Changing Customer Expectations / Lead Time & Minimum Quantity

[Prince Art]

We kind of pride ourselves on this same thing... we've had plenty of people come to us and say "you guys smashed it with a short deadline last time, so I'm coming back (usually with a similar short deadline).

IMO this is what makes people expect everyone will work late hours for them. In the long term this will not be a good business plan for the entire industry.

I side with this, + what Sbrem said. I'll work doubles to get things out on time - but rush orders need rush charges, because it is more work, and it's a pain to everyone who has to shift schedules (business or personal). Not charging for extra work done is right up there with the newbie who undercuts everyone else, without realizing that he's not making money - just making everyone else look expensive. (I was that newbie, but I finally learned to do math.)


So, yes, smash it out. But I encourage you to charge what it's worth. They'll still be impressed, even if they pay for it. (I'd even argue this reminds them they've gotten something of value, & won't take it for granted.) And it will also help most of them to at least try to give you a little more lead time next time. That's what we get - both the "wow, thanks" and the attempt not to have to pay the rush fee next time.

[GraphicDisorder]

We do rush work each week, but you can't pay me extra to put off regular jobs and frankly unless its a big order or big customer we aren't going to work nights or weekends just to accommodate poor planning for a random customer. We honestly tell them our production estimate and if it fits we do it, if not we don't.

[Gilligan]

We kind of pride ourselves on this same thing... we've had plenty of people come to us and say "you guys smashed it with a short deadline last time, so I'm coming back (usually with a similar short deadline).

IMO this is what makes people expect everyone will work late hours for them. In the long term this will not be a good business plan for the entire industry.

If they are willing to pay for it, I will pick up their dry cleaning.  I mean, I don't see how it's bad for our industry to say "yes, we do X for you, but you will have to pay a pretty price for that type of service."  I don't see how saying "no" helps, especially when someone else will likely do it without even charging a rush fee.

[Inkworks]

Our turn times range from 1 day to 2 weeks depending on a number of factors. We don't work OT, we just get it done fast and out the door, no sense having stuff sit around for a week if your workflow is set up to move fast.

[jvieira]

We kind of pride ourselves on this same thing... we've had plenty of people come to us and say "you guys smashed it with a short deadline last time, so I'm coming back (usually with a similar short deadline).

IMO this is what makes people expect everyone will work late hours for them. In the long term this will not be a good business plan for the entire industry.

If they are willing to pay for it, I will pick up their dry cleaning.  I mean, I don't see how it's bad for our industry to say "yes, we do X for you, but you will have to pay a pretty price for that type of service."  I don't see how saying "no" helps, especially when someone else will likely do it without even charging a rush fee.

I'm right there with you, we also do rush orders from time to time. The problem, with me, is when you do one of those jobs because you actually have the time (low season or you have a slot) and the customer starts to expect you to do them all the time as a rush order. It's just not sustainable in the long run and will bring more harm than good. I'm sure all these kids that need stuff printed in 2 days (or less) already had someone work OT for them in the past and they've come to expect it.
Part of our job is to educate the customer, I think.

[Gilligan]

We kind of pride ourselves on this same thing... we've had plenty of people come to us and say "you guys smashed it with a short deadline last time, so I'm coming back (usually with a similar short deadline).

IMO this is what makes people expect everyone will work late hours for them. In the long term this will not be a good business plan for the entire industry.

If they are willing to pay for it, I will pick up their dry cleaning.  I mean, I don't see how it's bad for our industry to say "yes, we do X for you, but you will have to pay a pretty price for that type of service."  I don't see how saying "no" helps, especially when someone else will likely do it without even charging a rush fee.

I'm right there with you, we also do rush orders from time to time. The problem, with me, is when you do one of those jobs because you actually have the time (low season or you have a slot) and the customer starts to expect you to do them all the time as a rush order. It's just not sustainable in the long run and will bring more harm than good. I'm sure all these kids that need stuff printed in 2 days (or less) already had someone work OT for them in the past and they've come to expect it.
Part of our job is to educate the customer, I think.

But they have to pay for it.  We charge 50% to 100% more for rush jobs.  So that order went significantly up... we definitely inform them of WHY it was so expensive and if they would have gotten it to us sooner it would have been X price.

If Mr. I Want It Now is willing to pay for it, then why do I care if he "expects" that sort of service.  Sure, he does... but he also expects to pay for it.  I'm good with that.  Those extra dollars go straight to the bottom line!

[Frog]

Tough for me to accurately participate in the poll as I do lots of fast turnaround multi color small runs, but do them as digital transfers.
However, since I began I have served the rush niche for screen printing with a fairly simple formula. Normal turnaround is ten days. Each day off of that adds 10% to the labor portion of the bill.

[Gilligan]

We turned around a job (semi-rush, normal is a week this was less than) with no fees a while back... bachelorette shirts.   She also added to the order 3 days before due date.  We were dragging our feet in ordering (that's another issue) and then it had to come from a warehouse that was too far away to make it in time.  We let her know, she wasn't happy... in fact she was nasty about it.  She agreed to 10% off and she would have someone get them the next day.   Then UPS decides to screw us.  Normal drop off is 9-11 (latest)... here we are after lunch still wondering.  Calling, run around.... we were getting blasted by this lady.

Finally, I had enough and I called her and told her, (paraphrasing) we are doing what we can, I'm sorry, if you would have called anyone else they would have not even done the job for you because no one can turn around this job this fast like we can.  Next time we talked she had a COMPLETELY different attitude and apologized for being so nasty with us.  I sympathized with her situation (maid of honor duties), we laughed, we satisfied.

She went from screaming about never doing business with us again, to laughing with me and being satisfied due to a little understanding put on her.

Maybe she will never come back... but honestly, we don't care.  She was a B!tch!  I'm just glad I squashed the potential negative review and kept her from making my front desk girl cry.

Also, lessened learned was that we should have told her about the rush fee and then waived it, vs just letting it slide.  That removed that angle of leverage because she didn't realize she was already getting special treatment.

[Rockers]

We kind of pride ourselves on this same thing... we've had plenty of people come to us and say "you guys smashed it with a short deadline last time, so I'm coming back (usually with a similar short deadline).

IMO this is what makes people expect everyone will work late hours for them. In the long term this will not be a good business plan for the entire industry.

How so?
There are shops out there that work 24/7 in shifts to get their regular workload done. So why should another shop that does work only 8am-6pm not been allowed to stay open an additional 2 hours to get a rush job out of the door just because it might hurt someone else`s feelings and business.

[jsheridan]

We kind of pride ourselves on this same thing... we've had plenty of people come to us and say "you guys smashed it with a short deadline last time, so I'm coming back (usually with a similar short deadline).

IMO this is what makes people expect everyone will work late hours for them. In the long term this will not be a good business plan for the entire industry.

How so?
There are shops out there that work 24/7 in shifts to get their regular workload done. So why should another shop that does work only 8am-6pm not been allowed to stay open an additional 2 hours to get a rush job out of the door just because it might hurt someone else`s feelings and business.

The point is the custy gets this kind of service, the over and above type, and then wants the same thing next time.. this custy now how a mindset that they can get their orders like this all the time. They use another company and walk in tue morning and expect to get their hand held for a friday order and lose their minds when they are told it will take 2-3 week before they get their order.. but but but.. that guy did the same thing for me in 3 days last time...

It's part of the want it right now consumer mentality we're in.

It's wed.. how many got a phone call today in the afternoon for a custy who needs something for a friday afternoon event..

[Gilligan]

We probably got a few... they probably got quoted a rush fee of 50% more than standard.

If you want a cheap steak and mediocre service you can go to Waffle House... OR you can go to a nice Steak House and get a MUCH better steak and better service.  You will pay a good bit more for it.  That doesn't mean if you dine at a steak house every night that you will expect the same food and service from a Waffle House.

[jvieira]

That doesn't mean if you dine at a steak house every night that you will expect the same food and service from a Waffle House.

Of course you do. Not right away, but you will eventually come to expect it. You will always compare the quality (service) to that one steak you had earlier (to the turnaround time provided to you before).

I've seen this over and over again. One thing I've never seen is that rush customer come in earlier next time. They're always sorry and something always happens (the most used excuse for us is the designer). Do you know why? Because you accepted the order last time. And if you can't do it now, they'll go somewhere else and that person has to deal with a rush order.

Maybe we have different experiences but we (the industry) keep complaining everything's last minute when it's our own fault. It didn't happen today, nor last week. It's been happening for years. I'm part of the problem and so are you, because we also need those jobs to make ends meet or because we actually have an empty slot (or maybe we don't but keep pushing for it to get done).


This mentality needs to come from somewhere. It's usually from previous experiences.

[Gilligan]

I do have expensive taste when it comes to steaks.  That just means, I don't order the steak at shitty places.

To me it comes down to, if someone is willing to pay for it.

I mean, you gonna tell me you wouldn't print someone shirts with a 2 day turn around if they were willing to pay you 3 or 4 times your normal price?  What about 10 times?

[Maxie]

A few points, we have a lot of orders that we deliver the same day.     Mainly in the summer we work with youth groups that visit Isabel for 10-20 days and make a personalized shirt before they leave.
They do a drawing, send it to us using Camscanner, a great free app and we enlarge, sometimes clean up a little and print.      We can get up to 20 of these in a day.    We have driver who delivers in the evening and if they order before noon we can deliver the same day.   Each order is about 45 shirts.
I came to silkscreening from photography, we used to have labs printing customers films, remember the Kodak instamatic.     To process in 24 hours was amazing, we usually took a few days.
The Japanese took the same process and turned it into a one hour delivery, same chemicals etc.   Just thinking out of the box.
If I could deliver everything  same day I would, its a great way to get more orders.     Today with computers making graphics easier, CTS speeding up screen preparation, we need to work out how to deliver faster.       

[royster13]

I have several suppliers that tell me they make more money on overtime than regular time....Their fixed overhead is amortized over a 40 hour week, so when they get in OT the only extra cost is labour.....The employees seem to be more productive in OT and love the extra bumps in pay every so often....The extra cost of OT labour is less than  the savings from no overhead....