Extremely low priced labels on Printplace.com

[NAUprinting]

I have a customer who is currently getting 3 sets of 5000 white vinyl stickers (total 15,000 stickers) 2.5"x2.5" rectangle for $417.00 plus tax and shipping from a website called printplace.com. Are these being printed offset and gang run and this is why the pricing is so low? I can't seem to find a way to compete with this in house or outsourced with trade partners. Any tips appreciated!

 

[gregbatch]

I'm sure they have a dedicated digital label press with laser cutting and UV ink. It doesn't mention if cut sheet or roll fed.

 

[jwheeler]

Labels are typically printed on roll media, not sheets. When I worked at a commercial print shop, we outsourced all label jobs to Discount Labels. They were always fast, good quality, and the pricing gave us plenty of margin to markup. Another trade printer that I know shops in my area use is called Stickerman. Check those out to see if the pricing works for you.

 

[kdw75]

We typically run small quantity roll labels in house on our solvent printer. It makes sense to send out to a specialty printer when the quantity gets up over 5,000.

 

[danvoell]

Price is way too low. Let them have it.

 

[gregbatch]

I'm in agreement with danvoell. There is a problem here that hasn't surfaced yet. Perhaps they are perfect for their intended use, but I have found that cheap stickers usually fail to meet the customer's expectations over time, typically failure of the adhesive, image breakdown and fading, and sometimes the material itself. If a client wants a vinyl sticker, that implies durability, and I just can't see being able to produce a quality vinyl sticker at that price. There are many grades and thicknesses of vinyl, and many choices of adhesive beyond permanent and removable. A quality label producer will want to know what you intend on sticking it to, what the temperature range is, etc. Also, customers like that will move on if the guy down the street beats your price by $5.

 

[tngcas]

Customers like that will move on if the guy down the street beats your price by $5.

This. Our shop is a bargain shop compared to a lot of places but we don't negotiate our prices lower than listed for this reason. You'll end up bitter, mad at all your customers and burned out. Those customers aren't going to stay for the long run and you'll break yourself trying to do it for them cheaper and then they'll want it even cheaper next time. Unless you personally get satisfaction out of the challenge of doing things "cheaper" (which is different ball game). If you're in the business because you enjoy printing then it's better to spend that time finding a customer who is happy and content with your price point so you can focus on what you enjoy doing (printing) and doing it well.