How are those per-minute fees working for you?

[Dan Hintz]

I'm curious as to what SMC'ers are charging on a per-minute basis lately. A quick web search pops up mostly $1/minute, plus setup fees, with a few sliding scales starting at $4 for the first minute dropping down to $1/minute after 20.

I've noted some SMC'er comments over the last couple of years making mention that $2/min is more reasonable to cover costs, dropping to a bit under $1/min for bulk orders. Are these figures still holding up for everyone, or have they required a bit of tweaking with some hard times as of late?

[David Fairfield]

The buck a minute is an OK baseline for me. But I use a mentally sliding scale based on class and/or PitA surcharges :rolleyes:

A high class piece like an engraved glass might run for about a minute but I'll charge a few bucks just because it looks expensive.

A fussy item, small runs, or anything where I have to hover over the machine while its running gets a PitA surcharge. There is no scientific formula for this.

Dave

[Bill Morrison]

What does PitA mean?
Thanks
Bill

[Nancy Laird]

Pain in the arse!

[Mike Null]

A per minute rate will rarely provide a good guide for a production job. I believe a shop rate is more realistic.

I can engrave an cut a name tag in a few seconds but the time for clean up, assembly, packaging, invoicing and shipping have to be accounted for.

That said, there are competitive influences that may dictate pricing.

$1.00 per minute was the rate a lot of people used when I started 10 years ago.

[David Fairfield]

Thanks Nancy :D

[Bill Cunningham]

I usually charge by the sq inch, ranging from $0.65 to $3.50 depending on the material (and if I supply it or not).. Setup charges range from $0.00 (artwork supplied in vector format w/all text as curves and ready to engrave) to ? also based on PiTA or WETMWB (what ever the market will bear)

[Dan Hintz]

I have a potential client that will need bottles, glasses, etc. etched, but I do not currently have a rotary. Since this job will most likely lead to more bulk orders with others, I was planning on getting another machine with rotary (like the Epilog Mini 24).

Does everyone still charge a per-minute or per-sq. inch fee for bottles/glasses, or have you found a standard fee per item to be easier (talking bulk orders, 50+ items with the same pattern)?

[Joe Pelonio]

What it comes down to is you have to make a fair profit or it's a waste of time to do the job. I have been doing a lot more wholesale work where my price has to be less to allow the customer to re-sell it at a profit, but their volume does make up for it and they provide ready-to-go artwork, and find the customers. Like Mike, I have gone to a shop rate.

Both dollars/minute and /square inch have their problems.

Something that takes 20 seconds to run but requires a lot of time to remove from the laser, clean edges, and so on, might be better priced at a shop rate.

Say you charge $100/hour, that would include everything from downloading the file to packing them up in a box. If they insist on a "per part" price then divide that by the number of pieces.

With the square inch pricing, at .65/in. on the customer's material, name badges might be $1.95, an 8"x10" engraved sign $52. That $52 might not be out of line for something with 30 lines of small text, but if it's simple such as "ELECTRICAL ROOM" most customers will go elsewhere and buy it for half that.

[Stephen Beckham]

Dan,

I love the rotary for wine glasses and bottles. I flat rate them at $5 each for provided glasses and $8-$10 each if I get the glass. The longest burn time I've had so far on a wine glass is about 1:50 - so the buck a minute wouldn't do it... Also make sure you warn the customer that if they provide the glass, you cannot guarantee the marking. I give 100% effort, but there are just some glasses that have wobble, different thickness or maybe even different amount of lead content causing difference between two glasses. Make sure they are aware up front.

I have changed the per glass down to $3 each for a bulk run. But - please make sure to tell the customer that changing a name on each one - is not bulk. The question is are you doing 50 glasses just alike or 50 glasses with a similar logo/look that will take extra typing in between each one.

Then you have the couples that will ask for a quote over the phone, then show up with surprises - three different size glasses, vases, or even candle holders.

On the bottles, I do a flat $10. Again - most run times are under 4-5 minutes so far - but there is the PITA with aligning to label and sizing of bottles. You'll also get different look from green to brown to white bottles.

Once I got used to running them, I've got a pretty good idea of what I'm doing with them and can finish a glass set with matching bottle in about 10 minutes from time the customer walks in. You'll spend more time working their art than the rotary will spend etching... I feel $20 is reasonable enough that they can still feel like they can give it as a gift...

____________________

On the original question of buck a minute - I still run things $1-$1.25 per minute on customer provided materials.

I then do a margin markup per item that I sell and include the lasering. I don't count lines, letters or logos. To me, it's more of a market support for an item. I relate it to remodeling in a house - put $7K into a new kitchen - it doesn't increase the value of the house by $7K - it only improves the appearance and may help me get the value of the home.

If I spend five minutes marking a box, it doesn't increase the value of the box by $5 - but it makes it more appealing to the customer - so how much of a price can you place on appeal? Don't know yet - but I'm learning as I go... Sometimes, it may increase the appeal enough to support a $10 charge - other times, only a $1 - irrelevant to the five minutes...

Ask yourself WWIP (What Would I Pay) for an item. If it's opposite sex oriented - don't fool yourself, ask your spouse or a close friend. I rarely charge more than something I'd be willing to pay...

Steve

[Dan Hintz]

Steve,

Excellent info... many thanks for that. Your bulk per-bottle prices are actually higher than I had envisioned (by about double), so I'll need to keep that in mind when figuring out rate of return. The one-off pricing isn't so much of a concern for me, particularly since I hold the same thinking as "What would I be willing to pay?" The bulk pricing was my main concern as I didn't want to pick up another machine if I couldn't make it pay for itself in a reasonable period of time.

[Stephen Beckham]

Dan - I didn't think to comment about the bulk bottle - I've done one set of 10 and I went down to $7 each because each was the same. I guess if someone wanted it for wedding and had about 25 bottles, it would be a better price to drop down to $5 - I concur...

Overall, I figured the $5 per glass is VERY reasonable - then I compared the perception of getting a small glass done to that of getting a larger bottle done. They'll see the difference in alignment, setup and re-adjustment of the rotator.

Anyway - great discussion...

Steve

[Charlie Bice]

Cost does depend on a lot of factors.

We run $1 per min for production runs, ie, setup is just loading the laser.

$1.50/min for one time jobs with a $5 to $10 surcharge for the PITA factor.

I've also been known to add a surcharge for a PITA customer :)

We also apply a surcharge for shipping of 'odd' shape packages (we stock boxes for most of our products).

With all of this we notify the customer of a max cost before starting the job. We also collect the fee before shipping.

charlie

[Bill Morrison]

Thanks Nancy.

Bill

[Bill Cunningham]

My 'per sq. inch' fee is virtually always accompanied by a 'setup fee' .. Many times I have done a small leather item where the etching charge is $2.00 , but the setup is my minimum of $15.00.. i.e. two initials on a wallet.. $17.00 + tax..