Pad Printer.......

[skent]

 Hello world, I was thinking this morning about looking into buying a pad printer. 

 1. How many people that own screen printing/emrbroidery companies have one and how often they are used.

 2. Why did you buy the pad printer? Was it because you were trying to simply make more money by not having to send out items to ASI companies??



              Thanks for the help!

[Doug B]

  We bought one and only used it for samples. It's not possible to beat $0.15 for 500 pens PRINTED.
The learning curve is probably longer than screen printing and unless you have some BIG
volume jobs lined up or have a specialty item that you sell lots of, it wouldn't be worth it.

[royster13]

I have know many who have tried but only a couple that made it work...The key is to find a niche and have a very good source for blanks...Most folks ending up paying more for blanks than if they buy finished products from an ASI supplier..

[Inkworks]

We pad print all day, every day here, but that's really what we built the business on and added screenprinting and signmaking to that.

One of your biggest obstacles in competing with ASI companies is sourcing blanks at a competitive price. The sources are out there, but not usually something you can google up. Most are well hidden secrets, You want places that do wholesale to decorators only, anybody that actually advertises blanks is probably going to price you out of the market.

Pen are not something you should be looking to be competitive with. In fact take a really good look at what any given product is worth to see if you can sell a $0.25 to $1.00 print on it. For instance, golf balls are great as good ones cost several doallars each, golfball tees, not so much, even though both print just fine, nobody wnats a $0.50 print on a $0.01 golfball tee.

The key is to find out who needs the service, whether it be your customers for coffee mugs, key chains, flashlights etc. or manufacturers for OEM (original equipment manufacturers) product printing on the things they manufacturer. Plastic injection molders are a good place to check to see if they need printing services. As are powder coaters and places that do anodizing.

The trick is that people wanting OEM printing will want to be dealing with a pro, not somebody learning the process.

The learning curve is many times tougher than screenprinting.

[royster13]

Golf Balls??

Maybe if your clients needs them quick and it is a 1 colour 1 location print job....But look at this from a supplier that sells "factory direct".....

FACTORY DIRECT SETUPS (CALLAWAY):
• First Pole Set Up: Free up to 4 colours
• Second Pole Set Up: Free up to 4 colours
• First Pole Printing: Free up to 4 Colours
• Second Pole Printing: $1.88 per dozen - Free at 96+ Dozen

So I am quoting on 24 dozen balls today with 4 colours x 2 poles and the set-up and extra printing charge will be 45.12.....And you want to be a pad printer?.....Good luck....

[Inkworks]

Actually pad printing and golf balls is almost dead as most of it has gone to those silly bubblejets that do full colour on them. I was just using that analogy for product price purposes, it's tough to sell a $0.50 print on a product that's worth less than that. We still do some golfballs for quick turn customers. Back in the day we'd be doing thousands of dozens every spring.

Factory direct golf ball printing at silly low prices is also now the norm, but their turn times often don't work with clients who need things in less than 2-4 weeks.

Like I mentioned we pad print 5 days a week here in the sleepy Canadian interior, so the business is very much out there, it take time to find it, or for it to find you though.