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 p.2 #12 · Event Sales Quick Setup Help needed | |
luketrot wrote:
The way I look at it; if I've got to pay someone to print all those images, might as well be onsite to avoid costly shipping fee's.
Luke and I have been over this time and time again... but for others, I'll do the math:
Onsite printing:
- bring printer(s)
- bring printing computer
- bring supplies
- setup print world: computer, printer, network to server
- support printer, troubleshoot if needed
- have ENOUGH print capability so that people aren't waiting for thier orders
- pack up printer world
(up to now, these things only take up space on the trailer and time - and we'll assume time costs nothing  )
- person to print: $10/hour? (for family) for 2x 8 hour days = $160
(more like at least $100+/day or more to make it worth somebody's while)
- travel time/cost for said person: $0 if family member passenger in car - $300 if flying them
- meals for print personnel: $35 is a low per diem rate x3 (2 working + travel) = $105
- housing for printer: half a room for 2-3 nights = $100-$150
We're up to $365 for cheap person riding in car staying 2 nights
or upwards of $800 to get somebody across country for 3 nights
Then, when back in the office, pull printing supplies, printers and computer off trailer to set back up in the office to process internet orders that are coming in
or have multiple sets of gear for each simultaneous show and an office set:
$1000 for computer and we'll say software is on there
$1000 for cheap dye sub or a couple of good inkjets
$1000 in supplies 
$3000 per set = $9000 for two sets on the trailer and one in the office.
But we'll leave this out for now.
Not printing onsite:
- no printing supplies
- no print person
- no customers waiting in line for prints
- back at the office, I would print the orders: cost = $0, but lets say that I had somebody do it. They can get all the work done in one day, because everything is setup at the office, no onsite interuptions to go fix download problems, etc... so $100 for print person.
- supplies would be the same as onsite (probably less due to less errors and issues) but we'll call them a wash
- hard mailer: $0.36 cents per order (5x7 mailers a bit cheaper)
- postage: $1.14 for 5x7s - $2.14 for 8x10 orders (roughly)
So we're talking $1.50 to $2.50 for 8x10 orders
with bulk 5x7 orders being a little higher and 8x10 orders not being so abundant, we'll average the cost to $2.00 per order. This is a realistic number that we deal with.
One would need a minimum of 125 orders (127x2=$254) to make up the difference of paying somebody onsite ($365) versus in the office ($100) for a day (giving them $10 for lunch)... NOT to mention the extra time involved with setup.
But for a small show like that, we would do the printing ourself - so that takes the difference up to 182 orders as a minimum. ($365 vs $0)
Again, this is for cheap labor on a two day gig. As my shows are multiple, simultaneous gigs in different parts of the country, my costs for a person would be closer to that $800 mark and therefore need 400 orders to make it worth while.
Now, there used to be a time when we got over 1000 orders at an event. And if we still did that, then it would be worth while to take printing supplies and personnel. But since we've evolved our images on CD - and especially for teams, we rarely see over 250 orders per show as up to half our orders are for the team CD that strips away several print orders per team and we have less printing to do back at the office.
(and yes, I'd rather sell images on disc 100 times more than prints as they involve less time and equate to more profit)
Speaking of more profit: bottom line, if you have a show large enough, then printing onsite makes sense. If it is a smaller show, then it simply costs more than mailing. I for one have proven this nationwide - as others have - that printing onsite is NOT an effective marketing model - parents simply do not walk around with their prints showing complete strangers what photos of their child looks like. And I have had maybe...maybe... 3-4 people per year not order because we don't print onsite (out of several thousand orders per year)
Again, IF the show is big enough, and has lots and lots of orders, then it is economically practical to print onsite. But if the show is too small, then it's more work and more cost. Yes, most parents are giddy about walking away with prints - but SELLING onsite is enough to do that... just like anything ordered on the internet - people can be happy about a sale and will order things - even if it takes a few days to get it. Netflix proved this point very well in the movie rental market.
But yes, even I print onsite (actually burn onsite) - when I know that I'll be burning 25,000 DVDs over the weekend, or for shows with 14,000 competitors, I know that I can save money on shipping, but for shows less than say 5,000 competitors, it doesn't work out to a smart business plan. I'll still do all my printing back at the office, in a controlled environment that I can do it efficiently and better than onsite (better lighting, no dust, no rush, etc..).
Conversely, if you're just starting off like Luke  , and you hire the extended family to drive to local, one day events, then it may work out to be cheaper than licking a few stamps (which you'll be doing anyway as web orders come in)
I started off printing onsite for the first two years until I was thrust into a situation that I couldn't print onsite - and without changing a single thing as far as marketing, I saw absolutely no difference in sales.
I would encourage anybody considering it to seriously look at your bottom line in both scenarios. If you can do it cheaply, then go for it.
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