what vinyl should i stock gloss or matt?

[Marcella Ross]

Hi,

I stock mainly gloss vinyl (as do most) I use matt only when it’s asked for.
As for colours, I would recommend you stock plenty black and white, a bright red, bright yellow, blues (Ultra and Arctic for example) bright green, silver and gold.

That would be more than enough to get you started. Order other colours as and when you need them. Suppliers all run a next day delivery so there’s no need to buy in a stack of colours you may not use.

[John Childs]

What I would recommend is to standardise on one of each colour.

For instance, red. Just stock one, say the Tomato, and anybody that justs asks for red gets Tomato. That way you are safe in ordering more than 5 metres because you know you will use it. I would pick one each of:-

Yellow
Red
Green
Blue
Grey
White
Black
Gold
Silver.

If any customer wants anything different then you need to make a judgement on the likelihood of you shifting the rest of the roll to somebody else when you decide to charge for just what their job uses, for the full minimum quantity you have to order, or something in between.

The problem will soon go away as you build up a better selection of colours from what hasn’t been used on previous jobs, and then every colour you haven’t got is something you’ve never used before and therefore never likely to again and is automatically a special order.

Gloss or matt? Well it depends on the type of work you are going to be doing. Our stuff is mainly vans, and consequently gloss. However, we have a fair selection of matt that has been collected over the years from previous jobs. If we sell some it’s a bonus, if they want something we haven’t got then they pay for minimum quantity.

One point though – maybe you should look for a supplier which will flog you one metre if you need it, although the carriage on that comes expensive.

[Neil Davey]

I usually buy 50m rolls of standard colours. You may be better off buying larger rolls as and when you need them on a next day delivery. I would get black and white straight away because you’ll always need them.

I believe Metamark will sell by the single metre and if your lucky you may get more if it’s the end of a roll.

Personally I think you don’t need to stock up with a selection of colours to start with, as I said buy them as you need them and buy in bigger quantities to keep the price down.

[David Rogers]

Depends on how busy you plan on being!!

Like others said – nearly all suppliers do a next day delivery service.

What you NEED is black, white, red, yellow, racing & bright greens, and 3 shades of blue, silver & gold. Cream is handy as a backing colour for ‘traditional signs’. Pretty soon, you’ll build up a stock of others as the orders come in.

5m can be quite limiting on these colours, especially if you get a large vehicle in – so carry these as ‘stock’. I use primarily gloss – and only bring in matt for ‘special’ jobs.

You’ll also have to balance out material cost v’s carriage cost and make it worth your while!!

Anything else is really personal choice & the market. I hold about 40 different colours now.

As for passing the cost on – the customer should ALWAYS cover the cost of an ‘odd colour’ as there’s no telling when it’ll get used again.

ps. Buy at least a 5yr vinyl – it’s not that expensive and is generally easier to work with, won’t have you wondering if it’ll be there in a 2 years and is suitable for nearly all applications. Quality jobs build repeat business…poor materials can destroy it.

[Lynn Normington]

have to agree with above a good range of stock colours, and good quality vinyl the difference in price is not worth the compromise, it’s easier to work with as Dave said. And for your black and white I would go for at least 20 mts. 5 is too limiting if you get a transit say !! digest what you have been told and make in informed decision 😀

Lynn