Do you Guesstimate or Estimate?

The more shops I visit, the more bewildered I become at how many places just guess at their pricing structure. I would say that 8 out of 10 shops just have this sheet of paper (usually scotch taped to their desk) with a grid, number of colors across the top, and quantity breaks going down.

Screen Printing isn't rocket science, but it is Hard Work, a lot of different factors and variables are involved. One would think they would put a little effort into making sure their prices reward them with a profit.

When I ask how they arrived at those numbers, most have a blank stare on there faces. The usual response is "this is what I've been doing for years". Which, I guess gives them some justification, as they are still in business!

I just can't figure how one grid, creates a "fit all" pricing structure in this industry. I'm hoping some of you might enlighten me, because I just don't get it. So many things are different from order to order, and to pick prices off of a single grid, and be comfortable with that, just blows my mind. Especially the ones that drop in nice even increments of .25 cents or so. It is easy to tell, they are just guessing a what to charge for their services.

Sorry if this sound like a rant against the industry, but please understand that I'm out to change this mindset, and to get shop (sales) into estimating software that does all the variable calculations for them (or at least most of them).

If your a "gridder" and ain't changin'.. I would love to hear the "why", to help me better understand.

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PS.. please don't take this thread as a sales pitch. I'm hoping it will become educational for many.