buying wine glasses

[Delbert Rippetoe]

Does anyone have any good suppliers for wine glasses preferably in the midwest (the closer to indiana the better). I am looking for quantities ~ 2,000. I need to get the price down as low as possible for a very competitive bid. I already know about Marck but wanted to see if there were others.

Thanks!

[Ross Moshinsky]

I assume you plan on lasering these glasses? Just my opinion but lasering glasses is a great alternative for people who want a small quantities but if you're talking about 2000 pcs, it's probably one of the less efficient ways to brand glassware. I'd suggest looking at somewhere like GlassAmerica to do the job for you.

One other thing to mention when dealing with glassware, freight is expensive. If you can find someone local, it will benefit you greatly.

[Joe Hillmann]

Have you tried Dollar tree? They get a get a truck in every week, go to there website, order what you want, and it will be shipped to the nearest store on the next truck. I have found ordering through them I can get glassware cheaper than what I was paying for shipping before and the quality is about the same.

[Dan Hintz]

I'd also ask.. do you want cheap stuff, or something more like Riedel?

[Scott Shepherd]

I'd also ask.. do you want cheap stuff, or something more like Riedel?

I wouldn't touch certain Riedel glasses with the laser. We had hundreds of them to do, tested on the laser. Cracked it WAY too easily. Even if it didn't crack, I'd be worried that if someone did a "cheers" and touched glasses, it would fracture at my engraving. Opted to sand carve them instead. Much better end product. I'm not sure you could convince me to laser engrave a glass after having the sand blaster.

[AL Ursich]

+1 for Sand Carving. Shattering the glass with heat or Sand Carving in a controlled way. Many tips on here about doing glass with lasers and using wet newsprint, dish liquid, and a whole host of things to get good results...

And beware of the "Soccer Mom" game.... Going from place to place showing the previous bid... Can you "Beat It?"... then off to the next place... "Can you Beat It?".... The Winner is really the looser....

AL

[Tim Bateson]

I almost never use anything when I laser glass. On thin stuff like champagne flutes, I will rub some liquid dish soap on it. When using the rotary, paper got to be too big of a pain and I didn't see a real difference. The trick is to not over power it, experience.... and luck.

[Mike Null]

For 2000 pieces I'd use Glass America. Get the extra carton protection. I recently quoted a 300 piece order and the freight was $1 per glass while the glass and the marking was $1.89.

I also agree with those who prefer sandblasting--it's definitely superior--but very expensive.

[Scott Shepherd]

For 2000 pieces I'd use Glass America. Get the extra carton protection. I recently quoted a 300 piece order and the freight was $1 per glass while the glass and the marking was $1.89.

I also agree with those who prefer sandblasting--it's definitely superior--but very expensive.

That's a great price!

Sandblasting is expensive. The materials are just off the chart on pricing, in my opinion. $10 for a 8" x 10" piece of masking material seems way up there to me. However, once you get all the masks exposed and applied, you can blast a glass in 10-15 seconds. 15 seconds of blast time compared to 3-4 minutes on a laser on a rotary device and you can start to see how slow the lasers really are.

[Mike Null]

Steve

I didn't get the order.

[Ross Moshinsky]

For 2000 pieces I'd use Glass America. Get the extra carton protection. I recently quoted a 300 piece order and the freight was $1 per glass while the glass and the marking was $1.89.

I also agree with those who prefer sandblasting--it's definitely superior--but very expensive.

You simply cannot beat the value of screen printing on glass from a big glass supplier. They are so much more cost effective than lasering or sandblasting. Lasering/sandblasting is great for a few pieces but when you're talking about over 50, screen printing wins every time. No questions asked.

The issue is the freight. As you illustrated in your example, freight is an incredibly high percentage of the total cost. In a world where so many people are used to getting free freight, spending $300 on shipping on a $600 worth of glasses just doesn't sit well with people. We used to do a lot more glasses/mugs with GlassAmerica but freight has more or less killed those orders.

[Martin Boekers]

Many towns have a restaurant supply, do a local search as then you can pick them up at their dock. I too would consider an ASI distributer on this. They do have screen inks that simulate an etch. It's really tough to compete on such quantities.

[Delbert Rippetoe]

Thanks for all your responses. My customer wants them to be laser engraved. We also do sandblasting but too expensive and time consuming for this project. I have very good luck with engraving on bare glass. I did check with Dollar tree and that may be the way to go. Thanks for all your help!