Plastics going up!

[Martin Boekers]

Just got an email from JDS, an advance notice that IPI & Rowmark prices are taking a jump in a week
or so. JDS is nice though to give an advance warning, like they did with magnets a while back.

[Tim Bateson]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Hit the roof yesterday when the postcard came in the mail. That's 4-5% less profit. Tried raising my prices when RowMark prices jumped last year - didn't go over so well. Too many people selling at a loss or at least making pennies on each sale.

[Michael Hunter]

Couple of months back I had to pay 45% extra for LaserLights compared to previous orders.
If they go up again I will have to stop pushing labels : they were high profit but soon won't be worth doing.

[Doug Griffith]

I meet with people high up in the chain at Spartech quite often. The price of all plastic (world wide) has been going up at a steep rate for almost 2 years now. Escalating raw material prices and low recycled feedstock caused by minimal production in our economy are major causes. There's not much we can do except pass the added costs on to our customers. It's not like they can go anywhere else and get a better deal. Everyone is affected. Manufacturers that don't raise their prices won't last that long.

[Martin Boekers]

Haven't heard if acrylics are doing the same yet, only time will tell. I bought a few thousand magnets before
that increase hit, down to the last hundred, so with an added cost for those and now plastic, nametags will
have to go up. JDS provides a pretty good discount, but costs are rising, just getting ready to modify pricing
through out our inventory. Time to start selling more vinyl for signs than plastic, it may be cheaper to buy
aluminum.....

[Rodne Gold]

It is cheaper here to buy 1mm thick engravers brass than Rowmark brushed gold black plastic.

[Gary Hair]

Not too big of a deal - the cost of materials in a typical name badge or sign is such a small portion of the price that a 5% increase in cost is - at most - a .5% decrease in profit.

[Martin Boekers]

Not too big of a deal - the cost of materials in a typical name badge or sign is such a small portion of the price that a 5% increase in cost is - at most - a .5% decrease in profit.

It all adds up, a few cents here or there, an extra $.75 for the magnet, when you do a few thousand nametags a year
it can make a difference. I find that when you quit worrying about the few cents here and there, eventually they add
up to dollars. Right now I have a handfull of 12x24 pieces going through, The the extra cost (when it happens) could
have bought me lunch.

[Frank Corker]

We had a massive increase in the price of acrylic. I have it from a valid informant, the cause is.... flat screen TV's. They are using acrylic and now they realise they can fetch a higher price and people will pay.

[vic casware]

Just wondering what you all pay for a sheet of LaserMax 1/16? I pay $88.00 +freight

Just a side note I have old invoices 20 years + that show engraving prices for labels have dropped. 1990 3'x1' label ''Main Switch DB6'' $3.00
today $2.50.
Trophies are the same, figure on a base engraved $12.00 in 1990. Now $10.00 (if your lucky)

[Joe Pelonio]

Here it's $71 for one, but good quantity discounts, so 2 is $66 ea, 20+ down to $51. How about !/16" Clear acrylic? I paid $130 the other day for 20 sheets 12"x24" (Extruded), and $408 for a 4'x8' sheet of 1/4" black cut to 12'x24" pieces. That's almost double what it was back about 2006.

[Gary Hair]

It all adds up, a few cents here or there, an extra $.75 for the magnet, when you do a few thousand nametags a year
it can make a difference. I find that when you quit worrying about the few cents here and there, eventually they add
up to dollars. Right now I have a handfull of 12x24 pieces going through, The the extra cost (when it happens) could
have bought me lunch.

I think it mostly depends on your prices for name badges. My customer base is used to pretty high prices so that lunch would have to be pretty cheap for me... An average name badge gets me about $10, some a little more, with quantities a little less. Considering my cost for the rowmark for a 2" x 3" badge is 1.08 and a 5% increase would bump that to 1.14 (rounded up a bit), I'm not going to lose sleep over a nickel when I sell it for $10. I completely understand that in 1,000's it adds up but I can't control the cost, only my price.

Gary

[Gary Hair]

Just wondering what you all pay for a sheet of LaserMax 1/16? I pay $88.00 +freight

I just bought a 1/2 sheet of LM92240x and it was $26.44 - it's from a local source so no shipping.

[Rodne Gold]

I Import my own stiock from source manufacturers in China (it's as good if not better than what i get locally)
I pay between $8 and $12 a 1200mm x 600mm sheet of laserable laminate ( 48x24") depending on finish etc. Works out at worst to $40 a sq meter or $4 a sq ft. Was previously paying $90 a sheet for Rowmark.
I pay $29 a sheet of 3mm clear acrylic (1/8th) the sheet size is 1880 x 1220 (72x48) - works out to $13 per sq meter or around $1.30 per sq ft. We have a local acrylic fabricating plant , but their prices are crazy, sometimes up to $66 per sq meter or $6.6 per sq ft!!!!! and worse still , their quality is dreadful. We have to accept a + or - 20% thickness variation on a 3m x 2m sheet , ie 3mm can be 2.4mm to 3.6 mm over a sheet , impossible to fabricate stuff with those tolerances.
It is worth my while to import my stuff as I used at least 5-6 tons of acrylic last year and also used about 900 sheets of engraving lams.
Frank , not sure why your acrylic has gone up , I have bought from source for almost 2 yrs and no prices have gone up , my last order for a fair amount was 2 weeks ago and the prices were the same I paid last May.....

[Paul Phillips]

I pay $54.88 per sheet on LaserMax from Johnson Plastics. It never hurts to ask your supplier for a break though. I had the new sales rep from Gravograph call me and offer me a discount on engraving supplies from what I pay through Johnson Plastics, but based on my previous experience with Gravograph and the fact that they take a day longer to get to CA. I called Johnson Plastics and talked to one of the owners and told him my situation, that I could get material cheaper from competition but would prefer to stay loyal to the great customer service I've gotten from JP and he agreed to match the discount, we save money and everyone's happy, except the "other guys". I do the same with my acrylic suppliers, one local and the other our sign supply, especially on large orders I will call both and ask, "how much can you beat their price by", I saved almost $100 per sheet on 20 sheets of 3/8" acrylic last week, that's a huge savings, every dollar counts. It pays to shop around!