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Thread: Bulk Tumbler Engraving Pricing

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
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    Bulk Tumbler Engraving Pricing

    Hello everybody. First off I have a 50 watt fiber laser with a rotary. I got my machine about 2 months ago and have been doing just fine doing stainless and painted tumblers in low quantity. I can do a painted tumbler in about 3-5 minutes depending on size of logo. stainless annealing takes a bit longer. I usually charge $15-$20 dollars do to tumblers. Today I got an order for 300 tumblers to be engraved with a company logo and an American flag on the other side. they want me to buy the tumblers and do the engraving. I don't really know how to price the engraving and need some input from you guys. also where to fine r-tic or Ozark tumblers at a cheaper price when buying in bulk. I will try calling a few places but Walmart seems to be the cheapest so far. they need to be green painted tumblers because that is the fastest and easiest to do also the color they want. another thing is I know a lot of you say to use a co2 laser, but I don't have one haha. I also do laser welding. so I can make money while the cups are being engraved so I want to make as much money off of them as I can but I don't NEED to make a bunch of money off the tumblers if that makes sense.

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  2. #2
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    Do you know the company that ordered them? It sounds suspiciously like the "Happy Birthday" plaque scam, especially given the quantity. Even if it were a family member I would get a deposit equal to the cost of the tumblers plus about 10% - whatever you do don't accept any less of a deposit than you need to break even on the cost of the tumblers.

    For pricing - since you do them one at a time it doesn't matter if you do 1 or 100, 1,000, 10,000, etc., it takes the same amount of time per piece to mark them. Granted, it's the same thing over and over, but it's still the same lasering time. Calculate the time to *completely* process the tumbler - find them, purchase them, unpack them, laser them, clean them, repackage, etc. - that's the true time to charge for not just what the timer shows on the laser. Calculate your desired hourly rate - mine started at $120/hour and was usually 2-3 times that, and then divide that by the number of tumblers you can do an hour. Add in a "perceived value" and you have your price. *perceived value is when an item that cost you $2.00, took 1 minuted to laser, but the customer should pay $20.00 because that's what it looks like it should cost.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gary Hair View Post
    Do you know the company that ordered them? It sounds suspiciously like the "Happy Birthday" plaque scam, especially given the quantity. Even if it were a family member I would get a deposit equal to the cost of the tumblers plus about 10% - whatever you do don't accept any less of a deposit than you need to break even on the cost of the tumblers.

    For pricing - since you do them one at a time it doesn't matter if you do 1 or 100, 1,000, 10,000, etc., it takes the same amount of time per piece to mark them. Granted, it's the same thing over and over, but it's still the same lasering time. Calculate the time to *completely* process the tumbler - find them, purchase them, unpack them, laser them, clean them, repackage, etc. - that's the true time to charge for not just what the timer shows on the laser. Calculate your desired hourly rate - mine started at $120/hour and was usually 2-3 times that, and then divide that by the number of tumblers you can do an hour. Add in a "perceived value" and you have your price. *perceived value is when an item that cost you $2.00, took 1 minuted to laser, but the customer should pay $20.00 because that's what it looks like it should cost.

    Okay thanks! It is a local company and I talked with the president of the company and everything is legit. Thanks for the reply. I will give that thought.

  4. #4
    My approach is a bit different as these cups are a bit of a "commodity". There is a market value. In my case I price on the basis of a 2.5" square image. My prices are quoted by quantity. Generally, my high price is $12 for engraving only on one side. My best customer gets $6.00 for cermarked cups. His volume is over 1,000 per year. I do not sell cups as I don't want any inventory.

    If you plan on doing a lot of these I'd suggest a CO2 laser. My times are 90 seconds up to 3 minutes.

    WalMart cups often have nasty labels. I charge $0.50 extra to do WalMart cups for that reason.
    Mike Null

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  5. #5
    I think the first thing you have to figure out (like Mike said) is whether or not you have to be globally competitive or just fair. Globally competitive would mean you would have to try to offer internet pricing. Being fair is basically a situation of the person wanting to work with you and they aren't shopping around BUT you still can't just rip them off. The price can be pretty dramatically different based on each situation.

    As for getting the mugs, look into opening an account with JDS. Their per piece price should be lower than what you're paying from Walmart.

    For pricing, it's the hardest thing about being in business. You could handle it a bunch of ways. You could have the customer pay for the merchandise and you just charge for the engraving. In this situation, I would require a certain amount extra purchased. 5% is a pretty reasonable figure. Then you'd just have to worry about engraving costs. The other option is to buy both. That means buying 5% extra yourself AND doing a markup on the items + engraving fees. Third option is to outsource the whole job. You'd be surprised how decent the margins can be doing things this way.
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  6. #6
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    Price it the same as you would a one-off, then give them a discount for bulk.

    i would price the tumbler at retail less 30%, the etching at retail less 50% - and that’s how the invoice would look - give retail pricing, then show the discount.

    Ozark Trail is a Wal-Mart brand. I would go to my local store and ask what discount they would give for 300 units.

    The best I saw was $6.74 online for 100.
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  7. #7
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    >>As for getting the mugs, look into opening an account with JDS. Their per piece price should be lower than what you're paying from Walmart.<<

    Plus, as Mike said, they don't have the nasty label. Additionally, they come in individual boxes that protect them from scuffing/denting after engraving.
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  8. #8
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    I HATE the glue on Ozark Trail mugs!!!! Seriously, do they think these labels need to be permanently attached? I charge $1/ea extra for these. Once for a large order I even discounted by a couple bucks if the customer removed the labels before bringing them to me. Like Mike, I do not provide inventory - I'm a Service business not a retailer. However like mentioned, take a look at the JDS Camels - you won't have the label issue... but unboxing & reboxing does take time.
    Tim
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  9. #9
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    His customer might be just doing some What if shopping. Just wants a price and may or may not be a buyer.
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  10. #10
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    well i figured id tell yall what i did. i got the job. using walmart cups. labels come right off, maybe they changed them? currently running 4 minutes total to engrave both sides(logo and american flag) Just burning off the powdercoat. i get about 11 done an hour i am making about $70 an hour. 300 cups. also once i get started i am just doing all prep work(packaging, taking off labels, wiping down to clean up) while the cups are engraving. doing this using a fiber in 4 minutes is great i think. everyone told me id need a fiber to get times like this. annealing would be another story tho. its very slow.

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  11. #11
    Tony

    One of my marks for pricing is, "am I happy with it, would I do it again?" If you're happy with the job then go to it.
    Thanks for the follow-up.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
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    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
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  12. #12
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    So what did you get the cups for at Walmart? If the lowest (mentioned) above was $6.74 x 300 = $2022 cost and you have 28 hours of run time (rounded up) at $70 an hour (11 cups) that's $1960. Are you taking that big of a loss? Or am I not adding something up correctly?

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  13. #13
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    No, I think $70/11 or $6.36 per cup is his gross revenue not including his cup price. (at least that's what I'd assume from his initial post) Which isn't bad for 300 cup order.
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  14. #14
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    That's what I was wondering. After I posted I realized the $70 an hour was probably his profit.
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  15. #15
    As I read it, he got $70 per hour for engraving. He didn't mention the price of the cups.
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
    Gravograph IS400
    Woodworking shop CLTT and Laser Sublimation
    Dye Sublimation
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