Did they ask to purchase? I wouldnt offer it but If they want to buy the screens I would probably sell them for cost of screen plus markup plus setup cost. So maybe about $55 - $70 each.

 

I wouldn't get in the business of warehousing screens for people. I only do it for clothing line relabels. Screens are part of the cost of running a screen printing business. If you are charging reset screen charges, then you should be getting paid for setting up reorders.

 

A selling point for screen printers to distinguish you from the rest is to waive screen set up fees for reorders within 1 year. This creates an enticement for them not to look elsewhere for subsequent orders.

Whether than means recreating screens free on reorders, or saving the ones you have for a year is up to you.

You are starting to get into the big time now. Time to stop worrying about running out of screens. If you don't have enough, order more. They represent a small percentage of your overall screen print business cost.

 

Similar to Joe, We offer no additional screen fees on 6 month re-orders, and for an additional $15 per screen we offer to inventory the screens indefinitely.

If the customer chooses the indefinite option, you then decide to buy additional screens, or reclaim and burn new screens if they come back for the same print. We chose to Archive the vellums and reclaim the screens rather than waste floorspace storing screens that most likely will never be used again.

Hope this helps,
DaveG

 

Curious about you guys that don't charge for resets...if a customer orders 500 shirts, and then they only want to reorder 100 shirts. Do you charge them more per shirt for the reorder, or are you giving them the same price on the finished garment and also not charging for screens?

 

Unless its within 2 weeks it counts as a separate order.

 

For us - same price - We're service and quality driven, so assuming it's not a rush order, we'll throw it on the end of a slow day and eat the cost of setup, but have a happy customer that has no reason to look anywhere else!

It's one of the ways we build customer devotion.

The repeat customers that call and simply say "I'll send you the design and shirt count tomorrow, If you'll drop off an invoice with the shirts, we'll cut you a check the following day" - No questions, no quibbling, no bargain shopping. Those customers are earned, and those customers are where the money is - There's no time wasted quoting prices, advising on how the design could be simplified for a lower total cost, explaining what the screen charge is for, etc, etc. All that takes time and time IS money!

Hope this helps!
DaveG

 

Dave said it TIME IS MONEY. That is why we charge for every set up we do. A six color job will take how long to set up? When we started we did not charge as much for the reorder set up, then it turned into a customer ordering 5 shirts or even 1 shirt. Do the math on a 6 color print that you did not charge a set up fee for. We make money printing shirts, as long as shirts are falling off the belt I'm making money. We charge $20 per screen set up fee regardless of the order size. If you count all the time involved in the set up process and the cost of the tape, emulsion and other materials, $20 a screen charge does not turn a profit. I have two autos and run two shifts. We are busy most of the year. Ask my employees what my biggest grip is and they will tell you, down time kills my profit. Setting up prints equals down time. So if you choose to not charge reset up fees that's your decision, you will get to a point that it will bring you down and when you try to change the way you charge those loyal customers will leave. There is a printer in town that does not charge very much for their set ups and less for reset ups. They are a little cheaper than me on printing charges. The problem is their quality lacks. I'm not the cheapest in town, but I am the best in town. Not bragging but when my competitors bring me orders they cannot print and tell me they don't have the skills to print these types of prints it says something for your business.

If you explain the set up process to your customers they will understand and order enough shirts the first time or know that they will have to pay the set up fees the next go around. I don't worry about what my competitors are doing or what their charging, I offer the best quality and service at a competitive price. If a customer is loyal because of my prices he will leave because someone offered a lower price. If he is loyal because of quality he will leave if someone offers better quality. The same with service. I concentrate on quality and service, it has not failed me. If I'm going to go broke, I'm not going to do it working myself to death because I'm trying to be the lowest price in town.

Do what's best for you. What kind of reputation are you building, Best price, best quality or best service. We built ours on quality and service, I'm covered up with work. I've had customers leave for better prices just to come back for quality and service.

Good luck.

 

This is a good reason to build what you want to charge for setups into the price of the shirt. My customers don't need or want to know what a screen does and why I have to charge a certain amount for it, they just want the shirts. If they never know there is a setup charge, they never ask for a discount on the repeat order.

Also, I rarely do repeat orders for the same price, shirts have gone up enough lately to make it harder to honor a price from even as recent as the last 6 months.

 

We charge for screens but never sell them. The customer does not own the screens.
We do not charge for screen setup for any re-orders within 1 year to entice the customer to print more and to stay a customer.
The price of t-shirts is about to go up so requote the job with the adjusted prices but minus the screen setup.

 

So when a customer calls and reorders 3 shirts that have a three color front and back you don't charge a set up fee? I had a customer yesterday that forgot to order 2 shirts. She called after she handed her shirts out and realized she forgot to order two shirts. Now I go through about 30 screens a day and often we clean screens as soon as 30 minutes after the order is finished. This order is a 3 color front and a 1 color back with an undercoat. that makes it a total of 6 screens. If I print these two shirts without a set up fee, I'm losing money. If I do it this time and don't charge her for the set up, she will call next week and order 2 more because it's not costing her anything extra. It will never end. If she goes somewhere else with her business, than fine they can print her reorders for free and lose the money. I'm to busy to print for free. Everyone in my area charges for reset ups. To each his own. When you get busy I think this practice will change. Good luck.

 

I agree that you always charge to set up a job even if it is a re-order, for most custom order I build this into the t-shirt price so that the end user never knows about it. For contrcat clients I alwys charge at least $5.00 to re-set a screen which a really good bargain for the distributor.

As far as selling screens I do sell them here for $75.00 to $90.00 each depending on the mesh count and screen size. I never really wanted to but sometimes hobbiests or small school clubs are looking for screens so why not sell to them, then if they get overwhelmed or screw something up they ca call me to print the shirts for them too. I would recommend never getting involved with warehousing screens though. I learned this mistake the hardway as up until 2008 I had 12,000 screens on shelves, since then I have got that number down to 2000.

Steve

 

Not charging setup fees on a reorder? At least charge half the setup or something. Might as well not charge a setup fee for the original run then. It takes time and money to take on the order whether its a repeat or not so we charge accordingly. It sucks but sometimes the customers have to be educated on the process and why it costs what it does, some think you click your heels and the job is done when we all know what goes into printing a 5 color job on black shirts. People are always trying to order 3 more shirts on a 4 color job and expecting it to cost a few more bucks, but if you do it for nothing, trust me, they'll keep coming back and doing the same thing over and over. This used to happen at our shop years ago when we wouldn't charge for doing a couple extra shirts and they just won't stop, then after 3-4 reprints, you've lost several hours of production time and left several hundred dollars on the table that you could have been paid for. We aren't the cheapest in town, but we offer quality, service and quick turnaround and you always know what you're going to get with us, but I'll be damned if we aren't completely covered in work right now. We haven't been able to breath for almost 5 months now. We were busy before but now there is no time to clean the shop and do the little things.

 

Nice touch Alan, I am always concerned as to how distributors and end users alike to and discount the service that all screen printers supply, I am glad I am not the only one trying to keep my prices up while many competitors are giving their shops away.

Steve

 

Yeah..thats one of the major problems in this industry. People discount and discount until they are basically working for free. What they think is a "service" is actually devaluing everyone's work. Shops that truly provide a superior product and great service can get away with charging more and don't have to rely on gimmicks or "sales" to drive their business. For contract customers, I charge $17.50 per screen and $8.75 for resets. Retail customers have an all inclusive price, but reorder are dealt with like a new order...new price. I don't do one and two piece reorders though...minimum is 36 shirts, reorder or not.