This new CD combines a PDF of the complete book, How to Estimate & Price Signs, plus it includes sample Excel files and instructions on how to use them to do your own estimating and pricing.
The ...
we used to sell banners like they were free at the 7 to 10 dollar per s.f. price. a while back, even our regular customers stopped buying banners so i investigated. there were several local shops selling banners in the 2.50 to 5.00 per s.f. range. can't blame the customer for buying banners for half to one-third price.
we reduced our price to 5.50 per s.f. for simple banners, which i felt was the minimum i was willing to work for. now we sell a few but nothing like we did before the advent of the instant sign shop mentality.
michael
I share your frustration, after seeing internet banner sales at $2 per sq ft with warranties and same day service, with eyelets and hems. (This is in GA) How idiotic. We will have to wait till these flybynights get shaken out of the market. That will happen when they have to get their printers serviced or replace a head, or the bank repos' it-
I think the strongest position one can have right now is to be debt-free. Travel light and compete with the suckers till they go broke!!
We have been in the biz for 21 years, we used to always get $12-$15 sq foot for banners. Well Kinkos moved to town. Now to get the biz we are are $3.50 sq ft. This does not include any art or set-up (something kinkos does not do), so with the art charge we end up about the same as before, but the customers feels like they are paying less.
Also the fact we now print all banners on our versa-cam in 1/10th the time we used to make a banner with cut vinyl.
i have been waiting to see a topic like this one for awhile now. do you guys know why the reason the damm price is coming down? its because the greedy equipment dealers are pushing wealthy ideas into all of their customers of potential equipment purchase. "buy this printer, all you need is to print 3 banners a month to break even. anymore than that you make a profit". they put that crap into everyone walking pass the show floor @ trade shows.
in order to break even a month, you'll will have to print $10-$12 sf. when there are no customers, price is lower to salvage something for the monthly rent.
i seen some here in calf where the retail price of printed banners are $2-$3 with design. something $10-$12 are just pennies now.
to those who plan on a purchase of a printer & base the final suggestion on the dealers of quick cash & no work involve.... DONT.
you will make the dealers rich & the markets POOR!
I'm not sure where you got your Kinkos pricing from, but the cheapest banner they sell is 9.00 a sq. ft. I hate to say this but they have enabled me to raise my prices. It's not very hard to beat their service or quality.
We use to be able to sell our banners for $9p/s (phoenix) but now we are lucky to get $5. There seems to be shops popping up all over that are selling finished banners for the price I pay for the blank....... not sure how they do it, but it is killing me
The market will determine the price of banners (and everything else). If someone can make a living at $5/sq ft, then that's the price everyone else will have to match. Banner is extremely cheap. Yeah, you need to purchase the printer, and the ink, and the computer, and pay for the building, and have someone run the machines, but even with all that, unless you're in a real high-cost community, you can't help but make money even at $5/sq ft. And if enough of the cheapo places go out of business, then you can raise your prices. And if you go out of business, they can raise theirs.
Steve
Woohoo! Just the topic I was looking for today. We have a place that popped up at the begging of the year, 2010. They have been posting illegal banners all around Las Vegas, NV stating that they will do banners for $39.00 at a 8'x3' size. That's $1.65 a sq. ft.!!!!! How do you compete with that? Been in business for a while here in Nevada, and what I get from my long time customers is a phone call out of no where asking about banner pricing. With this customer query, I then ask, "have you seen the $39.00 banner ad's placed illegally ",? They reply with,"yes that's why I'm calling."
So, my question is; how do you go about getting a sign shop fined for every single (ILLEGAL) banner placed on property?
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