[INTRODUCTION]
[0:00:05.0] DC: This is the true story of two printers who agreed to podcast with me and have their opinions recorded. Listen to what happens when printers stop being polite and start getting real.
[0:00:13.5] JM: Hi, this is Jamie McLennan.
[0:00:15.0] WC: And this is William Crabtree.
[0:00:16.3] DC: And I’m your host, Deborah Corn. Welcome to the PrinterChat Podcast.
[INTERVIEW]
[0:00:25.7] DC: Hello, my name is Deborah Corn, I am the Intergalactic Ambassador to the Printerverse at Print Media Centr. I have a podcast called Podcasts From the Printerverse. It is listened to in a hundred and fifty-six countries, it’s had more than 250 downloads, which, for Beyonce, is a Tuesday, but it makes me the Beyonce of print. So, I am very happy to be invited back with Will the printer, Will Crabtree, from Tampa Media.
And we usually have another cohost, Jamie McLennan from DNR Graphics, but he is not here. We do a podcast series on Podcast From the Printerverse, called PrinterChat, where I talk to two printers and they get real, and Will and Jamie happen to also be in the signage space. So, this is a great show for us to work with and walk around, and we’re very thankful to be invited back, so thank you so much, and everybody, this is William Crabtree.
[0:01:24.8] WC: Hello Deborah, and hello ISA, how are you?
[0:01:29.2] DC: He’s got the radio voice. So, William, you came last night, which means that you were tooling around the show, like a lunatic, today, as you usually do.
[0:01:39.0] WC: Yeah, I did my usual, you know, kind of running around, avoiding talking to people, not making eye contact, you know? Trying to cover my badge so people don’t scan it, but I did actually see a lot of really cool stuff. So, it’s a fun show, there’s a lot of great people, and a lot of great exhibitors here.
[0:01:54.1] DC: Yeah, and just so you know, the reason he does that is so that he can see everything he wants to see and go back to the booths that he really wants to spend time with, and wants to engage with after. So, you’re not just getting emails from people and marking them “spam” or “opting out.” You know, nobody wants to waste anybody’s time, especially printers.
[0:02:13.0] WC: Right, right.
[0:02:14.7] DC: So, I have a list of cool things I have seen. We have three guests on deck. So, why don’t we start with something cool you’ve seen at the show?
[0:02:23.1] WC: I think one of my favorite things is this thing over here, the van ladder. Running a bucket truck myself recently, I see how useful that would be, you know? There’s been a few times where I’ve dropped a tool, or you know, I needed something up in the bucket, and you know, with that, somebody can actually run it up to you, versus having to come all the way back down, and the use of space in the van.
The price point on it is great; it’s comparable to the other trucks that are here. So, I’m not in the market to buy another truck, but if I were, that’s definitely what I would look at.
[0:02:51.7] DC: That’s really cool, that that’s something that was, you know, missing in your life that is here, like, parked on the show floor.
[0:02:58.4] WC: Right, right.
[0:02:59.5] DC: Did you know that something like that existed or no?
[0:03:01.2] WC: No, I’ve never seen that piece of equipment, and then the way they even actually do their material handling on the bucket, they’ve got like a – it’s like a 360-rotation thing. So, when you’re up in the bucket and you’re trying to put a sign on the wall, you usually have to, you know, figure out a way to either brace it while you secure it for the first time, or you’ve got to have an extra pair of hands up there with you, or there’s some crazy stuff that we do that we do to like –
[0:03:21.9] DC: Yeah.
[0:03:22.4] WC: Hang signs on walls, right?
[0:03:24.0] DC: You were climbing up and down ladders, like, in all of Saint Petersburg, hanging banners on the lamps, right?
[0:03:29.4] WC: Yeah-yeah-yeah, on the lamp post, yeah, yup.
[0:03:31.2] DC: That’s crazy. Anything else, equipment-wise?
[0:03:34.3] WC: Nothing specifically stood out. I noticed a trend that there’s a lot of DTF, a lot of DTF here. I feel like there’s a lot more CNCs here than I’ve seen in the past. A lot of different organizations or different companies that are coming out with new equipment, and then even like, smaller CNC. So, I recently lost my sign shop, we were destroyed during Milton, and we consolidated down to one facility for the print shop.
So, I have very limited space. So, some things that caught my eye where there’s like, actually like, smaller CNCs, there’s a smaller roll-over table. We had a big five by 10 that we had to get rid of, but I saw a small one that would actually fit in the shop. So, there’s, you know, seeing different types of equipment that I haven’t seen before has been nice.
[0:04:12.9] DC: I didn’t know about roll-over tables, and then I heard like a whole bunch of printers talking about them, and then I saw this clinching thing that I thought was really cool. It pushes the metal together without rivets; it’s really amazing. It holds, it’s called a clincher, did you ever hear of that?
[0:04:28.2] WC: No, I haven’t. I didn’t see that.
[0:04:29.0] DC: I just walked by because I thought the name was funny. I was like, “Oh, a clinching… a clincher.”
[0:04:32.4] WC: A clincher.
[0:04:34.0] DC: And then, I started talking to the guy; it was pretty fascinating. I’m glad that you mentioned DTF because not only is there a ton of that out there, but I cannot believe how many stickers are being printed at sign show.
[0:04:49.2] WC: Yeah.
[0:04:49.6] DC: And I think that what that shows is that the manufacturers are really investing in ways to help their customers expand their business, without having to purchase new equipment to get into a new vertical, you know?
[0:05:06.5] WC: Right.
[0:05:07.6] DC: I mean, the best-case scenario is there, is that they’re so successful, they might need a bigger machine or another machine, but I love that they’re making these options, and we actually have Michał, if you want to come up from Antigro Designer, and they have an amazing software solution that – do you call it a software solution or a platform?
[0:05:29.3] MS: I would call it a software solution, actually.
[0:05:31.0] DC: Okay. So, you’re doing a really cool demonstration out in the hallway. I don’t have mine on me right now, but you have them, the dye-cut stickers with the faces that have people putting on the walls. So, why don’t you tell everybody a little bit about what you’re doing here, and how your software can help everybody get in the sticker business, and you should, by the way.
[0:05:53.3] MS: Yeah, as I said, stickers are growing right now, all over the world, and we are making this activation in the lobby, at the entrance of the hall, see? And we are making stickers, so dye cuts, stickers, right on the spot. So, you can scan the QR code, then you can take a selfie or upload a graphic from your phone, and we’ll print it within a few minutes. Demand has been huge, as demand for stickers worldwide is growing right now, like exponentially, and it’s both.
The dye-cut stickers and UV stickers, as you said, and this is something amazing, and we want to be part of the trend, and we are. We developed the tool called the Sticker Builder that allows us to do the dye cut line, the cut line, and we’ve released it 14 months ago, and right now, we have acquired over 120 clients since last year. So, this is something that’s really growing and –
[0:06:44.4] DC: And then we discovered that you don’t just have to make stickers with your software? So, what else can be made with it that fits into the wide-format space?
[0:06:53.6] MS: Yeah. So, natural thing would be labels, that’s the obvious thing, but also the signage. The signage, the dye cut signage or any dye cut products, like this big cartoon thing, where you can life-size poster, can be dye cut too, and put it on the wall. So, the sky is the limit, actually, in the dye-cut world.
[0:07:12.3] DC: Excellent. So, you must be speaking to hundreds and hundreds of people outside. I know that everybody wants to take their stickers home with them. How many people are sending their pets through there?
[0:07:25.6] MS: Well, as I said last time, we had almost thousand designs, and I would say 60% are pets, even a guinea pig or a parrot.
[0:07:35.7] DC: Oh, a guinea pig?
[0:07:36.5] MS: Yup.
[0:07:36.5] DC: Oh, guinea pig, that would be so cute.
[0:07:39.0] WC: A parrot.
[0:07:39.7] DC: A parrot, right, the sign parrot.
[0:07:41.1] MS: The big one.
[0:07:43.6] DC: Yeah. So, have you had a chance to walk around at all?
[0:07:46.0] MS: Oh, yes-yes. It’s a fascinating show, it’s my first time here and I was amazed, like, this was so crowdy and so many solutions that I’ve never seen in my life, and that’s amazing.
[0:07:57.4] DC: Excellent. Well, thank you so much for joining us.
[0:07:59.8] MS: Thank you.
[0:08:00.2] WC: Thank you.
[0:08:00.6] DC: You’re awesome. I don’t even think we told everybody your full name. Tell everybody your full name, so they can get in touch with you.
[0:08:05.3] MS: Oh, hi. So, I’m Michał Sitkiewicz from Antigro Designer and the Sticker Builder, of course. Thank you.
[0:08:11.1] DC: When I release the podcast, I will make sure I put links in the show notes so everybody can get in touch with you. So, thank you so much for joining us. Cool, man, right?
[0:08:19.9] WC: Yeah, no. It’s a cool piece of software, I’ve demoed it myself, it’s very, very – yeah.
[0:08:22.9] DC: Really? Okay, to me, that’s the seal of approval because this guy is very particular about software because he’s a software developer. One of the things that I sort of figured out could be done with the software is to make custom templates for signs, and that got me thinking about this really cool company I met yesterday, through my friend David Murphy, called Erie Sign Company.
And what they do is have a web-to-print system for creating ADA-compliant signs, or what they say, compliance with confidence. So, when it comes to the ADA stuff, you cannot mess around with the height of braille or anything like that.
[0:09:09.4] WC: Right.
[0:09:10.1] DC: I mean, if people can’t read it or they think it’s a different letter or something. I mean, it can happen, obviously. So, we have Michael, who is going to join us for a few minutes and talk about his product. Braille is a difficult thing to print.
[0:09:27.3] WC: It’s very difficult to produce. There is specific equipment that’s made for it; we’ve tried to make it without that equipment, and it doesn’t really go well.
[0:09:35.6] DC: Yeah, somebody was telling me they hammer in the spikes or – first of all, introduce yourself to everybody.
[0:09:42.3] MS: Hello, Mike Shabluk with Erie Custom Signs.
[0:09:45.2] DC: So, if they’re not doing it, the no-brainer, easy way, no mistakes, by just working with you, how are they trying to do it?
[0:09:55.1] MS: Well, there’s many processes to do, and some are very difficult. One is press fitting the braille beads into the holes, making sure they stay.
[0:10:02.5] WC: Yeah, the beads.
[0:10:03.2] MS: Others are photo polymer or thermal forming. So, there’s many different processes, and lately, the UV 3D layers of ink has been very popular.
[0:10:15.5] DC: And, I mean, we’ve all known about the need for things like this. But it seems like it’s more important now, and this market is growing. Would you agree with that?
[0:10:27.] MS: It is growing, and people want flexibility; they want it to be a nice sign, instead of the just that blue bathroom sign with white text that they order online. They want something nice to fit with their business office, include their branding on the sign, so yes, it is growing, customization.
[0:10:47.2] DC: It’s really cool. So, how can you help everybody at this show?
[0:10:50.6] MS: Well, like you said, we’re compliant with confidence. We want to make sure that any design you send us that’s a custom design, we will make sure it’s compliant. That it meets the needs of Department of Justice and ADA. We also want to make sure it’s something that’s easily buildable, and that leads us into our new signage portal, where you can pick from over a hundred predesigned templates.
Change the text, change the pictogram, change the colors, you may be the backer, you click, you get your proof instantaneously, and it is compliant, and it ships quick.
[0:11:29.7] DC: So, they don’t have to print anything; they’re essentially ordering it from you?
[0:11:33.5] MS: That’s right.
[0:11:33.7] DC: And it’s not a white label. So, their customers are not going to know who’s doing it in the background at all?
[0:11:39.4] MS: That’s correct.
[0:11:40.3] DC: Okay, and how does, with the compliance and things like that, do you get a certificate or something like that, so they know they can trust you?
[0:11:48.5] MS: No, there’s not a certificate that you hand out. In our quality testing, you know, we have to check the height of the braille, the spacing is all done, it’s consistent, the grade two translation is done with our software, so we know it’s right, we test it. So, yeah, we’re very confident in our product.
[SPONSOR MESSAGE]
[0:12:10.0] DC: Print Media Centr provides printspiration and resources to our vast network of global print and marketing professionals. Whether you are an industry supplier, print service provider, print customer, or consultant, we have you covered by providing resources and strategies that enable business marketing and creative success, reporting from global events, these podcasts, Project Peacock TV, and an array of community-lifting initiatives.
We also work with OEMs, suppliers, industry organizations, and event producers, helping you connect and engage with our vast audience and achieve success with your sales, marketing, and conference endeavors. Visit Print Media Centr and connect with the Printerverse. Links in the show notes. Print long and prosper.
[INTERVIEW CONTINUED]
[0:13:05.0] DC: William?
[0:13:04.9] WC: And you guys are the trade printer or wholesale printer?
[0:13:07.5] MS: Yes, we are.
[0:13:08.5] WC: What kind of turnaround time do you guys have?
[0:13:09.9] DC: Good question.
[0:13:10.5] MS: Well, something like this that you go from whatever hundred of templates, I mean, we can ship in three days.
[0:13:17.5] WC: Okay.
[0:13:17.7] MS: And custom, it depends. Someone will want something custom, and it has a special laminate, and that takes two weeks to get. Well then, so –
[0:13:25.7] WC: Right. Most of these things are most likely going to be installed and would go to the company that you know. If I were to buy it, it might ship to me for me to have my team install it, but do you blind drop ship?
[0:13:36.3] MS: Yes, we do.
[0:13:37.2] WC: Okay.
[0:13:38.7] MS: Yeah, that’s been very helpful for clients that have customers all over, or there’s just one more sign to add on to the job, go buy and ship to their customer.
[0:13:47.0] WC: Nice, good stuff.
[0:13:48.9] DC: Excellent. So, what is the value proposition here? Does everybody need this, or it becomes something you can offer if you have the right customers? Like, what’s the play? Do people go looking for buildings to work with?
[0:14:03.7] MS: I think, for the sign shops and the print shops, they already have a big customer base; they just haven’t asked the question, “Would you like braille signs with that?”
[0:14:13.8] WC: I mean, ADA, anytime that you’re doing a wayfinding package or if you’re doing a new construction, or you’re doing anything along those lines, you’re going to need the ADA stuff. We do a lot of wayfinding work, but we don’t do any ADA, and I don’t have a reliable source. So, I don’t even bring up the conversation, but now knowing that you’re available, we will now offer that as an option when we’re doing those types of packages.
[0:14:34.7] DC: Yeah, that’s really cool. I actually think there’s something else to it, too. Like, yes, if you’re already in the space and you’re doing wayfinding and all that, it makes total sense. But even if you’re a commercial printer, and you’re printing for a restaurant chain or you’re printing for a corporation or you’re printing for something, they have office signs. They have tons of signs, and when people change offices, or leave the company, or get a promotion, or something has to change, what is their process for redoing those plaques? Do you call them plaques or signs? What do you call them?
[0:15:10.3] MS: We call them plaques or signs.
[0:15:12.0] DC: Okay. The judges say either of those answers are acceptable, but that’s the point, to have the conversation with them. “Hey, have you guys started implementing ADA signage in your office?” “What do you mean?”, “Well, let me tell you about it,” right?
[0:15:28.4] MS: Right.
[0:15:28.2] DC: Okay, well, thank you so much, it was so great meeting you.
[0:15:31.8] MS: Nice meeting you.
[0:15:32.8] DC: What’s the website people can go to?
[0:15:34.6] MS: It’s eriecustomsigns.com.
[0:15:36.7] DC: Oh, that’s easy enough.
[0:15:37.7] WC: Where are you located?
[0:15:38.4] MS: We’re in Michigan.
[0:15:39.2] WC: Michigan, okay.
[0:15:40.0] DC: Oh, I actually did have one more question for you. Rumor has it, you’re made in America. Is that true?
[0:15:46.2] MS: Yes, our products are made in Saginaw, Michigan, made in America.
[0:15:49.9] DC: And that includes all the substrates?
[0:15:53.0] MS: Yes, it is.
[0:15:53.4] DC: So, nobody has to worry about things coming into this country, working –
[0:15:57.6] MS: No tariff issues as of this minute.
[0:16:00.2] DC: Okay, thank you. As of this morning, I enjoyed that was a good qualifier, thank you so much. Interesting, right?
[0:16:06.9] WC: Yeah, good stuff.
[0:16:07.7] DC: And then the bonus of I like looking for the opportunities that people aren’t really jumping on yet, and it’s a weird thing to talk about, you know, braille as an opportunity, you know? It’s a little weird. But I hope everybody knows what I mean by that because we’re in the business of helping people, and this helps people, and people need it, but you know, so you should ask about it. We have, we have plenty of time, but we have another guest, we have Ashley Crabtree.
[0:16:38.1] WC: Miss Ashley.
[0:16:39.0] DC: Come on up, Ashley.
[0:16:40.7] WC: My favorite person.
[0:16:41.5] DC: And then, we’re going to – if anyone wants to chime in from the audience, we’d love to have more guests up there. Hi, Ashley.
[0:16:48.2] AC: How are you?
[0:16:49.1] DC: Hello. Fantastic.
[0:16:49.7] AC: Fun.
[0:16:50.0] DC: So, Ashley is the co-owner of Tampa Media in Tampa, and she happens to be married to Will Crabtree. He’s a very lucky man, that’s all I have to say.
[0:17:00.9] WC: I am.
[0:17:02.4] DC: You really are. So, Ashley is new to the signage industry, a couple of years, right?
[0:17:09.0] AC: Yup, that’s correct.
[0:17:09.3] DC: But the best thing about having Ashley as part of our crew is that she sees things differently than we do.
[0:17:15.4] WC: Right.
[0:17:16.2] DC: So, what did you see that you thought was cool out there?
[0:17:19.5] AC: I still think the LED signs are amazing. I saw a roll-up LED sign that was super cool.
[0:17:28.5] DC: Like, the Coke can? It looks like a Coke can.
[0:17:30.5] AC: No, it can roll up and down.
[0:17:32.5] DC: What?
[0:17:32.3] WC: It was like a roll-up banner; it actually had the joints in it to where you could roll it down.
[0:17:36.6] DC: What?
[0:17:37.3] WC: And then retractive.
[0:17:38.2] AC: It was super cool.
[0:17:39.0] WC: Like, almost like a garage door.
[0:17:40.4] DC: What?
[0:17:41.1] WC: Yeah.
[0:17:40.7] AC: Yeah. Never seen anything like that.
[0:17:42.0] DC: You always find the coolest things. That is really cool.
[0:17:43.7] AC: I am, and they had an LED on the floor and it was like –
[0:17:48.7] DC: That you could walk on?
[0:17:49.9] WC: Yeah.
[0:17:50.1] AC: Yeah, you could walk on.
[0:17:51.7] DC: How did I miss this? You always find the coolest things.
[0:17:53.7] WC: It’s like a set link center, I don’t remember the company though.
[0:17:56.3] AC: Yeah.
[0:17:56.7] DC: What is the application for the one that pulls up like a screen?
[0:17:58.9] WC: I mean, what we were even talking about, because one point, we hosted events in our parking lot, and we would display football like we did the Superbowl party, right? So, if we were to continue to do that, what we talked about was like, because we have a giant mural on the wall now, but we could do like a TV screen that would retract and come up and down.
[0:18:16.1] AC: Yeah.
[0:18:16.5] DC: Oh, no way.
[0:18:17.7] WC: Yeah-yeah-yeah.
[0:18:18.7] DC: Now I get it.
[0:18:18.8] AC: Or like, even, advertising.
[0:18:20.7] DC: Yeah. Just for the side of – it could be a sign on the side of your building, but then when you want to use it as a screen, you could use it. Okay, he’s a clever guy, that’s pretty cool.
[0:18:31.4] AC: Yeah.
[0:18:31.5] DC: What else did you see?
[0:18:33.4] AC: I saw a lot of different, like, DTG machines, he mentioned –
[0:18:38.5] DC: DTG? Garment, or?
[0:18:39.9] WC: There was Brother and Epson, both have DTG, but we were saying, there’s more DTF than DTG.
[0:18:45.4] AC: And then, what else did we see? We went to the wrap, which I think is a little bit – is it smaller?
[0:18:53.3] DC: The wrap experience. It’s gigantic back then.
[0:18:55.3] WC: Well, the wrap experience itself is bigger, but last year, I felt like –
[0:18:58.6] AC: There was like more cars.
[0:18:58.8] WC: Everybody had a car in their booth. Everybody either had a car or car door. It was much more spread out from like, the wrap side of things.
[0:19:06.1] DC: There’s lots of cars around here, did you see?
[0:19:07.9] WC: There are, yeah, there are. Just not as many.
[0:19:09.9] DC: Roland is wrapping a brand-new VW bus.
[0:19:12.9] AC: Yes.
[0:19:13.6] DC: Did you see that?
[0:19:14.3] AC: I saw that.
[0:19:14.3] WC: Yup, we saw that.
[0:19:14.9] DC: That car is very cool, and yesterday, it was like, groovy 60s stuff, and then this morning, it was –
[0:19:20.2] AC: It was like, beach.
[0:19:21.0] DC: Beach stuff, and then they were changing it again, and I like that the wrap experience. I saw a little kid trying to wrap. I thought it was really cool, and not like, wrap like that, like, wrap a car. What did you like about the wrap experience? You’re talking about the wrap experience back there, yeah?
[0:19:36.2] AC: Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.
[0:19:37.3] DC: You said they were wrapping the trucks back there, too?
[0:19:39.8] AC: Yeah, they’re wrapping the trucks. I also saw a kid, like, wrapping.
[0:19:43.3] DC: The kid is cool.
[0:19:44.0] AC: Which is super cool.
[0:19:45.3] DC: Yeah.
[0:19:45.5] AC: I’m like, “Yeah, get them interested in it.”
[0:19:47.3] DC: Exactly, exactly.
[0:19:49.1] AC: At a young age.
[0:19:50.4] DC: Totally. I mean –
[0:19:51.0] WC: Get them started early.
[0:19:52.0] DC: It’s so funny, yeah, do your kids work in your shop yet?
[0:19:55.6] WC: No.
[0:19:56.0] AC: No, not yet. It would be chaos. Chaos.
[0:19:59.8] DC: Soon, though, maybe. What else did you see that you thought was interesting?
[0:20:03.5] AC: They also had this crazy, like, laser cutter. I don’t even know if it was the laser cutter, but it was like an Elvis statue, and it was like, cutting into this Elvis, it was like, making an Elvis head.
[0:20:16.9] DC: Wow.
[0:20:17.0] WC: It was, yeah, it’s a –
[0:20:17.8] AC: It was crazy looking.
[0:20:18.8] WC: It was like a robot arm, right? And it’s basically sculpting. So, it’s like, 3D –
[0:20:22.4] DC: Like a 3D printer?
[0:20:23.8] WC: Yeah, it’s taking a block of foam and then cutting it down. It’s like reverse 3D printing.
[0:20:27.5] DC: It’s not edited manufacturing, it’s the other one.
[0:20:29.4] WC: Right-right-right.
[0:20:30.1] AC: Yeah.
[0:20:31.0] DC: Right.
[0:20:31.3] AC: I’ve never seen that.
[0:20:32.1] DC: That’s really cool.
[0:20:33.4] WC: Yeah, it looks like a snow globe inside the big container.
[0:20:35.6] DC: Yeah. That’s really awesome. Speaking about DTF, like I did before. Is it weird that there’s stickers at a sign show? Why do I think that that’s so weird?
[0:20:44.3] WC: I think it’s becoming more prominent because stickers are becoming more popular, right? And there’s a cultural aspect of stickers that hasn’t been there before, that’s there now, or that has become more prominent, maybe. Like, you mentioned before, in this business, you have to continue to expand what you do, right? And you have to figure out different ways to make money.
So, if your printer is not running, you’re not making money on it, and if you’re only a vehicle wrap shop, and you don’t have enough vehicle wraps and your printers aren’t running, then you’re in trouble. So, if you can supplement your production time with stickers or other things, so I think it’s what you mentioned earlier, the manufacturers are realizing that if they can influence us, the printers, to utilize the machines in different ways.
And find other ways to make money at it, then we’re more likely to buy more. Like, one thing that she had never seen before is an inline print and contour cut. So, like, a graph tech –
[0:21:38.4] AC: Yeah.
[0:21:38.9] WC: But within the printer, Roland has one that’s actually got a really good price point; we might wind up buying one.
[0:21:45.1] DC: I told you. He said, he’s not buying anything, I was like, “Put a pin in that.”
[0:21:47.9] AC: Every time.
[0:21:48.4] DC: Put a pin in it.
[0:21:48.9] AC: Every time.
[0:21:50.4] DC: You always walk home with a press.
[0:21:52.7] WC: I got to come home with something. But that type of equipment is, and that price point, it’s an eco-solvent printer. I mean, you can make money hand over fist on that thing.
[0:22:00.4] DC: Well, here’s my question about that. So, I’m just going to stay away from channel letters and like, those signs, and just stick with banners for right now, for a lack of a better term. So, how difficult would it be for a – whatever will come out of that, you said, Roland had it or?
[0:22:18.9] WC: Roland, yeah.
[0:22:19.2] DC: Whatever else comes out of that Roland machine, how difficult would it be for a printer to adapt their workflow for many jobs of one, versus a giant thing that’s only one thing? Does that make sense?
[0:22:34.2] WC: Yeah, you’re talking about gain run, right? So, there’s a few different ways you can do it is one, is you can do it in the design program. So, if you’ve got five different stickers and you’ve got five different jobs, you know, you can gang them up in different ways.
[0:22:44.8] DC: But do they have that setup in those presses already? Because they’re not using it for that.
[0:22:49.8] WC: I think the rip has some element to that, and Onyx probably does; that’s the one that we use in our shop. I’m not sure what other programs there are that are out there, but I mean, when you’re doing stickers, you’re either going to do them individual or you’re going to do them by the sheet, and if you’re doing them by the sheet, unless you’re doing a very short run, then you’re not going to gang them up.
[0:23:05.9] DC: Okay, that makes sense, I guess. I just don’t – you know, it’s like, how difficult it is for you know, if you’re used to making one thing, and you can make another thing with the same machine, but what else has to change? Do people need different training, does –
[0:23:19.8] WC: Well, there’s, I mean –
[0:23:21.5] DC: There’s different estimation for, right?
[0:23:23.9] WC: These stickers, you’re seeing, like we’re talking about this one machine that is inline, right? And you’ve got your Graph text. Most shops, if you’re doing window graphics, if you’re doing vehicle wraps, if you’re doing, you know, most sign shops are going to have a Graph Tech or a similar type of equipment, right? So, if you have that and you have a wide-format printer, you can print stickers.
We don’t have an inline; we have both pieces of equipment. We print the hell out of stickers; we do a ton of stickers.
[0:23:45.0] DC: Did you guys visit any of the big booths?
[0:23:48.4] WC: There’s lots of big booths, like which ones?
[0:23:51.0] DC: Well, you know, we’re looking at a bunch of them, Agfa, HP, we –
[0:23:54.9] AC: We went to 4over.
[0:23:56.7] DC: Oh, you went to 4over?
[0:23:57.5] WC: We did pop into 4over, yeah, we talked to them.
[0:23:59.7] DC: Yeah, you had a good conversation.
[0:24:01.4] WC: I had a great conversation with 4over. I was unaware that we even had a sales rep.
[0:24:04.7] DC: Shout out to Amy.
[0:24:05.4] WC: Yeah, shout out to Amy. I was unaware that we even had a sales rep, so that’s a new revelation and cool, someone to actually reach out to if we’ve got an issue, or we need assistance with something. It seems like they’re really focusing on trying to improve the customer experience if we’re over, which kudos to them. I’ve been a client of theirs for many years; they’re great, you know, but they’re also not the only guy in town, either.
[0:24:27.2] DC: Yeah.
[0:24:27.6] WC: Although I will say I feel a lack of trade printers here. Like, there’s a lot of fabricators, a lot of trades –
[0:24:33.3] DC: It is true, yeah.
[0:24:34.5] WC: But not a lot of reselling trade or wholesale printing companies here.
[0:24:37.6] DC: Yeah, it’s really interesting you said that because I was sitting in the hub when I was doing the social media takeover, and sitting there, printers keep sitting next to me, and I can hear their conversations, which is the best, when I learn the most, and what I found out is that is a lot of people here who are trying to figure out how to bring in the most production in-house.
So, in that sense, I could see why the trade printers might just be like, “Nah, let’s stay out of this one for right now.” There’s the paper companies, too.
[0:25:10.4] WC: Yeah.
[0:25:10.4] DC: You know, because would you come here for your paper company to pay to get screamed at for three days from people? I mean, that’s crazy, right?
[0:25:18.3] AC: Yeah.
[0:25:19.1] DC: Would you scream at a paper company if they’re here? Like, “Where’s my paper?”
[0:25:22.5] WC: No.
[0:25:22.8] DC: Why are you raising prices?
[0:25:24.0] WC: Yeah. No, I’m good with my paper company.
[0:25:25.9] DC: You’re nice with the paper company?
[0:25:26.7] WC: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get along all right.
[0:25:27.6] DC: Okay. Well, you should talk to the paper people. They get berated at trade shows all the time.
[0:25:30.8] WC: Really? Interesting.
[0:25:31.9] DC: It is, and they’re like, “I paid to get yelled at for three days.” Well, it depends, like after COVID, they had a lot of problems.
[0:25:38.1] WC: Got you. Is Laird here? I didn’t see any Laird anywhere.
[0:25:40.7] DC: That is – oh, they are here? Okay.
[0:25:42.3] WC: Laird is here. So, I want to give Laird a shoutout, even though I didn’t see them, but when all this tariff stuff happened, right? Everybody is going crazy. I reached out to my rep at Laird, and I said, “Hey, what’s my price point? What’s going up on acrylic? What’s going up on aluminum, etcetera?” To this point in time, they still have not raised any prices that I’m aware of.
They said they would let us know because, based on their inventory, so they could very easily raise the price of the inventory that they have, and increase their profits, right?
[0:26:10.5] AC: Yeah, like this is what –
[0:26:11.3] DC: Like the used car people now, they’re going to kill me.
[0:26:13.2] WC: So many are doing that, right?
[0:26:14.2] AC: There’s a lot of them that’s doing that.
[0:26:15.1] WC: They’re holding on their pricing based off of their current inventory, and they will increase pricing once they’ve been impacted by the tariffs.
[0:26:21.3] DC: When they have to.
[0:26:22.0] WC: But it’s a respectable thing to do.
[0:26:23.6] DC: Yeah, I agree. I think that is why you have relationships with people, and if your vendor partners are really partners, and they’re partners in your business, not just your products.
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[INTERVIEW CONTINUED]
[0:27:13.5] DC: I’m glad that you brought up tariffs because, unfortunately, it is a big topic of conversation here.
[0:27:18.8] WC: Oh, I’m sure.
[0:27:19.8] DC: I have spoken to a few companies who actually told me that if things that have been announced come to be, they might have to shut down their business entirely.
[0:27:32.4] WC: Really?
[0:27:33.2] DC: Because they can’t pass on 175% cost, and they can’t make their machines in America. It would take them five to 10 years to build all the plants that were needed for all the parts.
[0:27:46.9] WC: Right.
[0:27:47.3] DC: And he had just hired two people, but he can’t bring them on board now because he doesn’t know what’s going to happen, and that’s also why they’re trying to look for solutions to bring things in-house.
[0:27:58.5] AC: Yeah.
[0:27:59.0] WC: Yeah, I’m actually really surprised to see as many people, both attendees and exhibitors from the international community, right? There’s no lack of it; it’s no different than I’ve seen at any show that I’ve been, but we talked about that, you know, a lot of the people that are here were already committed, and that later shows in the year, we may see more impact, and lack of attendance.
[0:28:18.2] DC: The other thing is that there’s a whole new exhibitor area in the back, and it is –
[0:28:22.7] WC: I saw that.
[0:28:23.3] DC: Bigger than it’s ever been, and there are a ton of Asian companies back there, and at first I thought like, “Wow.” I mean, you know, if you watch the news, you know, it might not be the best time. It’s still good to learn because there might be another time that it might work out, but then what I found out is that, like, through the distribution and stuff, even though it might be a Chinese company, it doesn’t necessarily mean their stuff is coming from there.
[0:28:51.1] WC: Right.
[0:28:51.7] DC: It could be coming from somewhere else that isn’t affected as much as China is, could be – I mean, I don’t even know how to talk about it anymore, but – so it is actually worth talking to all the companies, and asking them. I had somebody ask me on LinkedIn about it. They were really interested in buying a printer, but they wanted to know if I could find out there the ink came from, and I think that was a great question.
[0:29:17.8] AC: Oh, that is a good question. It’s too expensive.
[0:29:19.0] DC: And it turned out it was Japan, and they were like, “Okay, we’re signing the contract,” you know?
[0:29:24.8] WC: Nice.
[0:29:24.9] DC: I was like, “Why won’t they tell you where they get the ink from? Why are you asking me, you know?” Which I thought was really weird, but maybe they were just investigating or something like that, and they didn’t want to tip their hand. I don’t know. Anybody out there see something cool at the show? Anybody, sir? No, yes, maybe? You did? Come on up. No? What about you? You’re low-riding in that chair.
No? Mike, did you see anything cool at the show? Come back up, you could join us again. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s Mike from Erie Sign Company.
[0:29:59.0] MS: Thank you, Deborah. I like to always look at as how can we do our workflow better in our shop, and I got to visit one of the vendors, Mothernode, and they’ve got a great –
[0:30:09.0] DC: I saw them, I thought it was a good name.
[0:30:10.5] MS: Yeah, and we just implemented them, probably a month ago. We took seven pieces of software down to two.
[0:30:18.0] WC: Nice.
[0:30:18.8] AC: Wow.
[0:30:19.3] MS: And we’re still onboarding, so people are getting in all of that. They’re uncomfortable yet, but they’ve been very helpful working with us, and I have to really give them a shoutout, but workflow has been a big part. You can’t have all these different systems trying to connect; you’ve got to have it all under one roof. So, now we, when we do our quoting, the CRM portion, now we can do our email campaigns out of there.
And we can see the history, the email sent out a quote, so if someone is out sick, and we can see the flow in the shop. So, it’s a big one for us.
[0:30:54.9] DC: Yeah, with less people, you got to let your software, let the robots help you, you know?
[0:31:00.5] MS: Right, we didn’t want to do the old double entry, double entry, and there’s too much chance for error.
[0:31:05.9] WC: Yeah, more margin for error that way too.
[0:31:08.2] DC: Yeah. I’m glad that you brought that up, Mike, because a couple of years ago, I came to this show, and then Focus was here, which is a software company that we really know from the commercial space, and I looked at them and I looked around. I was like, “Am I at Sign Expo? Like, what are you guys doing here?” And they’re like, “There is nothing that like helps the printers with the automation and the pre-flighting and things like that.”
And I said I didn’t understand, and because, to me, I’m a print customer. I’m like, “What do you mean it doesn’t work? How is that possible? Like, I just sent you a file, it’s supposed to work.” But what they were saying is that they would discover, like outline letters, that didn’t print when it was coming out of the 10-foot banner, and I’m like, “Well, how will they – proofing it first?” And they’re like looking at the monitor, which shows the things in the PDF even though they really aren’t there.
[0:31:57.6] WC: Including masks.
[0:31:58.6] DC: So, they kind of were the first ones here, and now there is a whole bunch of them out there. OneVision is out there, the one that you, Mother –
[0:32:07.3] MS: Mothernode.
[0:32:07.9] DC: Mothernode, which I thought was a really cool name.
[0:32:10.2] MS: Yeah.
[0:32:10.4] DC: And we have, you do something in the space too, don’t you, or are you just watching it?
[0:32:16.2] WC: I do. I do. Yeah, well, we’ve – the company has been around for a long time. I just recently came back and became involved with the company again, but it’s called AutoPrint. So, autoprint.software is the website. It’s an ecommerce MIS, CRN, web-to-print, online design, pre-flight, invoicing, estimating; it does pretty much everything.
[0:32:33.7] DC: Does it do dishes? Because I might get it.
[0:32:35.3] WC: It doesn’t do dishes. Now, the software is actually really built more for paper printing. I’ve been able to use it in my sign shop, I figured out workarounds for it.
[0:32:43.3] DC: Wait, I got to say, when you say paper printing, there are people printing on paper out there.
[0:32:47.8] WC: Yes, so when you’re talking about offset presses or digital presses versus wide format, it’s just a different workflow. It has a different language, it has different terminology, right? So, it has a lot of symbiosis, but there are variables in there that make it a program that’s not built for it.
[0:33:01.8] DC: Okay.
[0:33:02.2] WC: You have to create workarounds, right?
[0:33:04.2] DC: No, I just wanted to clarify what you mean by paper printing, since they are printing on paper, they’re not just acrylic.
[0:33:09.4] WC: When I say paper, I mean offset digital printing.
[0:33:11.6] DC: I know.
[0:33:12.0] WC: Yeah, you’re just trying to throw me under the bus. I get you, uh-huh.
[0:33:14.8] DC: No, I’m trying to help you, help people understand, and not think, “Well, you know, I don’t print on paper,” or something like that.
[0:33:20.8] WC: Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I get you, but yeah, the software is available. It’s autoprint.software.
[0:33:25.7] DC: That’s it? That’s all you want to say about it?
[0:33:27.7] WC: Yeah. I’m not here to promote my products and services.
[0:33:31.1] DC: I know you’re not, but the thing is that Mike just brought it up that the print shop and the wide-format shops, right? You came to this because everything wasn’t talking to each other, right?
[0:33:41.6] WC: Right. Well, my motivation in this space is the same problems that you’ve had, right? It’s, “The software doesn’t work the way I want it to work, it didn’t do what I needed it to do.” Coming from paper printing, my background, I started in digital print. I have a digital print shop, and then I bought a sign shop in 2022. Never worked in the sign industry, only brokered it, right?
[0:33:58.6] DC: That was fun, everybody. You should listen to those podcasts when he first started. He’s like, “I’m dying. What’s up with the installers?” And then he bought in an installation company. He’s like, “I can’t take it anymore.”
[0:34:10.3] WC: But there’s a lot of gaps and a lot of holes. So, the software just moved into a new framework, we have a new onboarding building system that we’re launching, and then with that, we’re going to be able to manipulate, and modify and develop the software to implement a lot of the things that I’ve learned by working in the sign space and in the garment space outside of the digital printing, and offset printing world.
[0:34:33.0] DC: Very interesting. So, Ashley, any comments?
[0:34:37.2] AC: No.
[0:34:38.2] DC: No, okay. Mike?
[0:34:40.1] MS: The only thing is, sign shops really do need to look at their – how they’re doing things. Can they do soft automation? Are they doing double-entry? And get rid of those errors.
[0:34:52.1] DC: I had a really discouraging conversation with one of the digital sign companies out there.
[0:34:59.5] WC: You know, I was going to bring this up, right? And I’m glad that you brought it up.
[0:35:02.0] DC: I was really mad at that guy.
[0:35:02.6] WC: I’ve got two, actually. So, the –
[0:35:04.0] DC: Did you talk to the same guy?
[0:35:04.7] WC: I didn’t. I didn’t even bother. I didn’t even bother, and the thing is –
[0:35:06.5] DC: I don’t like that guy back there, just saying.
[0:35:08.2] WC: Yeah. Well, the funny thing is about that, right? That’s very dismissive of you, right? You were asking a question, you were asking a valid question.
[0:35:12.1] DC: I was trying to understand, and he’s looking at me like I’m a lunatic.
[0:35:15.1] WC: Right, but here’s the thing, and this is to people that are here as exhibitors, right? Is you never know who’s in your booth. You never know who you’re talking to.
[0:35:21.0] DC: That’s right, I’m the Intergalactic, I have a freaking half a million people I could talk to.
[0:35:23.8] WC: You very well could have been up here, and plug their booth, and given them kudos, but instead, and we’re not going to throw the company under the bus, right? We’re not like that, yeah.
[0:35:30.2] DC: I didn’t even know the name of it; that’s because I was so pissed at them, I just walked away. I was like, “All right, dude.”
[0:35:34.4] WC: If you don’t know who’s in your booth, it could have been somebody that like, very well could have come up and plugged, or even purchased, right?
[0:35:39.2] DC: Yeah.
[0:35:39.5] WC: So, people lie to everybody that comes in, and then also, there was a big unveiling over here, and I won’t mention the company, but there is a big unveiling of a new big piece of equipment. There was a crowd, nobody was cheering, and da-da-da, and one of the guys that worked for that company was standing next to me, and I asked him a very elementary question about the product, about the piece of equipment, he’s like, “I don’t know it all.”
It’s like, how do you have somebody in your booth wearing the brand of your shirt when you’re doing an unveiling of a product that doesn’t know basic questions or basic answers to questions about their product?
[0:36:09.7] DC: Well, you don’t say – right, you don’t say I don’t know. You say, “Hang on a second, I’ll get the person who can answer that question for you.”
[0:36:15.0] WC: Well, that is what he did, right?
[0:36:15.8] DC: Or give me your card, and we’ll get back to you, don’t worry.
[0:36:18.1] WC: The question, everybody in that booth should know the answer to the question that I asked.
[0:36:20.9] AC: Show me your education on the products.
[0:36:22.9] WC: Right.
[0:36:23.1] DC: Yeah. Well, is anybody out here in the digital sign space at all? No? I think it’s – there’s something to it. I like it, but I didn’t understand how the customer gave the information to the sign. I mean, I knew there was an interface, but how the animation was there. I asked about what the resolution of the images, like what was – I mean, this guy was just like, it was just like, and it’s not because I was a woman.
And it’s not because I was – he didn’t know I was a press person. There had been cases where I know it’s because I’m a woman that they’re just dismissing me, but that was not it at all. This was literally just somebody who could not explain the process of getting art up there, and kept just telling me, “We’ll take care of it for you.” I’m like, “That’s not an answer because you’re showing me a hamburger.”
“But what if I’m Burger King and I want my Whooper up there?” And he’s like, “Oh. Well, they have people who could take care of that.” I’m like, “So, should I call them and ask them the question?” And then, I was like, you walked over to me. I was like, “Thank God you’re here. How does this work?” He’s like, “Oh, you just send an MP4 file.” I’m like, “Thank you.” Send a video, do it yourself for outsourcing.
[0:37:44.6] WC: It’s a video file format to the size of your screen, yeah.
[0:37:46.8] DC: I did mean that, right? So, what is wrong with people, Mike?
[0:37:50.2] MS: I don’t know.
[0:37:52.5] WC: It’s hard to find good help, that’s what’s wrong.
[0:37:54.9] DC: I don’t know. Have you, guys are you attendees, exhibitors? Who’s an attendee? You guys having good booth experiences, bad booth experiences? Did you go to any of the digital signage people? Are they being nice? You think so? You did? What is wrong with people? Okay, I’m really interested in –
[0:38:13.5] WC: They’re not sending the salespeople out, apparently, I don’t know.
[0:38:15.8] DC: I don’t know. I mean –
[0:38:17.0] AC: Missed opportunities is what that is.
[0:38:18.7] DC: It is a missed opportunity because you know, we talked about this on the podcast that somebody can be your customer even if they’re not buying from you.
[0:38:27.1] WC: Absolutely.
[0:38:27.6] DC: I’m a customer of information at this point.
[0:38:29.7] AC: Right.
[0:38:30.2] DC: I’m asking, I’m purchasing information from you. I am asking questions, I’m receiving the answers, and then I will turn around, as my role of what I do, and I tell other people about it, and now, you know when eventually somebody will come along where a need in relationship meet, and they’re like, “Oh, I saw that video that Deborah put on the Internet about this company that could help me.”
[0:38:55.1] WC: Oh, you’re very much a connector of that, too.
[0:38:56.1] AC: A referral.
[0:38:57.2] DC: Yeah.
[0:38:57.8] WC: Which that’s kind of again the point is you never know who you’re talking to, right? So, you should –
[0:39:00.6] DC: Exactly, but I just – I feel it was really discouraging, like I said, because I honestly think you know, talking about more opportunities, if you sell regular signs, why not sell digital signs too? Is that like taboo? Are you allowed to do both?
[0:39:18.9] WC: No, you can do both.
[0:39:19.6] DC: There was a time at the show, if you said digital signage, they would be like, I give you the vampire cross thing and garlic.
[0:39:26.1] WC: I wouldn’t say most, but a lot of companies have gone to doing both, and like what we’ll do is we don’t do the installs on those, but we will sub out to another company that will do the install. So, if we’re doing, say, a monument, we’ll build the monument, and then they’ll do the LED portion of it, right? There’s companies that do both, there’s companies that only specialize in the LED, and then there’s companies that only do repairs.
And if I am on the sign guy forum and I see people talking about there’s a few manufacturers out there that I guess they got sold or bought by another company, and then you – only that company can service them, but nobody could get a hold of anybody to get them serviced. It’s just a whole mess.
[0:40:00.0] AC: Yeah, it’s ridiculous.
[0:40:01.4] DC: I might have to take over the digital signage industry because I think there’s such an opportunity there. I don’t think it takes away from anything else; it’s about options, you know?
[0:40:11.2] WC: Right.
[0:40:11.8] AC: Correct, and they’re expensive too, and they’re expensive to fix.
[0:40:15.3] DC: Are they? I mean, well, they were very handy in the pandemic. People were changing signs all the time. They will like, “Instead, I’ll just put a digital sign, and whatever we can get from the supply chain is what we’re going to put on the specials tonight, you know?” They couldn’t do that. I mean, your digital signage has nothing to do with you, I’m assuming.
[0:40:33.5] MS: No, just ADA braille.
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[INTERVIEW CONTINUED]
[0:41:12.0] DC: Is there digital signage that talks to people if they’re deaf?
[0:41:16.1] MS: I’ve seen something like that, but it’s got to be very custom, but it’s still not ADA compliant.
[0:41:21.6] DC: It’s not ADA compliant.
[0:41:22.8] MS: No.
[0:41:23.4] DC: Huh.
[0:41:23.7] MS: Touch and feel.
[0:41:24.7] DC: What about like museums and stuff? Are there like places that are required to have ADA-compliant signage besides airports and?
[0:41:33.4] MS: Public spaces, permanent room designations, but a lot of places will have it in like museums, other places –
[0:41:42.2] WC: Government facilities.
[0:41:43.5] MS: Yes, government facilities.
[0:41:45.7] DC: Schools?
[0:41:47.2] MS: Oh, absolutely.
[0:41:48.2] DC: All of that counts as a government thing, I guess, unless it’s a private school.
[0:41:51.4] AC: Yeah.
[0:41:51.9] MS: Schools, you’ll see it in doctors’ offices, you’ll see it at any place where public come in and out all the time.
[0:41:56.8] AC: Hospitals.
[0:41:57.3] MS: Hospitals, yes.
[0:41:58.7] AC: Yeah.
[0:41:59.2] DC: Like an anti-trend, if that’s even a thing, there’s less soft signage here. Did you notice that?
[0:42:06.4] AC: Yes.
[0:42:06.8] WC: I did.
[0:42:07.5] DC: I thought that was weird. Did you guys notice that? There’s less people showing soft signage. Why do you think that is? It’s so convenient, soft signage.
[0:42:17.2] WC: I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.
[0:42:19.6] DC: It’s weird, right? Anybody have any ideas why?
[0:42:21.9] WC: These are like flex space type stuff, right? Flex space.
[0:42:25.8] DC: Would you say so?
[0:42:26.8] AC: Like fabric.
[0:42:27.9] DC: Dice up, yeah. Okay, so what he’s saying is if you’re not into it, you’re probably not getting into it right now at this moment. Okay, so all right, that makes sense. Thank you, sir. John Ohanian from Tekk7 in Fort Orange, Florida.
[0:42:42.9] AC: Hi, Florida.
[0:42:44.4] WC: Florida.
[0:42:45.4] DC: Shoutout to Florida. Okay, that’s interesting, but a lot of these manufacturers can make it, you know? It’s not like just having a dye company in here. I mean, there’s – I don’t know, I just thought it was weird. That was like a trend for a little while there, where it was everywhere, and I mean, you would come to the show, and they were broadcasting the aurora borealis on them, there was like screens.
Don’t you remember the giant one that was here that year? Oh, it doesn’t matter. The thing is that I just thought it was weird that it wasn’t because I didn’t realize the entry price was the problem, because on the user side of it, it’s – I’d much rather carry around something I could stick in my suitcase than ship a sign across the country, right? I mean, it gets more prohibitive, you know?
I guess, maybe that’s something to balance, you know, what is going to cost more. A lot of the manufacturers had gone to soft signage for a while, but now they’re back to their – Roland actually brought – did you see that thing they had in there?
[0:43:44.0] WC: Yeah.
[0:43:44.1] DC: It’s like, sorry, the world’s worst podcast is when you describe things that you saw and nobody else can see them. It’s at least 20 feet high.
[0:43:52.1] WC: Yeah.
[0:43:51.6] DC: And it is, it looks like a ladder, a couple of ladder rungs, but thicker, if I had to describe it. Anyhow, it’s gigantic and it’s new, they just brought it here. There’s one booth completely made out of cardboard. Did you see that one?
[0:44:05.0] WC: I did see that one.
[0:44:05.7] AC: Yeah.
[0:44:05.5] WC: I did see that one, yeah.
[0:44:06.2] AC: That is super cool. That was really awesome.
[0:44:07.0] WC: I think that’s their – that’s their product, though, too, is the cardboard is the substrate, and then they made their entire booth out of that substrate.
[0:44:14.3] DC: I always – there are always like, have a seat, and I always like, look at the cardboard, I look at me, I look at the cardboard, I look at me, and I’m like, “You know, I really don’t want like, 10 people pulling me up off the floor because I broke the cardboard.” But I didn’t have any problems sitting on the cardboard.
[0:44:29.9] WC: Nice, nice.
[0:44:31.3] AC: Yeah, it’s sturdy there, and that’s good.
[0:44:32.9] DC: It’s – yes. It was very good.
[0:44:34.3] AC: Because I would be like –
[0:44:35.4] DC: I didn’t fall.
[0:44:36.7] AC: I don’t know if I’m going to sit on that.
[0:44:37.6] DC: Yeah, exactly.
[0:44:38.4] WC: I wouldn’t sit on it.
[0:44:40.1] DC: It was iffy, but I took the chance for everybody, and it worked out. What about, in your world, are people talking about sustainability? They must be.
[0:44:50.2] MS: There has been talk about what can we do with signage, the materials we’re using, are they recyclable? So, we’re always exploring it, looking at different ways on the substrates that we use, and getting away from the waste, moving it from maybe the subtractive, to the additive with inks, so you have a lot less waste up front. That’s what we’re seeing.
[0:45:12.4] DC: Excellent. Well, I think we are –
[0:45:15.8] WC: We’re about wrapped.
[0:45:16.2] DC: Out of time, I think. I can’t believe it. It’s a wrap.
[0:45:18.5] WC: It went by so fast.
[0:45:19.5] DC: I know, it did go really fast, actually.
[0:45:20.8] AC: It goes fast.
[0:45:22.1] DC: It was a really interesting conversation. Thanks to Michał from Antigro Designer from joining us before, and Ashley, and Mike, what’s your last name?
[0:45:30.0] MS: Shabluk.
[0:45:30.2] DC: Shabluk, from Erie Custom Signs. Listen, check out this guy’s situation. It’s right there, right?
[0:45:36.9] MS: Booth 822.
[0:45:39.2] DC: It’s interesting, people need it, and if they’re not doing it, they just don’t realize that they should be.
[0:45:45.9] MS: That’s right.
[0:45:46.4] AC: Correct
[0:45:46.3] DC: And you take all of the fear, compliance with confidence.
[0:45:50.4] MS: That’s right.
[0:45:50.9] DC: Excellent.
[0:45:51.3] WC: Compliance with confidence.
[0:45:52.4] DC: William, thank you so much for flying to Las Vegas and joining me and Ashley.
[0:45:56.7] AC: Thank you.
[0:45:57.9] WC: Absolutely. You can always get me to come to Vegas.
[0:45:59.6] DC: I know, I had to twist his arm to come to Vegas, and to the lucky – you guys are going to buy a press, I’m sure because –
[0:46:06.3] AC: I’m sure.
[0:46:05.7] DC: Because Will can’t help himself. So, thank you so much, everybody. Thank you to ISA for having us, and until next time, everybody, print long and prosper.
[END OF INTERVIEW]
[0:46:18.5] DC: Thanks for listening to Podcasts From the Printerverse. Please subscribe, click some stars, and leave us a review. Connect with us through printmediacentr.com, we’d love to hear your feedback on our shows and topics that are of interest for future broadcasts. Until next time, thanks for joining us. Print long and prosper.
[END]
