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And the Joke Is On....

Hand Lettering topics: Sign Making, Design, Fabrication, Letterheads, Sign Books.

Moderators: Ron Percell, Mike Jackson, Danny Baronian

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Site Man
Posts: 573
Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2005 1:03 am
Location: Marlborough, MA

And the Joke Is On....

Post by Site Man »

OLD FORUM POSTS

Posted by Mike Jackson on November 30, 2001
Every once in a while, we get someone wanting a temporary banner or paper sign with a joke style message such as "John is 50 today!". Then you give them a price of $125 for the banner or $75 for a paper sign and they immediately stop laughing. Right? They think that if the sign is supposed to be a joke and has limited use, it should be cheap, as though the value of the time we spend is relative to the nature of the sign. Of course we get to explain that we are selling the labor, not the content, but some still want the sign for next to nothing because it is only a joke.

Sometimes we send them to a local print shop which has one of the large format encad printers. We tell them they can just punch it in on a computer and print it out for them. :) When the customer goes there, gives them the message and then pays $40 for the set up and $80 for the 3' x 4' print, I am sure they are totally happy. I'm not so sure which of us gets the best laugh.

Mike Jackson
Danny Baronian
And the joke is on - the fast print shops. Let them spend a half an hour with the customer designing his disposable banner before they get the order.

Is this a trick question;-)? The answer is in the first 5 words -'every once in a while'. Do you want to spin your wheels 'every once is a while' for what, maybe 150 - 500 bucks extra a year? (If you were talking about 10 - 20 orders a year, maybe, but I don't think this what you're addressing). Those are the same customers that want some simple text, then, hey can you add some graphics to spice it up a bit, same price right. Then call back a year later and ask - hey, can you remove the vinyl and put a new message on it, that way, all I'll need to buy are the vinyl letters, right? No thanks.

It would be different if you were set up for it (like a print shop) and cranked out quantities with little material / labor cost, but would you really want to do that kind of work? Would you be satisified with the profit you'd make from the 75 buck banner?

Danny
Mike Jackson
I just find it disturbing that some of these guys expect us to give them a break on a sign because it is a "joke" for someone else. We tell them it might be a joke to them, but it is a job for us. If it is funny enough to them, they can pay the funny price. :)
Rick Sacks
suppose that I went into their store and wanted to buy a shirt to wear only once to a party?

or a tool to fix something that would only require a few minutes of use and never be needed again?

I'd ask them if they aquired a sense of humor that was beyond their budget? I'd like to see my kid driving a new Volvo wagon too.
Vance Galliher
.........hahhahaaaaaaa....that's funny mike !..thanks for the laugh.....vance
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