Screen Machine T Shirt Blog

Why is it that people and businesses cannot work together in an honest and fair way!
We are a small business with limited resources and are thankful of any business that might come our way.
Whilst we are clearly in business to make a profit, we are not greedy, we charge a fair price and  we always try our best. We do care about the product we sell.

Of course there are lots of likewise companies, businesses and individuals out there, in fact it’s only a small percentage that spoil it for every one!
We are fearful of giving credit because on the occasions that we have, we have either not been paid or in the case of one major bank spent 8 months waiting for payment.

We now have the constant stream of emails trying to con us out of our money, our bank details and anything else they can glean from us. Whilst I do love the internet it has certainly brought crime to a whole new level.

Sadly, it is difficult to police and more and more people are becoming victims of internet related scams.

We recently wrote of a demand for payment from a Free UK business directory with the ‘Yellow Pages’ trademarked logo (being illegally used, a clear infringement of trademark) clearly printed on it!
Of course it was nothing to do with the Yellow Pages and wasn’t free after all, the extremely small print turned out to demand quite a lot of money for a Premium Listing in a poor directory with no ‘Google Ranking’ and no proper search facility and no way of actually finding what the business does unless you know the name.

Because we received a threatening letter we decided to remove the blog entry, whilst we have adhered to their request it does not mean that we give in!

If you think you have been the subject of an Online Scam, you must seek help there is always someone to guide you and help fight it. Whether the business is in the UK, Seychelles, Germany, Hong Kong or wherever you can still say NO.

None payers, not to be trusted - DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM!
Here are some names to avoid:

Paul Booth (in a band called Reverb)
address: 48 Wye Street, Alvaston, Derby DE24 8RA (lives with his parents, apparently)

Four Seasons ( MPB Decor)

Sole Proprietor:  Michael Patrick Burns

Why is it the law does nothing to help a small business when people will not pay!
We have to spend more money going through the courts and still do not get paid.
The law is an ass!

We all want the answer to this one, my own thoughts are we need to help each other. The worst thing we can do is demean ourselves by always buying the cheapest. Quality of service and product should still be as relevant in a recession as it is out of one. As a small business we are aware that prices get squeezed down, but where do we draw the line!
Our take on this is to offer value, still use the same products but just reduce the profit margin (yes, we all need this; otherwise we are not able to invest in our businesses future).
The problem of course is some businesses are happy to do work for ridiculous prices that put other companies at risk. A prime example of this is a fellow screen print company offering to supply 250 white t shirts with a single colour print on the front, at a cost of 85p each + vat. Now, I have checked with our supplier and the absolute lowest price on this shirt (all be it a poor quality one) is 72p each + vat.
Therefore the shirt costs allow the printer 13p per shirt, making it £32.50 earnings.
Then we have to take off the cost of the screen ( average is £20.00+ vat ) and the ink around £10.00 - which leaves £2.50.
So for working for around three hours (assuming they have the most up to date equipment) they will earn around 83.3p per hour!!!
To work at this rate is counter productive and I like many of my colleagues think it is a disgrace and extremely damaging to our industry.

In almost all industries, especially the service industry we need to be earning at least £30.00 to £40.00 per hour - this is not being greedy this is realistic! The government screws every last penny out of small businesses and at this rate we can just about survive!

So next time you see a ridiculous price, please think twice.
If it’s cheap then it’s most likely not that good, but more to the point it’s a desperate company damaging it’s own industry and ultimately damaging our economy.

Tony
Screen Machine UK Limited

No,we are not relating this to the great Monty Python team, but the scourge of the internet.
When we offer the option of comments to articles we write it is for the t shirt buying community and NOT for the drug dealers and porn barons!!!
However many times they try to force their illegal sites and links to themselves in the guise of comments, we can guarantee they will not succeed on this site.

To all normal respectable members of the public we apologise for disabling the comments option temporarily (hopefully) until these people stop sending their un-wanted posts!

We were asked recently to print t shirts for a fund raising event for the charity set up in memory of the great entertainer Roy Castle, it was a pleasure to do them!
It was for the Roy Castle Fund is affiliated to Cancer Research UK.

I met Roy Castle back in the old days (when I was a teenager), he was very down to earth and very much like the character we used to see in his ‘Record Breakers’ programme.
He was very brave and true to his character he set up his own charity ‘The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation’ (nothing to do with the Roy Castle Fund) before tragically dying of cancer related to breathing in second hand smoke, (he was a non smoker).
I’m sure he started the tidal wave that now allows the public, smoke free areas.
For this alone he is a modern day hero!
Hopefully in years to come this should see less people dying before their time!

The day I am told was a huge success, the Roy Castle Fund organiser has kindly sent this image.

Well, we have just returned from a family holiday in Bonnie Scotland. My first ever visit, the word that sums it up is stunning!
We stayed in a newly built house in a small village called Arisaig in western Scotland, a beautiful place not even spoilt by the British weather. I should have packed one of our Result  RE92A Windcheaters!

It was a long drive from Yorkshire, however having the chance to sit down and enjoy the wonderful scenery made a nice change from standing at a print machine loading shirts.

We visited Loch Ness, sadly did not catch site of the legendary monster so my dream of selling the rights to my amateur filming of the said beast and making lots of money did not transpire!

One of the highlights (no pun intended) of my holiday was climbing Ben Nevis, my wife and 11 year old son (now 12) also managed this feat. Talking about feet, anyone intending to venture up this huge mountain take note; the correct footwear is not a pair of trainers! A pair of hiking boots is the answer, I could have even visited our online shop and treated myself to a pair of DeWalt boots.

Well given the terrain and the weather next time we go I will be taking the following: vests, weatherproofs, fleeces, correct footwear and a nice woolly hat!

If you have not been to Scotland it’s a must see!

We all know we are in recession, what better way can there be of advertising your product or business than a printed tee shirt!

Money is tight, so you have to decide the best way of targeting your potential customer. The t shirt is a great option, beats many other forms of advertising hands down. If we look at the cost of an advert in a newspaper, it only finds a small amount of potential customers, can be easily missed and unless you have loads of money it can only be in a few publications!

Look at the t shirt idea, money is tight so many will welcome a free shirt, it’s highly likely to be worn many times ( a free sandwich board ) and it is going to be seen!

Look at the approx starting costs: 50 shirts at £3.50 each, 100 shirts at £2.80 each, 500 shirts at £2.00 each (these are promotional shirts with a one colour print).

Find the right place to be seen and for a low investment you are on a winner.

Go on give it a try!

The roads are so quiet, getting to work is easy.

Finishing early, not having to stay until after 6.00 every night.

I can actually start going to the gym again.

Best of all I get to see the wife and kids.

It’s nice to be printing more shirts this week.
Finally some of the doom and gloom seems to be lifting and our enquiry and order rate is approaching normal for this time of year. We hope that some confidence is finally coming back, after all you need to promote yourselves more and more these days. Word of mouth used to increase turnover but nowadays we are more dependent on the internet for sales.
It is difficult to spend money when turnover has dropped and enquiries are lower than normal, but you have to fight back and the brave will reap rewards.
So, buy those shirts promoting your company name you know it makes sense!

If I had taken the advise of all the news programmes I would have been at home with my feet up drinking lots of cups of tea, however I decided to ignore the ’severe weather warnings’ and come to work, so I’m sat here with my feet up drinking tea, waiting for orders!

Thanks to our local council (Leeds City Council) the roads had been gritted well and all the main routes were clear, add to that the fact that the news put off many peoples’ journeys and monday morning rush hour was no more!

Yes, the press and media are at it again - we’re doomed: a recession, a little bit of snow!!!

I think we desperately need some positive thinking  : )

Anyone ringing today (before I get snowed in), can have an extra 10% off any of the offers on our screen printed t shirts - now that’s positive!