How we're looked at.

RichN

I visited a potential new start up today in Northern California. After listening to the customers reasons for wanting to get into the screen print industry and explaining to them that it is possible to make a good living in it, the customer asked me if this was a safe industry to invest his savings into or is the industry full of the crooks and scam artists like the ones he has read about on this web site. It really hit home that the industry I have spent most of my life employed in is looked at in this manner.
How about if you regulars post how you got started and what it's like to be a part of this industry?
Thanks in advance.

__________________
Rich Nesladek
Director Of Sales Western Division & Baja Mexico
M&R Sales & Service, Inc.
1 N 372 Main Street, Glen Ellyn, IL. 60137
800-736-6431 Corporate
831-420-1390 Santa Cruz, California Office

Printwizard

Growing up as a kid on a farm in "the wop-wops" (about an hour drive past anywhere decent) and doing farm work we had a friend who was a printer, earned huge money and came home with cool movie posters. (ET). I decided as an early teen I wanted to be a printer of some sort. After I left high school I went and did my apprenticeship in knitting textiles (the owners daughter was hot and offered me a job). From the clothing side they had a manufacturing plant, printing etc. I hit it off with the printer and hung out with him a lot, worked a TAS and a carousel and stuff when I could. A few years later the company was sold, and I left, it went under and I was offered the print side dirt cheap, so I moved it under a house less the auto, and started off from there.

In terms of industry perceptions, I speak from Down-Under only, but I see it as this. screenprinting has one of the lowest costs of entry for any business that can gentle a full time above average wage. For that reason it gets flooded with printers, guys who have worked for somebody, think its easy, try taking a client or two and setup in their garage. Lots of these guys survive on the cash market and not paying tax or meeting industry compliances such as chemical handling and storage etc. Just because someone can print good doesn't make them a good business person either, so the industry is littered with small guys who are able to and have to sell on price to get jobs in and thereby setting market rates even although their work may be substandard. The industry here has a lot of Pacific Islanders in the textile side, and Asians on the industrial side. I liken the industrial side more to operators than printers because they mostly don't have to think and can't problemsolve or innovate so much, just push the numbers out in the same process as always. The Textile side has lots of guys who struggled at school. I was once told by someone over drinks who worked with dyslexia that screenprinting, graphic arts and signage was the most common industry that dyslexics moved into. I quite believe it, lots of amazing artists who can't spell. I can spell but am jealous as I can't do art! So yeh, lots of guys who struggled and left school early. One thing that troubles the industry here now, and in Australia is the kids doing drugs, very high in this industry, even if it's only weed. Another point is we used to do a lot of training, but as the slow down has happened and the cost of training, repairs or replacements , slower speed etc nobody has been training really in any of the big shops in the last decade so the quality of younger applicants is lower. Good printers are in shorter supply and earn good money. FYI as I am typing this and machine is running and having a tea break I'm earning about $45USD an hour on overtime rate, Standard is $30USD an hour and equivalent to the offset printer rates here. Beginner rates are about half that.

I think the industry doesnt on average have a high standard in terms of professionalism. There are a lot of cowboys, and perception is that its a dirty industry. Messy clothes, covered in ink, cheap poxy factories in cheap areas, stuff done on the cheap and dodge looking and homebuilt. Prception becomes reality. Screeners dont have the nice offices, clean factories, showrooms, prime locations etc because the margin cant sustain that business model. Anyway that's my story and bit of a rant.

Prosperi-Tees

I think the industry on the front lines like PW said has a somewhat poor image. I think alot of smaller shops have poor service and poor quality. I am only saying this from the stories from customers that have come thru our door. We are becoming a shop known for professionalism, great service and great quality but we have ALOT of growing to do.

We are about 3 years young in this business. I spent my previous years managing retail establishments and service companies. I always wanted to run my own business but never had enough capitol to do so. You name it I wanted to do it. Nail Salon, used car sales, music shop, car detail shop, laundromat, home Maintenance i looked into it all. One day a friend of mine said he was selling shirts so i asked him how it was done and then the research was on and i was hooked but still didn't have the capitol to start anything. Unfortunately my father passed away at the end of 08 and left me a small amount of money which allowed me to pay off my debts and get started in a small way with a 4/1 press and flash dryer in my garage and i was on my way. when i started getting more jobs i quickly realized that this equipment was not going to cut it so we upgraded and moved into our current location 2 years ago. We have since upgraded alot of out equipment from shops closing down or owners retiring. Our next step is to move to a larger facility and work on proceduralizing processes so that when we eventually hire staff we could have a good workflow etc and i can concentrate on continually growing the business and keeping our image, service and quality at the top.

We also have plans to open a retail store with a God theme that will be much different than your typical Christian store. Anyway that's us in a nutshell.