DSF

socialgiraffe;53339 wrote:Hi Dan

total cost for the mug and print is about £1.00 (absolute maximum),

?

Jack.

Hi Dan

PM sent.


Jack

Firstly, ignore VAT as that is always claimed back with large volume companies. The cheapest around if buying from the UK at the moment are from BMS and are 62p each. I used to purchase from China and they cost me about 50-55p each although am about to stop as its simply not worth it when BMS sell them so cheaply. I seem to remember that the cost per sheet from a Ricoh is about 80p ish. You can get three images per sheet.

Cost of mug 62p
Cost of ink 27p
Paper 10p

The above is if you are not striking any deals with anyone to buy in bigger bulk. For example I am sure BMS would probably do a slightly better deal if you wanted 2500 mugs per week. Likewise on paper and if you started purchasing 10 sets of ink carts on a regular basis. Also, they could well be using cheaper ink and not Ricoh printers. Epsons produce fantastic results and I think their ink is a lot cheaper. Head clogging is not an issue because they are being used and abused everyday.

So total cost of mug 99p plus labour

If selling for 2.00 per mug then profit is £1.01 per mug before labour costs

Less 35% for tax, NI, premises, utilities etc etc would mean profit, or rather wages, would be 75p per mug.

266 mugs per day (which is 5-6 hours approx on a 5 in one) would mean £200 profit/wages per day.

That is just one five in one and one person. If you had two five in ones and two people I would expect the output to more than double to around 600.

Also, to put a spanner in the works....! I think Asda are paying about £1.50 per mug but am not 100% sure!

I've often wondered if larger printing chains, like supermarkets and high street photo places like Snappy Snaps just use small format Epsons with expensive Sawgrass inks, or whether they go the wide format inks (and possibly printers) to bring costs down - anyone know?

If you're a company the size of Wallmart/Asda, then likely you are used to buying from a global market and already have the systems set up for shipping, so the idea of them sourcing from BMS seems a little silly when they could easily get a pallet or container of mugs in from China or any other country themselves.

I agree with pisquee, I was just using BMS as an example on how a mug costs £1.00 to print.

I suspect they either come already printed from China or the USA. Delivery costs would be in the region of 50p as companies like DHL discount heavily for items that are all the same size and very regular. Vistaprint is a good example of this as their stuff is printed in the states.

Having read through the threads, Please don't take offence, but if your at the start of you journey with printing, then it may be best if you continue to learn before embarking on anything big, it's not all about the equipment and knowledge, your quality needs to be consistent, and that comes with practise and knowing your machines, prices, and a whole lot more than I can find the time to say. Know what to say and how to present yourself as a person to do business with. costing, tax ect. So enjoy what you are making at the moment and learn and read as much as you can, this way with time, effort, so when the time comes for you to expand you'll be more rounder and won't get your fingers burnt. There is a good saying don't run before you can walk. What I do is when I see a method or machine mentioned on this forum I type it on Google and have learnt a lot form this, I do this with with things I know that I'm not going to buy, but it leaves me with with a wider vocabulary that makes me look more that I know, so when I'm pitching for work, it looks like I know more than I do

Also, bare in mind that some equipment used for printing can cost a heck of a lot - ie more than the potential profit of the 'big' job you are contemplating, so maybe this one job could buy you a really great quality massive set up, but, unless you know that there are more job on the way to follow it, you would be wasting your money as you would need to keep the printers printing to justify their existence.

pisquee;53359 wrote:Also, bare in mind that some equipment used for printing can cost a heck of a lot - ie more than the potential profit of the 'big' job you are contemplating, so maybe this one job could buy you a really great quality massive set up, but, unless you know that there are more job on the way to follow it, you would be wasting your money as you would need to keep the printers printing to justify their existence.

Very good point and will put

I agree with Jennywren, - learn to crawl before you can walk .....
all this maths of doing hundreds of mugs per day, just to earn a couple of hundred quid. Now don't get me wrong, - £200 is not a bad days earnings, - but you can make that selling under 30 mugs, - not ten times that number.
If or when you get really good, - and when you have the kit, - just maybe you might want to bid for the Asda contract, - me? - I Never want to go there ! - and £200 a day is not enough if you are handling pallets of material a week, - you can be sure they are slow payers, - and the contract could 'walk' overnight.
Use your kit, - and acquired talent more creatively !
imho

I also agree with Jennywren but then again how long would it take to learn the process? When I started printing mugs over 10 years ago it took me about a day to get the process learnt and to a quality that I am happy with and more importantly my customers.

Have to disagree with Logobear on a few things as well.

Yes you can sell 30 mugs and get the same profit, however that is selling to individuals and not bulk, that would mean 30 different customers a day and is a completely different market to bulk (or rather trade) selling. I am sure you have many repeat customers etc at a shop, but I only need 5-10 customers to keep me busy enough. I have no need to advertise and my website has not been touched since 1997!!!! (p.s. 10 times 30 is 300 not 200 )))

200 mugs a day is only 1 pallet a week so there isn't really any issue with receiving them, you can always set up a deal with your supplier of mugs to take one every week and delivered at XX time. Suppliers and couriers love that sort of thing as its easy to schedule. There is also the added benefit that stock control is a walk in the park with selling 1 item in bulk. No need for any other items like hundreds of garments in various colours and sizes sitting on the shelf for ages before anyone purchases.

Having said that, there are two different markets here and it all depends on your skill set which one you prefer and are better at. I remember having an email conversation with WorthDoingRight who prefers to "spread" his customers. I personally could not stand the thought of hundreds of customers with all the invoices, bills, PDQ receipts etc etc. It would also mean I would have to deal with the public which is something that makes my skin crawl Don't get me wrong, I admire anyone who runs a shop for this sort of work and it is something that I personally would love to do, but I also know it would be a mitigating disaster as my skill set is completely wrong for that sort of business.

Lastly, I have heard that Supermarkets are bad payers and personally I wouldn't touch them. I was contacted recently by two different retailers about mugs, the price was right but they wanted 90 day credit terms. I refused and said that in the present market I would require 50% upfront and then 50% on 30 days. They refused, one of them has now gone into liquidation and I suspect the other one will have to restructure in some way or another.

To get back on topic, it is really down to what Dan is good at whether he ventures into bulk or into retail. he may well have a very good contact who has said if you can do it you can have it (maybe not even Asda). If I was in his shoe's I would look to farming the contract out to the likes of me and then adding 5p per mug for doing nothing, but then I might be biased there