shrinkwrap pricing

[katman]

Okay, I've been thinking about buying a shrinkwrap unit for a couple of months to (1)package "precut" mats we can do on our CMC and (2)package the in-house "stock" photos (with mats)we do of sailing, Washington scenes and other stuff. These go in plastic bags now. I don't like the presentation. Got a couple of local "artists" (you are a painter until the world decides you are an artist) who want about 20 pieces/month shrinkwraped, and a local gallery has asked if I would wrap prints for them--about 20-30/month, various sizes. I've been sitting on the fence about hiring another trainee, this could be the the filler work. I have no idea how much time and aggravation is involved in doing a good shrinkwrapping job. Talking about using 1/8 foam backing. I can priced my foam, but can anyone give me an idea on how difficult it is to do a nice wrap on, say, a 24x36 piece. Would be interested in time involved and cost in United Inches or other method for film. Any comment on pitfalls would be appreciated.

[Ron Eggers]

Katman,

In my opinion, shrink wrapping is a very large pain in the butt. I have a shrink wrapper mainly to wrap finished orders, but I do some wrapping for artists. I just kept raising the prices on it until I didn't hate it so much. When I get to the shop tomorrow, I'll e-mail you some samples of what I charge.

I suspect anyone who's doing much quantity is using a shrink wrap heat tunnel and not a heat gun. There's a post in the archives about using a Vacuseal press (without the vacuum turned on) to shrink several pieces at once, but I haven't had much success with this.

[Ruth]

I'll second Ron's post. There are few things I hate more than shrink wrapping. People may cringe at the price I quote, but it's still not enough to cover the aggravation.

Of course around here they cringe at any price... "it's just plastic wrap!"

[chaz33]

Anyone who has done shrink wrapping knows this, it's unpleasant,time consuming,not worth what you can charge! It's basicly a convienece for the customers. Sorry for the negativity but,bad subject to me!

Chaz

[Winnie Bates]

To all frustrated and unhappy shrink wrappers:

I am sorry to read (although it is not the first time) that so many have such a strong aversion to shrink wrapping - when, in fact, it can be a simple and profitable service to add to your shop. It is a service that can bring you more full framing business.

The usual source of frustration is in getting bad seals or being near the end of the job and burning a hole. This is often a factor of the film that you are using. "All shrink film is not created equal!"

Katman, with advice for you:
-For pieces as big as 24x36 you may want to use a slightly thicker backing to avoid warping on such a large piece.
-For your cost on the film, take the square inches of your piece and add 10% - so your 24x36
becomes approx. 950 sq in Multiply this by the following factors (this is for our Clearmount film) 100 gauge $ .00065 or 60 gauge $ .00039

So cost of film on this project for:
100 gauge = 950 x .00065 = $ .62
60 gauge = 950 x .00039 = $ .37

-Time involved, again using the right film, for
shrinking should be less than a minute - so to cover with a new person say 2 minutes tops!!

From my experience, the volume that you have mentioned does not indicate an L-sealer or tunnel.
I have many customers that use 2000'+ a month using the manual sealing equipment.

Good Luck!

[Ron Eggers]

In fairness to katman - and especially to Winnie and Clearmount - I should point out that a lot of my own shrink-wrapping problems involve wrapping customers' items for display in the antique malls. These are frequently rolled tighter than a steel spring and are falling apart or already in multiple pieces. In addition, a common request is to shrink wrap them to allow viewing from both sides! (I'm still waiting for my case of clear fomecore board.) Irregular sizes also result in a waste factor of much greater than 10% for the film.

Wrappng quantities of matted prints from your own shop would undoubtedly be much more efficient. In addition, shrink wrapping framed items for customer pick-up makes a very nice presentation.

Katman, if you are preparing matted pieces for sale in common sizes, I <U>would</U> take a look at the resealable print bags as a possible alternative. United's number for these is #5439. And I'm afraid a trainee who spends any amount of time doing shrink wrapping in your shop might quickly decide on a different line of work. I can believe it's possible to do it profitably, but it's mind-numbing work at best.

[katman]

Thanks for all the feedback. Sounds like this may not be too promising as "filler" work for a trainee.