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screen printing => General Screen Printing => Topic started by: tonypep on July 26, 2025, 04:04:02 PM
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Just heard from some former employees of mine that has caused the unwarranted but perhaps worth discussing angst on my part. Ever buy an eighty thousand dollar auto reclaim unit but cant buy the chemicals due to bankruptcy? Ever get into high density/lenticular printing without costing it out and price accordingly? Ever waiting to your compressor completely dies and have to rent an outside gas one? Ever acquire a company that while having a book of business, loses money? Ever thought of moving ink inventory to an upstairs out of access area? Ever bought a larger/over engineered piece of equipment? Ever take on low minimum business with no or slim margin and then have to reburn a screen and actually lose money?
Obviously I need a nap but share if you like. Believe it or not these and other stories can be positively helpful
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Ever take out a loan for $85 K with zero ROI on equip? Sometimes "I saw it on the internet and went to a trade show" perhaps does not always be proven to be sure your business will be successful. Been there. Does not always work as advertised or work with too many issues. There are so many times I visit/work at companies that have equip under the dryer gathering a considerable mount of dust lint and, when explained, owners and employees stated that they do not work (or have too many unforeseen issues) and shrug their shoulders. How is that a good business model? That said, cudos to those who try to break the technology barriers albeit soon to be short lived. The small/ medium shops that RH help rebuild are in jeopardy. Thank You Cricket and the Internet (not) and God Bless the Big Boys who are still out there but not necessarily here in the US where we pretty much knocked it out of the park back in the days of your (did I spell that right? No matter)
BTW theres a quite a bit of used equip on digitsmith and facebook does that tell you anything?
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As you know, we have seen some different times of industry shifts. This most recent one we are seeing is apparently the phase of COVID people getting checks and using them to start a shop and now phasing out (selling their equipment). Still as always, a revolving door.
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This business now thrives on ignorance of people and companies that make this crap equipment know this, while DTF is a game changer in many ways it's still marketed for the unskilled IMHO. The side hustle biz is now flooded with unlicensed stay at home mom's and people out to make a few extra bucks for whatever and don't really care about ROI or profit margins I could go on and on but I let someone pick it up from here.
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This business now thrives on ignorance of people and companies that make this crap equipment know this, while DTF is a game changer in many ways it's still marketed for the unskilled IMHO. The side hustle biz is now flooded with unlicensed stay at home mom's and people out to make a few extra bucks for whatever and don't really care about ROI or profit margins I could go on and on but I let someone pick it up from here.
aaaaaaaand those CriKet Karens completely suck out the value of a QUALITY printed shirt because a BC3001 they bought at Jiffy Shirts "Wholesale" with a stupid phrase typed in Bleeding Cowboy is a "good design" to them that should fetch a premium of ohh say, 6.00 on marketplace....... good business model Karen, love it........Then when I send an invoice for a 5 color discharge print on the same shirt at 12.00 ea they go whhhaaa? WHY so much?...... My making a "whoops" was getting in this industry when I shoulda been G like snoop Dogg
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In twenty years we've had maybe twelve clients that asked about specific print methods and eight of those have been
in the last two years specifically asking for "not whatever that transfer stuff is".
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I know I started complaining about the home vendors… My wife is on a neighborhood wives page. There was a huge blow up at one of these “business”. There were over 100 comments about problems and issues. She stayed out of it but I so badly want to chime in with “you get what pay for”. What do you expect for less than half the cost of any real shop out there! I hate to see everyone gang up like a mob but at the same time these home vendors kill the fair market value!
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How about using a torpedo heater in a small garage with xylene everywhere?
Man, it could of went sky high. Harry across the street says, you can print these 8' panels of foamboard for the store. Risk upon risk, dumb upon dumb for money just staring out 30 years ago. ::)
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Just heard from some former employees of mine that has caused the unwarranted but perhaps worth discussing angst on my part. Ever buy an eighty thousand dollar auto reclaim unit but cant buy the chemicals due to bankruptcy? Ever get into high density/lenticular printing without costing it out and price accordingly? Ever waiting to your compressor completely dies and have to rent an outside gas one? Ever acquire a company that while having a book of business, loses money? Ever thought of moving ink inventory to an upstairs out of access area? Ever bought a larger/over engineered piece of equipment?
On behalf of the shop I currently work at, I feel attacked.
;D
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The small little companies tend to have little loyalty and pay just over minimum wage. I make more on SS. The large ones are corporate driven
So, if you if you are one lucky enough to find a good job, prepare for a new one. Sorry but true
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OH, All the former employees have all left, talent all gone. This industry has gone to great to shitty IMO. I do not trust anybody anymore. There is no faith in me but the love of God. Bless TP
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And the stampinator......does not work well with many substates without adjustments, which no one seems to know. So, it's a dust collector. Too many misprints on extremely expensive garments. Perhaps it was me, but I can't be everywhere at once.
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And the stampinator......does not work well with many substates without adjustments, which no one seems to know. So, it's a dust collector. Too many misprints on extremely expensive garments. Perhaps it was me, but I can't be everywhere at once.
That stinks, I thought that would finally be the real deal for improving prints without causing waste. I found the M&R Hot Head did what you said the Stampinator did for you.
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Tony, life sucks and then you die. You can count your blessings or count your problems the simple choice is yours.
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And the stampinator......does not work well with many substates without adjustments, which no one seems to know. So, it's a dust collector. Too many misprints on extremely expensive garments. Perhaps it was me, but I can't be everywhere at once.
That stinks, I thought that would finally be the real deal for improving prints without causing waste. I found the M&R Hot Head did what you said the Stampinator did for you.
Homer has one and loves it.
If anyone on here has one they'd part with, I'd try it out...
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Tony, life sucks and then you die. You can count your blessings or count your problems the simple choice is yours.
We’d all have a lot more blessings if our industry was HONEST and left negative reviews instead of withholding them to be polite.
Friends don’t let friends buy Stampinators, for example.
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As you know, we have been some different times of industry shifts. This most recent one we are seeing is apparently the phase of COVID people getting checks and using them to start a shop and now phasing out (selling their equipment). Still as always, a revolving door.
Best part is you can look them up.
https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/search?q=Night+owls+print&v=1
https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/search?q=Shirt+kong&v=1
https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/search?q=Campus+ink&v=1
https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/search?q=Ryonet&v=1
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My biggest whoops was to get out the industry 20 ys ago before lts cool lost cool,
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We’d all have a lot more blessings if our industry was HONEST and left negative reviews instead of withholding them to be polite.
That was always my biggest gripe with the industry magazines. Being afraid to bite the hand that might feed them, they were always cheerleaders, and eschewed honest criticism.
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Just heard from some former employees of mine that has caused the unwarranted but perhaps worth discussing angst on my part. Ever buy an eighty thousand dollar auto reclaim unit but cant buy the chemicals due to bankruptcy? Ever get into high density/lenticular printing without costing it out and price accordingly? Ever waiting to your compressor completely dies and have to rent an outside gas one? Ever acquire a company that while having a book of business, loses money? Ever thought of moving ink inventory to an upstairs out of access area? Ever bought a larger/over engineered piece of equipment? Ever take on low minimum business with no or slim margin and then have to reburn a screen and actually lose money?
Obviously I need a nap but share if you like. Believe it or not these and other stories can be positively helpful
Two of my worst experiences:
SHOP 1
I've had a business owner lure me away from M&R to come work for them. M&R was a good job and no complaints there. The Travel was killing me and hard on the family. This shop was pretty local to my home at the time and offered better pay, benefits and what seemed to be my dream job.
The need was for someone to come in and make changes to improve quality and production first and foremost and to take over the art department from a person that was stepping back to work from home as an artist and be more there for family. That said, the position was for Plant Mgr. Being over production, screen room and art department
Once hired, on day two, that changed to "Manager" and told to avoid going out into production so that it doesn't sound offensive to production, On day 3, that title then changed to Art department Manager.
The owner said those other titles sounded too threatening to production to appease the Prod Mgr. and 2nd shift Mgr, and they were told that I would have no authority over what they do or how they operate...but the owner still wanted me to make these changes. During the few management meetings I was able to attend, the other management team would shoot down your (common quality control proposals) and have prod. Mgr's and screen room Mgr push back on all suggestions presented...Then fire you on day 5 so that the production Mgr and 2nd shift Mrg doesn't get offended? Yea, there's that.
This was a shop where you had to lower your head as you walked in the dark production area so that you did not get your hair stuck in the overspray cob webs hanging 4' down form the ceilings...and the (one washout booth) cave area where they did both wash out and reclaim was covered with stalagmite looking mounds of washout booth crap hanging from ceiling that dropped and piled up from the floor (not kidding). The light in the washout booth was barely visible. The crap was caked on so much that it looked like the booth was made of stone. The presses were covered with mossy looking overspray and lint. The floors under the presses were the same...and all day, they would set each of the previous job screens with ink still in them...stacked down under the presses in that muck with no cardboard on floors, only to take the screens back to the screen room at end of day. The ink area, OMG. Just OMG. It was a consultants dream. It was a place where one would be able to make major improvements in a short time...yet they didn't want it. As more of a personal ick to me, outside the employee entry doors, the ground and parking lot was covered in a sea of white and brown. Cigarette butts all over...and I mean so much so that it was blocking out the view of any grass and gravel in the lot. No cigarette butt catchers or buckets for them to put them in. That's just for starters.
A 2ND SHOP
Ever work for a company that hires you specifically because of your type of separation skills but nobody is there to run the shop? Never hires one sales person, Has a manager that only there 1/3rd of the time....and knows nothing about the apparel business or manufacturing yet despite that, you are bringing in new sales and contract customers and you increase business by triple?
Then you come to the realizations that the owner is only using the shop as a money laundering place...and doesn't want the shop to profit? Then you reach a point once you have that new business, but the Mgr quits, and the owner doesn't give you access to buy the blanks for the orders when you get them even AFTER the customer has paid in full in advance? I'm just an artist and a Operations Mgr is hired to run the place...but he's not given any access to credit cards or pay invoices and someone from the outside (another business the owner owns) and is to cover financials. That doesn't happen efficiently and now the owner gives "said ownership" (to his girlfriend) and she takes weeks and even months to pay for anything. Supply invoices or even blanks for orders that have been paid for in advance. So the newer Operations Mgr quits...and I'm now running the entire shop for about another 6 months and then I quite.
Ever work for a company that buys a new 18 clr press and dryer, puts it in another location 10 miles away to let it set there (for four years) and has only let you in to use it 2 times....while the mice build nest to live inside and crap and piss all over the main boards/hardware and chew up the wiring that cost 10k to repair? And once repaired, still doesn't let you use it?
Ever work for an owner that creates made up issues only to cause grief amongst the staff for his entertainment? Ever have an owner that says things and claims he never did? (Well, that one maybe a lot of you have seen). This guy was a criminal, a narcissist, a liar, and I was stuck staying as long as I did due to location circumstances. Then, I realized I could work remotely and took the first job available that happened to be a good one for a while.
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As you know, we have been some different times of industry shifts. This most recent one we are seeing is apparently the phase of COVID people getting checks and using them to start a shop and now phasing out (selling their equipment). Still as always, a revolving door.
Best part is you can look them up.
https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/search?q=Night+owls+print&v=1 (https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/search?q=Night+owls+print&v=1)
https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/search?q=Shirt+kong&v=1 (https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/search?q=Shirt+kong&v=1)
https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/search?q=Campus+ink&v=1 (https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/search?q=Campus+ink&v=1)
https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/search?q=Ryonet&v=1 (https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/search?q=Ryonet&v=1)
My post was more so referring to all of those NEW small shops that popped up during COVID and selling that equipment a year or so later. For (these businesses) it was more of a good business move at the time to take advantage of the loans during covid. IMO.
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Tony, life sucks and then you die. You can count your blessings or count your problems the simple choice is yours.
We’d all have a lot more blessings if our industry was HONEST and left negative reviews instead of withholding them to be polite.
Friends don’t let friends buy Stampinators, for example.
hey... HEY! >:(....some of us are SHITTY printers and need all the band aids we can get, what else can I do to flatten out these 110, 3 hits of poly white on cotton shirts...? got damn kids complain about everything.... why do they make other mesh counts anyway, 110 wooden frames are the bees knees for sim process....