Die-cut stickers for Copiague Harbor, New York

Two hundred stickers at 1.5 by 1.5 inches comes to $117.00, which is 58 cents apiece. That is the entire quote: 2.25 square inches of printed area per piece, 26 cents per square inch at the hundred-and-up band, multiplied out, nothing added underneath. For a group in Copiague Harbor putting a logo or a set of names on two hundred lapel badges, that figure is the one worth starting from, because every later decision either moves the square inch number or moves the quantity band. Those are the only two levers on the whole order.

Most of what we cut in small square formats is event material. Badges for a volunteer table, a crest for a clipboard, name stickers for a row of folding chairs. Organisers usually arrive with a fixed headcount and a fixed budget and want to know which of the two is doing the deciding.

Where the rate steps down

Die-cut stickers are priced per square inch, and the rate falls as the count rises. One to twenty four pieces is 35 cents per square inch. Twenty five to forty nine is 30 cents. Fifty to ninety nine is 28. One hundred to two hundred forty nine is 26. Two hundred fifty to four hundred ninety nine is 24. At five hundred it is 22.

The steps matter more than they first look. Take the same 1.5 by 1.5 inch badge at 2.25 square inches. At 200 pieces the rate is 26 cents, so $0.58 each and $117.00 for the run. At 250 pieces the rate drops to 24 cents, so the identical sticker is $0.54 each and 250 of them is $135.00. Fifty extra badges add $18.00 to the total, because the whole order repriced the moment it crossed the line.

The minimum is a door, not a floor

An order qualifies at 10 or more pieces or at $10 of merchandise, whichever comes first. Two separate doors, and either one opens. A committee that wants a dozen badges for its own members is through on count alone. A group ordering four large decals for a registration table is more likely to be through on value. It is not a price floor, and no penalty attaches to a small run. It is simply the point at which an order is an order.

A name that carries across the property line

Amity Harbor is 0.6 miles off, and the two names share a root, which is the sort of thing that shows up in artwork more often than you would expect. A committee badge that reads Copiague Harbor and a neighbouring one that reads Amity Harbor are a proofing hazard on the same print run, because the eye reads the shared word and skips the different one. When both appear on a single order we split them into separate named files and proof them apart.

The other places we cover nearby sit close in as well: Copiague at 0.9 miles, Lindenhurst at 1.8, Amityville at 2.0 and East Massapequa at 2.8. The shop itself is 15.2 miles north in a straight line, at 205 East Main Street in Huntington, where every sheet is printed and cut. Pickup there is free, and we ship anywhere in the United States otherwise.

Getting from a shape to a square inch figure

The price follows the rectangle the design fits inside, not the outline we cut. A circular badge an inch and a half across is still billed as 2.25 square inches, because that is the box it occupies. A long horizontal wordmark that measures 3 by 1 inches is 3 square inches and prices higher than the square, even though it looks smaller on a table. Anyone comparing two layouts should measure the box first and multiply second.

At this size, legibility is the constraint. A crest with fine outline work and a line of small type below it holds together better if the type is set as solid shapes rather than hairlines, and if the cut outline is given a little breathing room from the artwork edge. We check the cut path against the design and come back with a note if something sits too close to that edge.

Ordering for an address with no ZIP of its own

There is no ZIP code on file here, and we will not guess at one. Orders are placed and shipped against the street address, which carries the piece correctly. The administrative context, Suffolk County and the Town of Babylon, is worth knowing if a group is filling out a permit form, but none of it needs to appear on the label. Street address, name, and that is the whole of it.

Four ways the same badge ends up ordered

A community organiser building an event kit usually orders one square badge design in a single count that matches the expected attendance, then rounds up to the next band edge once they see what fifty more costs.

A volunteer coordinator running sign-in tends to want two versions, one for staff and one for guests, in the same size and shape. Two designs at a hundred each price at the hundred-piece band, since the band follows the total count on the order rather than each design separately.

A treasurer running a fundraising table works backward from a budget figure. Divide the budget by the per-piece price at the band you expect, then check whether the resulting count crosses into the next band down, at which point the money buys more than the first pass suggested.

A club secretary reordering a design that already ran cares mainly about matching the earlier batch. Keeping the same file and the same finished dimensions is what does that, and it also keeps the square inch figure identical so the only variable left is the count.

Questions that come up

Our group in Copiague Harbor budgeted for 200 badges. Is there a reason to go to 250 instead? Often yes. 200 at 1.5 by 1.5 inches is $117.00. 250 of the same badge is $135.00. You pay $18.00 for fifty more pieces because the rate moved from 26 to 24 cents per square inch across the entire order.

We only need 12 badges for a small Copiague Harbor committee. Is that too few to order? No. Ten pieces is enough on its own, so twelve qualifies on count regardless of the total value. The per square inch rate at that quantity is 35 cents.

How should an order for Copiague Harbor be addressed, given there is no ZIP code on file? Use the street address exactly as you would write it on any letter. We do not add a postal code we have not verified, and the street address is what the order travels on.

Some of our people are in Copiague Harbor and some are over in Amity Harbor or Lindenhurst. Can that be one order? Yes, and it is usually the better way to do it, because the quantity band is set by the total count on the order. Splitting a single run into separate smaller orders can push each one into a higher rate.

Our Copiague Harbor logo is a long rectangle rather than a square. How does that change the 2.25 square inch figure? It replaces it. Measure the bounding box of your actual shape and multiply width by height. A 3 by 1 inch wordmark is 3 square inches, so at the 100 to 249 band it is 78 cents each rather than 58.