Pricing Demystified: Why it costs what it costs.
Pricing in the screen printing industry has been viewed as confusing since the first shirt was made. It's certainly understandable, as it's not something that is standardized across the industry. So many factors play into pricing at specific shops that it's impossible to compare at times. Hopefully, after reading through this, it will be clearer as to what you are paying for and why it costs what it does.
Keep In Mind:
Not all shops are created equally. All shops are, however, in the process of their journey. You almost always get what you pay for in the screen printing market. As a customer, it's your job to shop around, do the investigatory quoting, and make sure the shop you eventually choose is reputable, meets deadlines, provides great customer service and even better final products.
On the flip, choosing the cheapest option may end up costing more in the long run with misprints, bad quality prints, bad quality apparel, and poor service. We prefer to guide our customers into the best possible apparel in their budget and make sure that their brand and vision is best represented.
It's worth it in the long run to do the ground work and buy the best quality you can afford.
What Goes Into Pricing
- Quantity of Items. This is a quantity based business and pricing model. The more you buy, the less expensive the associated costs will be. You really start seeing this kick in after a qty of 100.
- Number of Colors in the Print / Set Up. Every color in the print will get separated in the artwork creation phase, then each color is printed onto a clear positive, then burned onto a prepped screen, and then registered on the press before it can be printed. This set up process can be lengthy. When there are multiple colors in the print, you can see how these costs start to add up.
- Choice of Apparel. There are thousands and thousands of apparel options out there. Every style has 4-8 sizes, in a variety of colors, in a variety of fits and fabrics. Each of these things come with a different price point.
- Time to Print. It takes time to print the apparel once it's all set up. There are anywhere from 1-3 people working jobs in our shop.
- Number of Print Placements. The least expensive print we do is a 1 color front print on a light colored shirt. 1 color, 1 screen, 1 set up, done. However: if there is, say, a Left chest print, a Full back print, and 2 sleeve prints, that would require 4 completely different set ups. There would be a charge for each set up, the ink coverage, and the time it takes to print. That would be the most expensive type of tshirt to get.
- Artwork Prep or Creation. We try to offer as much FREE artwork help as we can. It's not something that takes us much time in most cases, as we are seasoned professionals. However, we do need to charge for more complicated jobs, or rushed jobs.
- Time of Year / Shortages. There is an ebb and flow in operating costs during certain times of the year. The Holiday Season is notorious for shortages, backorders, mis-ships, shipping delays, etc. Its difficult to guarantee timelines, and apparel is at a premium. The demand may exceed the availability this raising prices occasionally.
- Rush Orders. When you need it, you need it. We can generally get things done within 2-6 days depending on the situation, but we do charge a rush fee for this service. We pass along any additional shipping, handling, or rescheduling issues the RUSH may cause
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