ASI Membership

[Jeff Belany]

I know some of you have storefront operations. Do any of you belong to ASI, past or present? I have always considered it but the cost was a little much. I'm going to try a 90 day free trial just to check it out. I'm curious of any of you have any experience with them, good or bad. Has some perks like a 45% discount on UPS service which might come in handy.

Any feedback always appreciated.

Jeff in northern Wisconsin

[Martin Boekers]

I haven't joined ASI (they keep trying) it's too expensive for what I need. There are a few others out there, Sage and a couple
others. There is a free on can't recall the name right now.

The thing ASI is great for is searching products an samples. They have a great search engine. I have found in today's economy
many ASI vendors will sell to you as long as you have a tax ID number. I buy blanks from a few as they have a different
selection of products than the standard awards ind stuff and sometimes they are cheaper.

If you don't know the pricing code do a google seach an you'll find it. That's one thing I wish our industry had then we wouldn't
need a seperate pricing guide with the catalog.

If you have a good market for "ad specialty" products I would give them a good look. If not the vendors are good for blank products!

[Braden Todd]

How expensive is the membership? For the UPS savings it may pay for itself with enough shipping, but then again I don't know the cost lol

Martin- What all vendors are there? I have been trying to find decent ones ever since I bought my laser, before that I just made my own glass blanks and sandblasted them. My previous method ate up a lot of time but I saved a ton on my blanks and had never before seen designs.

[Martin Boekers]

Braden, What type of products are you looking for? There are hundreds of ASI vendors. You sound like you may already
be beyond us if you are casting glass blanks. I buy acrylic sheets from Delvies and black acrylic bases fro Huang Acrilics.
I design and cut the sheet the cut a slot in the base and epoxy.

If you are looking for standard vendors check these out, Engraver's Journal has online magazine and a vendor listing page.
Most laser engraving (Epilog, ULS etc) has a listing page also.

I have added these guys for clocks as the have a nice selection at reasonable prices;

www.tpi2000.com/ (http://www.tpi2000.com/)

[Mark Sipes]

I have bought from www.swedausa.com (http://www.swedausa.com) they do give discounts to those in the industry with a business lic#. Rep stops by every year on his rounds, as do the JDS and PDU reps


I buy the products that I use "blank" and engrave myself... They sell just above wholesale.

[Neal Schlee]

You can join ASI as a "Decorator" for $50 a month...most people pay more than that for their cell phones.

Neal

[Bobby Etchison]

Martin, the free one you are thinking of is Distributor Central.

[David H. Mitchell]

Jeff,
I was a member of ASI for 3 years, I did not feel it paid for itself. I am now a member of PPAI, much more affordable, with better services, as far as I am concerned. Take a look. Sage is actually easier to search than ASI's service.

Just my 2 cents.

Dave

[Jeff Belany]

Thanks for the info. I got a deal through the company I got my laser from. 90 days free, after that it's $40 / month. The UPS discount is certainly worth part of that. I'm going to get a detailed indoctrination on a phone/web connection next week. I'm not sure how it will be but this time of year, I've got the time. (winter in northern Wisconsin isn't ral busy)

Jeff in northern Wisconsin

[Mike Null]

You'd better verify the UPS discount. Sounds way too high for a long term offer.

If you want to jump into the promotional products business with both feet then ASI may make sense for you. I've been in business for 15 years and never wanted to get into that aspect of the business. Promotional Products people are out pounding the pavement 5 days a week. Keep in mind that 99% of their products are marked by the supplier.

There is always somebody around who will sell what you want without joining an expensive organization.

[Martin Boekers]

Mike is right on Promo Products. A bigger buy no longer exists (the US Gov) they can't use promo products right now.
Many ASI will sell to you. Go to an ASI show sometime it's pretty interesting.

I just have a hard time spending $600 for this "membership" I figure I have to sell at Least $1500 a year to make the
profit that goes to membership costs.

I would rather be running current software at the same cost as That pays for itself quickly and I use it everyday.
Some business have a client base that Promo Prods are a natural, so yes it may be a good investment for some,
but you have to get a fair amount of business to offset the investment.

[Darryl Hazen]

ASI is too expensive for what they provide. PPAI is a better choice. Lower membership cost. You can sign up for a UPIC number or name for no charge. Some ASI suppliers will not sell to you if you are not in ASI. Most suppliers that are not affiliated with ASI will sell to you if you have a PPAI number or a UPIC number or name. PPAI also seemed to be more distributor friendly. We owned a Promotional products business for years and never ran into a situation where we absolutely needed an ASI item.

[Jerry Hewett]

Give www.distributorcentral.com (http://www.distributorcentral.com) a try. It is free.