Die-cut stickers for Cold Spring Harbor

Two hundred and fifty die-cut stickers at 3 by 4 inches come to $720.00, which is $2.88 each. The sum behind that is plain enough to check by hand: a 3 by 4 inch sticker is 12 square inches, at 250 pieces the rate is 24 cents per square inch, and 12 times 24 cents is $2.88. Raise the same order to 500 and the rate steps down to 22 cents, so each sticker becomes $2.64 and the full run is $1320.00. What the money buys in either case is a printed shape cut along the edge of your own drawing, in whatever outline you have given it, rather than a rectangle with the design sitting somewhere inside.

An order from Cold Spring Harbor starts the way every order does, with a file, a size in inches and a count. Printing and cutting happen at 205 East Main Street in Huntington, and there is free local pickup there if you would rather not have a box sent to you. Past that, the part worth thinking about is the arithmetic, because the arithmetic is what decides how many you should ask for.

Where the price steps down

Die-cut stickers are priced by the square inch, and the rate per square inch falls as the count rises. At 1 to 24 pieces the rate is 35 cents. From 25 to 49 it is 30 cents. From 50 to 99 it is 28 cents, from 100 to 249 it is 26 cents, from 250 to 499 it is 24 cents, and at 500 it is 22 cents.

Because the rate is multiplied by area, a large sticker feels each step more than a small one does. A 12 square inch sticker crossing from the 250 band into the 500 band loses 2 cents on every square inch, which is 24 cents off the price of each piece. A 2 by 2 inch sticker is 4 square inches, so the same 2 cent move is worth 8 cents a piece. Work out your area first and the decision usually makes itself.

There is also a minimum, and it is not a price floor. An order qualifies at 10 or more pieces or at $10 of merchandise, whichever comes first. A single large sticker that reaches $10 on its own is an order. So is a run of 10 small ones that never gets near $10.

The word both places share

Cold Spring Harbor and Lloyd Harbor end on the same word, and we do not rely on the place line alone to tell them apart. The ZIP is what settles it. Two apply here, 11724 and 11743, and 11743 is also a Huntington ZIP, so the street line and the ZIP together are what we read. If you are typing an address into a checkout field from memory, that is the pair worth double checking. Both places sit in the Town of Huntington, inside Suffolk County, which is another reason the names on their own do not narrow much.

A cut line that follows the drawing

Die cutting means the cut traces your artwork instead of boxing it in. A circle is cut round. A bottle shape is cut to the shape of a bottle. A logo with a long tail on one letter is cut with the tail sticking out, or with a tidier outline drawn a little way outside the whole mark, which is the more common choice for anything that has to sit flat on a container.

What we need from you is a design with a clear outer boundary. If your file already carries a cut path, we follow it. If it does not, we draw one and send it back for you to look at before anything is cut. Thin projections and sharp inside corners are what most often need a conversation, because a cut line can only turn so tightly.

Choosing a size before you choose a quantity

Size moves the price more than anything else on this page, because area is what gets multiplied by the rate. The 3 by 4 inch example above is 12 square inches. Trim it to 3 by 3 and it is 9, which is a quarter less area and therefore a quarter less money at any band. Widen it to 4 by 4 and it is 16.

The useful exercise is to decide what has to fit and then measure it. Cut a paper rectangle at the size you think you want, put it on the thing it is going on, and look at it before you commit to 250 or 500 of them.

Neighbours in the same stretch

Cold Spring Harbor lies 3.3 miles south west of the shop measured as a straight line on a map, not as a route. The places around it are covered the same way.

Huntington is 1.5 miles out, West Manor 2.4, Huntington Station 2.7, West Hills

2.8, and Lloyd Harbor 3.0. None of that changes a price. It matters only if you are deciding between collecting an order yourself and having it sent.

Who tends to be working out these numbers

If you send food out of a counter in containers, the sticker is usually a lid label: your name, the item, and space for a tick box or a handwritten note. Lid diameters vary between container lines, so measure the flat part of the lid rather than the whole lid.

If you box baked goods, the label often works as a seal across the flap. That shape tends to be long and narrow, which keeps the square inch count low and lets you sit in a higher quantity band for the same money.

If you cater and send trays out to other people's kitchens, one label per tray adds up more than people expect. Working out area against the bands before you order is what stops a run of trays turning into three separate small orders at the 35 cent rate.

If you run a stand and put a mark on cups and bags, you are usually in small sizes and large counts, which is the corner of the table where the 22 cent rate is easiest to reach.

Questions that come up

Can a Cold Spring Harbor address use either 11724 or 11743?

Both appear on orders. Enter whichever one belongs to your street address and leave it as it is. We do not correct a ZIP that a customer has typed deliberately.

How do I make sure a Cold Spring Harbor order is not read as Lloyd Harbor?

Give the full street line and the ZIP, and the two cannot be confused. The place names are similar, the street and ZIP combination is not.

I want 250 lid labels at 3 by 4 inches for a Cold Spring Harbor food counter. What is the total?

$720.00. That is 12 square inches at the 250 piece rate of 24 cents, so $2.88 a piece across 250 pieces.

Is it worth taking a Cold Spring Harbor order from 250 up to 500?

At 3 by 4 inches, 250 pieces is $720.00 and 500 is $1320.00, so the second 250 cost $600.00 and every piece in the run drops from $2.88 to $2.64. Whether that is worth it depends entirely on whether you will use 500.

Can a small Cold Spring Harbor order go through, or do I have to hit a spend?

It qualifies at 10 or more pieces or at $10 of merchandise, whichever you reach first. Ten pieces is enough on its own even if the total is under $10.