past 8 years for my insurance.

 

[Jillbeans]

^Sounds like you will have some new competition in 3...2...1.
Since I had to get a real job I take longer to do things.
But I still manage to get a lot done in a short amount of time.
What I've been struggling with is, while I absolutely love to paint signs, I hate having to paint them after standing/walking for 7 hours at my "real" job.
It's hard to just force art out.
I had an email yesterday from an extremely vapid occasional client whom I loathe wanting a crapload of printed stuff ready for Friday.
I referred her to a printer.
Now I tell people in advance that rather than 5 days at most the wait may be up to two weeks.
Love....Jill

 

[tattoo.dan]

It is usually like that here too, but the last 3 months have been nothing BUT THAT! Like you said, happy to be working, not bitchin bout that.....

just if the most important event in the world, that they have been planning for months, is Saturday and they have to have this signage and t-shirts or it can't go on.....why did you wait until Friday afternoon to come order them!!!

 

[Billct2]

It's the expectation these days.
For regular customers if it's at all possible it gets done.
For new customers it depends...
for tire kickers and impatient rude personalities it's a polite decline.

 

[Marlene]

I feel your pain. I'm running 4-6 weeks lately and everyone thinks I can bang em out in a week or two... We live in a "Right Now" society, instant gratification. Me, me, me, world...
__________________

us here too. it isn't just about the actual production time needed to make the signs, we also have to wait for OKs from planning boards. we can't start to make a sign if it isn't approved. the little stuff, I can see why a customer might think they can get it the next day but I talking about channel letters and lighted signs. what do they think that we have a storehouse full of signs in different colors and sizes that are pre-made with their logos just in case they drop by?

 

[ucmj22]

NOT MY PROBLEM!....thats my usual comeback. I would guess about 80% of the "Need it NOW!" group is either lying or they just wanna see if they can make you their b****!!! You would not believe how many do NOT need it now and just get off on making people do as they tell.

Never fails. 50% of the "need it now" orders sit on the front desk for 3-7 days after completion.

 

[qmr55]

I had enough of the yes yes yes I can get it done for you. Now whenever someone needs something rushed I tell them this is how long it will take for me to complete the project, or if you want a rush order we can arrange that for so and so $. Usually deciphers the guys who actually need a rush order from the ones who are just trying to push you around.