Question El Cheapo Poster Frame

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davidagladish

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Joined
Aug 20, 2008
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Southern Illinois University Carbondale
There's a student poster sale coming up on the first week of the Fall semester and I'm looking for some really cheap alternative for students to frame their cheasy dorm room posters in. I'll be setting up a table and just popping them in while they wait across from the sale. I'm ordering a large amount of aluminum frame moulding that I will chop down into standard poster sizes and prep with plexi or thin acetate and a cheap masonite or luan backing. I'll probably be prepping between 30 and 50 frames, mostly 24X36 and I'd like to keep the unit cost for the entire frame package under $20 which means about $12 cost (otherwise no student will even bite and I can't make a large enough profit). My question is...the cheapo poster frames that the big box stores sell, how thick is the acetate or plexi they include in those packages? I can get large rolls of acetate 50 1/2" X 100' in .003 .005 and .010 thicknesses and cut them down myself. Or I can purchase 36" X 72" sheets of .080 thick plexi (which is way more expensive). I'm trying to keep the unit price below $4.00 each for the glass in these frame packages. But, the material needs to be thick/rigid enough to hold up in a 24X36. I think the .003 would be too thin, but perhaps the .005 would be thick enough. Also, is there something cheaper and lighter weight than luan or masonite I should use as a backer that is still cheaper than foam core? (For the backing I'm looking for less than $2.00 per unit).

Any suggestions this community has would be greatly appreciated. BTW, I finally convinced my superiors that we needed a bigger frame shop. About 8 months ago I posted about my need for more space and suggestions. They gave me the room down the hall that I wanted and they will be remodeling it over the next few months! (The space is about 5 times bigger than what we have now!) Thanks again to everyone who gave me suggestions, comments, and feedback over the last year.

David Gladish
Frame Shop Manager
Student Center Craft Shop
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
 
.040 from Plaskolite in Ohio will do it. They have distributors everywhere for the stuff.
 
I wouldn't but you can try. Get some samples from Plaskolite to decide.
 
Check this out, if you want something cheap for college kids and you don't have to build anything. Some are below your required price and the deluxe ones just slightly more. HERE

These are like what the BB's sell and you can just hand them the shrink wrapped frame and they can be on their way and you make just as much money. Actually more as you didn't have to build the frame / cut the backing / stryene and assemble.
 
With a selling price of $20 and a COGS (materials only) of $12....... where is there any profit after you take 10 minutes to assemble that package for the student? Are you really doing a service for your shop to keep it open? or a freebie for the students?


I am more in agreement with j Paul - those corrugated backed - snap together things... and don't forget to add freight as an expense.... as a cash and carry item.
 
since i work for the state, i get paid regardless. our frame shop is attempting to be more of a service since we are kept going partially by student fees. currently our framing service is just too expensive for the average student to afford, especially for something cheap like a poster. as long as i can recover costs and a marginal amount of the time it takes, the sheer advertisement of an affordable framing service and the ability to offer something like this to the student body is enough to recover my costs.
 
i would like to be able to offer something unique to them, rather than just becoming a middle-man for a prepackaged item and marking it up. otherwise, kids will just skip over me and go buy the same thing at walmart or hobby lobby down the street. if i can offer a real aluminum frame along with some nicer materials than what the bix boxes offer, it gives my frame shop a reason to be here. if im not providing some kind of service for students....something they can afford, then my bosses won't see any reason for there to even be a frame shop here, which is paid for by student fees.
 
Custom framing at WalMart prices? Why throw your skills away? I remember the problem you had with the artist that wanted to reinvent the float frame. What are you gonna o when she comes in and wants to use this framing option for has work?

Offer the ready made frame that jPaul showed you as the cheapo option. Your twit can be that you put it in for them at no added cost. Offer what you're working up as the next step option, use good backing material for that, not luan.

But for cheap and quick, go with what's out there. Remember what happened when you let the customer reinvent the wheel.
 
Jerry, I was working on something similar. I cannot believe that there is subsidized framing for students. Talk about another false entitlement.
I understand vendors providing incentives for students, but to operate at a loss just because you can is beyond me.
 
I don't think the frame shop on campus is subsidized. He just doesn't see the value in making it profitable because he sees himself as a state employee. He is assuming that the store is there and should be used, not that it needs to be used and make money to pay for itself.

We had student run businesses at UMass when I was there. They paid for the space they were in, and made money. We had Co-ops wherein the workers were owners and they worked hard because they made money if the business made money.

David is an employee of the state and he works in the Art Supply Store on Campus. I think he has divorced in his mind the fact that his paycheck comes from revenue generated by the store he works in. He sees his paycheck coming from the State, not from his section of the Art Supply Store. If you go to a Campus Bookstore the employees see themselves as state workers, not bookstore employees.

That divorce from reality is the crux of the problem. When David hears next spring that the Framing is gonna go because it is a negative revenue generator for the state then he'll post here asking how to price framing that is affordable and profitable. But for now he equates himself as being more inline with his customers and not with the store he is working in.

He wants to be seen by the customer as being on their side, as helping them to get affordable framing done, while you wait. When he learns that the frame shop will go because it doesn't pay for itself, well he's a State employee, he won't be fired he'll just get laterally promoted to another department.
 
in contrast to popular belief, the frame shop i run is actually the biggest revenue-maker in my "art department" called the craft shop. our sales keep the entire craft shop going so that we can provide other services to the students faculty staff and community like free pottery wheels, a full-service woodshop, private lessons in sewing, metalworking, painting, kid's classes, volunteer programs like the happy factory to benefit children in underdeveloped countries, etc. the reason we are here is because the community wants us here, and the university sees us as a positive DIY source of information and supplier of craft supplies for students. we're not here to drive up student fees, nor are we actively seeking out the destruction of our educational system by not making back enough to be profitable to the university. we work very hard to pay for our salaries, we also provide about 20 student-work positions which help students pay for their educational costs, while teaching them valuable hand-on skills and how to work with children for when they enter the workplace or the home after graduation. in fact, at the end of every fiscal year in july, whatever profit we make is filtered back into the state budget and reappropraited into other programs. to be honest, our profits are helping to fund other state programs, thus keeping the system going. if you don't like the way the funds are being re-appropriated, then it's a problem to take up with your representatives. im sorry if the system has imbittered you to what i do, but we have the best of intentions in mind with everything we do here. in the future i will leave my personal thoughts and politics out of my posts and simply ask the question i came here for.
 
davidagladish said:
...our sales keep the entire craft shop going so that we can provide other services to the students faculty staff and community like free pottery wheels, a full-service wood shop, private lessons in sewing, metalworking, painting, kid's classes, ...we also provide about 20 student-work positions which help students pay for their educational costs,
Click to expand...

I understand your good intentions David.... Its just as a person trained as an accountant, I just can't see this happening in the black if ALL COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH OPERATION are accounted for. that includes but is not limited to:

payroll incl fringe benefits(health ins, retirement, etc)
cost of management by the university (that includes your boss's salary and benefits or a portion there of, and up the line)
COGS
cost of rent or equiv
utilities
insurance
bank charges (credit card fees, etc)
cost of holding inventory (cost of money)
phones
supplies
promotions to attract participants
maintenance
depreciation of equipment, fixtures, periodic updates to walls, floors-etc
CAM - incl campus security



That entire operation has a lot of overhead that a lot of people will not consider. You would be surprised how fast those expenses grow.
 
Bob, I guess you are right about the phrasing of a Subsidy. The budgeting of the funds to provide these services is just like any other state run operation. I don't know why I would think that any state funded operation would turn a profit. It's just not logical.
 
JFeig said:
I understand your good intentions David.... Its just as a person trained as an accountant, I just can't see this happening in the black if ALL COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH OPERATION are accounted for. that includes but is not limited to:

payroll incl fringe benefits(health ins, retirement, etc)
cost of management by the university (that includes your boss's salary and benefits or a portion there of, and up the line)
COGS
cost of rent or equiv
utilities
insurance
bank charges (credit card fees, etc)
cost of holding inventory (cost of money)
phones
supplies
promotions to attract participants
maintenance
depreciation of equipment, fixtures, periodic updates to walls, floors-etc



That entire operation has a lot of overhead that a lot of people will not consider. You would be surprised how fast those expenses grow.
Click to expand...

I promise you, we keep very close watch on our fiscal spending. I work mandatory unpaid overtime at the university's request as part of my contract. This happens weekly. This fiscal year I am working two furlow days. We actually spend next to nothing compared to the amount of our budget that is alotted to student work compensation, and most of our equipment is 20+ years old, and 90% donated. We have not had any major upkeep since i started here. We fix all our own equipment, and do plenty of shopping around to keep costs low. We don't spend any money on advertising, everything we use for these purposes is either donated or hand-made. Our staff is constantly dumpster diving to salvage and recycle parts. We are in the basement. Our offices and workspace are converted from old abandoned lunchrooms and maintenance closets. We leave lights off when no one is using our work rooms. We truly are scraping the bottom as far as spending to make up for the big costs like our salaries. If you think the state is just lining our pockets with all the cash we could ever want, and we don't have to lift a finger for it, then you're wrong. I'm in danger of being laid off at any time. There would be no "shifting him to another job." Keeping the students in the forefront of my mind and serving them is the best way to help my business, regardless of the extra time I have to put into it.
 
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