Artist > Art for free/trade/donation

Donations = A mutual effort.

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Artelf2xs:
Dan,

Doing sales, Billing, Customer service is Soooooooo not creative.... I Don't have the underwear to work for myself.... :o

 I work for a small shop that has been around for as many years as I have been doing this. the owner is just a few years younger then me..... bought it right out of high school.
Why?

Donnie:
One of my daughter's class mated was murdered by a scum bag who through acid in his face. I printed some memorial tees for her class. My phone rang off the wall. I wound up printing over 300 and never took a dime..until someone wanted to sell the same tees for a fund raiser for a memorial scholarship. I did those for costs.

Command-Z:

So one of these aforementioned events that I do work for is up again, but my Client, the printer/middleman said the End Client, the fundraiser, didn't have the budget they normally pay me for design work.

I normally do an 8-color, highly detailed sim-process job, but this year there's only a couple hundred dollars in the budget. So I say sure, I can do a simple, clean 1 or 2 color retro-looking vector design that will still look cool and sell shirts. End client said no, they want the same level of work I'd done in the past and asked if I'd "work with them" on price.

I declined the job. Hated to say no to a good client and a good cause, but I explained that I can't afford to spend 20 plus hours (End Client makes LOTS of changes) and get less than minimum wage for my work. Clients who are paying full price would be compromised, since I'd have less time to do their work. It would end up costing me money, and as an artist, I can't deduct work done for charity from taxes.

Client really wanted to keep the job w/me, and I feel bad now that he has to look for an artist with the same skill level who is willing to do the job for their budget. I feel worse that there may be some desperate lowballer out there who might actually do it.

It's important that we artists and printers alike need to stick to our guns on pricing, ESPECIALLY in this economy. Food, gas and supplies aren't getting cheaper. Mortgages, rents, suppliers and utility companies aren't "working with us" on price. Why should it be the burden of the small business owner to take the cuts when big banks and corporations like Big Oil are making RECORD profits in a recession?

When you lower your prices out of desperation just to get work, you lower the tide for all boats.

End rant. Carry on.

Dottonedan:
I feel ya Z.  Stick to'm.  (you're guns I mean).

I recently was asked by a customer who has at every time I've done work for them, asked for me to do the work much lower than I normally do and had stated how another artist always does the same work for about 1/3rd my cost. So they want me, but want the 1/3rd cost.  I did it once as a favor to help get him out of  a jam. Since then, every quote request came in with the same scenario. "I'm in a crunch and the customer wont pay big money" etc, etc.
I stuck to my guns and customer was mad at me.  "At ME" for not doing it for 1/3rd my normal price. This customer does not realize that just about 98% of all screen printers ARE getting customers that pay my prices. He's one of 3 printers in the last 4 years that "can't afford me".  That makes the price issue (an issue with him getting the right customers or not educating them on the standard cost)....or he's lying to me to make more money. I don't know what one. I'd prefer to think it's that he needs better customers.

It might be good to start some training for printers. Something that enables them or helps them to educate the customer.  A 10-20 hour job is going to cost something.  Do they want to put in 10-20 hours of labor for $5.00 per hour?  I doubt it.  I stepped in to Denny's today. My breakfast was $$12.55 + a tip and $50.00 to fill my tank up. I updated my tags for my two vehicles. $59.00 for one and $71.00 for the other. I had to wait in getting my boat and trailer tagged for next week due to a lack of funds. :'(

The price of art should be going UP, not down.

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