Should a Sign Company Charge for Non-Part Supplies?

How do you deal with burnout? I got into the sign business and quickly fell in love with helping customers solve signage problems. As of late, signs have just become a crappy commodity and customers don’t value any type of design work — so disheartening.

Our Leadership and Mentoring columnist Heidi Tillmanns, director, trail & infrastructure for the Trans Canada Trail (Dundas, ON, Canada), devoted her previous column to knowing “When to Move On” (see ST, August 2024, page 40). This is not to say exiting the sign industry is the best or only option when dealing with burnout. Maybe taking some time away from the grind or seeking help will refresh and renew your outlook, restore the flame. Getting rest or real time away from work might do some good, too. Alternatively, and because this question cites customers and their perceptions as parts of the problem, perhaps more could be done to educate them into seeing signs as more than a commodity, that they add value and solve problems. Change their perceptions and maybe you’ll fall in love with signs all over again.

Are there any extra fees that others are adding onto their invoices besides fuel surcharges? Auto mechanics usually have “shop supplies,” etc., for all the little things that are not typically listed as a “part,” such as shop towels. Everything is so expensive now; we’d like to recoup as much as possible.

This calls to mind a scene from a late episode of Seinfeld where Jerry is buying a car from former mechanic and Elaine’s on-again-off again boyfriend David Puddy, now a salesman. Because he’s breaking up with Elaine again, Puddy tersely runs through a list of “additional charges” including a “key charge.” “Key charge?!” exclaims Jerry. “How you gonna start it?” Puddy replies. Auto dealers, hospitals, hotels, airlines and a host of other businesses routinely charge for items not directly related to their main business. While some items are outlandishly included or outrageously overcharged for — we’re looking at you, hospitals — if one is realistic and reasonable about what to include and what to charge, we see no reason not to do so. The Tesla Cybertruck wrap described on page 40 required many more knife blades than usual. That would seem to be a reasonable item to charge for over and above the usual labor and materials. Shops should not have to absorb costs like that.

Can you highlight any groundbreaking innovations in sign technology that are set to shape the future of our industry?

While we don’t have anything incredibly earth shattering, we did recently learn at PRINTING United Expo’s Media Day before the show began in Las Vegas, Sept. 10-12, from the Printing United Alliance’s research team that 70% of companies declaring their main business as “signs and graphics” also participate in one or more other type of printing business, such as commercial printing, packaging and more. In addition and as expected, artificial intelligence (AI) is the #1 area in which printing companies (including signshops) are looking to improve their performance. Finally, for those shops in the wide-format segment of signage, advances in speed and automation top their wish lists as they seek to boost profits through better productivity. This is particularly important because surveys of profits showed them being squeezed by pricing not keeping up with higher costs, resulting in the grand total of companies surveyed suffering a slight loss in terms of profits adjusted for inflation.

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