# Packaging an Athletic Team Job



## jiarby (Feb 8, 2007)

Thought I'd share a job we did this week... 
Pretty easy: Nylon sleeveless basketball jerseys with heat press numbers on the front & back. 

Customer provided the jerseys, we just cut & pressed the vinyl. Stahl's Thermo-Grip

Cut with a 45° blade on CE5000-60, 24 force, speed 20... blade depth maybe a 1/4 turn deeper than use for general cut vinyl. 

Pressed with a Phoenix Phire 16x20 at 330°F, Medium pressure for 8 seconds. Then burnish with a cloth and peel... let rest a few seconds, then cover with a silicone sheet and "toast" for another 4-5 seconds to seal the deal. 

After pressing we fold so the jersey front shows and package individually in a jumbo ziplock (from clearbags.com). 

I also attached a label on the package printe on a Dymo thermal printer showing the art, the girl's name, the number & the size. 

The labels were made in Corel Draw using the print merge feature. Takes just a couple minutes to layout the master label, add the print merge fields (has a list of names/numbers/sizes from custy), and BAMMO! Labels were flying out of the thermal printer. I love it.. (We also use it to print internet postage for shipping) 
My wife thinks the extra packaging and label is a waste of time and money (for a team job). She just wanted to put them back in the grocery sacks they brought them to us in. I like the little extra effort and hope they will remember the professionalism. 

How do you guys that do team/athletic jobs package them for delivery to the customer. Any value in the extra effort, or is my wife right... shirts loose in a box (folded of course) good enough??


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

Nice touch with the labels. I've been using Corel for 10 years and didn't even know they had a merge feature.  I would have ended up doing each label individually.

It looks like you have them folded and packaged individually? That's good enough for me. What else did you have in mind?


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## jiarby (Feb 8, 2007)

I was thinking maybe a card or another l more colorful label with the busines name or something.

My wife thinks folding them and putting them back in the bags the customer used to bring them in is good enough. 

I was sondering if anyone else packages a team job individually, or just in bulk the same way it came in. Seems like a good branding opportunity. You never know where your next job will come from! What else can you do to kick this packaging up a notch so the custy really feels like they got a good professional job. 

We use the print merge feature all the time to make trophy plates and things like that. The customer gives us a txt file or xls and we print merge all the plates. 

For a couple dozen doing it manually is no biggie, but for a 300+ order with individual names?

Another cool Corel function is imposition layout in print preview to gang up all your individual plates/labels onto one sheet (like to print a 13x19 sublimation transfer sheet for 65 trophy plates)


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## Teamwear (Mar 12, 2007)

We ALWAYS package nicely. The less work a coach or team mom has to do the more likely they are to buy from you again. 

We have gained several account because of how we package.

Thanks for the tip on the print merge in Corel. We need to figure out how to do that as well for the trophy portion of our business. Can you post a quick how to?


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## Teamwear (Mar 12, 2007)

I think I have the print merge figured out. Not so hard afterall, just did not realize it was there.

Do you print your plates individually or on a single piece and cut afterwards?


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

jiarby said:


> For a couple dozen doing it manually is no biggie, but for a 300+ order with individual names?


This was a 300 uniform order? Did you consider doing screen print? I'm not sure I could ever imagine a scenario where I would vinyl 300 pieces, unless I had to do names.


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## jiarby (Feb 8, 2007)

No, this was a dozen pieces. The 300 piece thing was referring to doing a print merge on trophy plates in Corel. We definitely would have screened them for a 300 pc order. BUT... each layout was different, so a numbering press (dont have one) would have been required for a 300pc job, but would be worth the price!


I usually print as big a chunk as possible. Much easier to align and tape one 12" x 12" chunk down than 36 separate 1x3"s. Then I cut on the metal shear and just use the measuring marks as cutting guides.


There are a few tutorials already online about Corel Print Merge and Imposition Layout. 

http://www.unleash.com/mediasales/webapp/Imposition_and_Print_Merge_in_CorelDRAW-details.aspx

http://www.unleash.com/articles/printmerge/

(Foster likes to get paid like we all do... after all, he wrote the book!)


http://www.epiloglaser.com/tl_impositionvar.htm

http://macromonster.com/index.php?mod=descr&id_desc=29&id=17 (flash video .exe file download) 

http://www.engraversnetwork.com/lessons/Lesson_101042_Print_Merge.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sjHuVqp-ik


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## cookemb (Oct 6, 2009)

Just out of curiousity, what did you charge per jersey for this 12 pc order?


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## jiarby (Feb 8, 2007)

Well... discussing pricing in a public forum (where your customer and/or competition can find it) is never a good idea. 

Let's say it like this... 

What would you expect to pay? What would YOU charge? 

The problem is that everyone's situation is different. Some people buy material in 1yd rolls. Some in 50yd rolls. Some buy cases of 50yd rolls. Who gets better material pricing?

Some people work at home, Some in an industrial warehouse, and some in a retail stripmall. 

Everyone's cost structure is different. Basing your prices on what someone else charges is a bad idea. You have to analyze and understand what EVERYTHING costs you.... not just the vinyl & shirts.

It is a BIG mistake to base your pricing on material costs. It is a factor, but not the only one.


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## cookemb (Oct 6, 2009)

jiarby said:


> Well... discussing pricing in a public forum (where your customer and/or competition can find it) is never a good idea.
> 
> Let's say it like this...
> 
> ...


 
Hey, I just asked what you charged a customer for a simple job, not confidential trade secrets or how you structure your business. Sorry to offend.


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## Teamwear (Mar 12, 2007)

Cookemb-going rate for us would have been about $8. $3 to number each side and then $2 for the team name.

That seems to be industry standard from what we have seen. 

The difference between one company and another in a case like this is how they packaged it or how quickly it would be done. 

For 12 pieces and a stock vinyl color we would have likely done it within 48 hours. Cutting and pressing it pretty simple and if the vinyl is in stock then a quick $100 for less than an hour work is never bad.

I would not do it for less on customer supplied items though.


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## cookemb (Oct 6, 2009)

Thanks Teamwear,
Sounds about right. I was thinking about $10 with the nice way they were individually packaged and everything (really nice touch).


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## csw (Sep 3, 2009)

If each athlete received only the shirt we would fold them numbers showing and put them in a box largest to smallest. If each athlete received multiple pieces Shorts, socks and shirt then we would bag each athletes seperate. We don't add anything like cards, stickers or advert pieces to orders for athletic teams as they are often distributed to the kids at the field. Don't want to hand out 500 t's for the soccer league and have 490 little cards with your business name on it laying around the park for someone to have to pick up. We attach a business/thank you card to the tag for individual orders shipped directly to the house or sold through our vending tents/trailer.


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## jiarby (Feb 8, 2007)

> Hey, I just asked what you charged a customer for a simple job, not confidential trade secrets or how you structure your business. Sorry to offend.


not offended... I tried to PM you and answer the question but your mailnbox was full

We charged more than the numbers posted here so far. It also took longer than an hour to layout, cut, weed, press, fold, bag, label, and invoice/deliver the job.


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