Die-cut stickers for Deer Park, New York

Three hundred 2 by 3 inch die-cut stickers come to $432.00, which is $1.44 apiece. The arithmetic behind that is short. A 2 by 3 inch sticker is 6 square inches, the rate at 300 pieces is 24 cents a square inch, and 6 times 24 cents is $1.44. Multiply by 300 and you have the total. Put 500 of the same sticker on the same order and the rate steps down to 22 cents, so each one is $1.32 and the run is $660.00. The artwork does not change, the shape does not change, the cut does not change. Only the rate does, and it changes because of the count.

That is the whole decision in front of most people ordering window and door decals for a small shop: what size, and how many. Everything else on this page is detail hanging off those two numbers.

The rate card, band by band

Die-cut stickers here are priced per square inch, and the rate falls as the count rises. It is 35 cents at 1 to 24 pieces, 30 cents at 25 to 49, 28 cents at 50 to 99, 26 cents at 100 to 249, 24 cents at 250 to 499, and 22 cents from 500. The rate that applies is the one for the whole order, not a blended figure and not a discount applied to the last few pieces. An order of 300 is priced entirely at 24 cents. An order of 500 is priced entirely at 22 cents, which is why the per piece figure in the example above moves from $1.44 to $1.32 rather than only the extra two hundred being cheaper.

Choosing a size before choosing a quantity

Because the price is area times rate times count, size is the lever with the most travel in it. A decal that reads well at 2 by 3 inches costs what the worked example says. Grow it and every piece grows with it, at whatever rate the count has earned. Shrink it and the same is true in reverse. It is worth settling the size against the glass it is going on, standing where a customer stands, before you settle the quantity. A decal that is too small to read is not cheap, it is wasted, and a decal that is larger than the door needs is paid for in every piece of the run.

Five neighbours inside 2.9 miles

Deer Park sits 9.1 miles south east of the shop in a straight line, and it is unusually well surrounded. Baywood is 1.8 miles away, North Babylon 2.2, Wyandanch 2.4, Wheatley Heights 2.6, and Dix Hills 2.9. All five of those are places we also cover, and all five are within three miles as the crow flies. That matters for one practical reason: if you run more than one address, or you are ordering on behalf of someone who does, there is a good chance the second address is also on our list. Decals for two locations can be drawn once and run as one order, and the count for the band is the total number of pieces on that order, not the number going to any single address. How they get divided once they arrive is up to you.

Artwork for a window or a door

A die cut follows a line you choose, so the useful question about artwork is where that line should sit. Around a logo, around a logo and its wordmark together, or around a plain rectangle or circle that holds both with a margin. Glass is unforgiving of clutter, so the pieces that work tend to be the ones that dropped a line of text rather than shrank it. Vector artwork gives the cleanest cut line because the outline can be taken straight from the shapes. If what you have is a photograph or a flattened logo, say so when you send it and we will tell you what the cut line can follow. Any lettering that needs to be read from the far side of the glass should be flagged too, because that is a decision about the file, not something to be discovered at the press.

The minimum is a door, not a floor

An order qualifies at 10 or more pieces or at $10 of merchandise, whichever comes first. That is worth reading carefully, because it is not a minimum spend. A small run of large decals can clear the merchandise figure long before it reaches ten pieces, and a set of ten small ones clears on count even if the merchandise figure is modest. Either route opens the order.

Four people this tends to be

If you have one shop, one window and one glass door, you are probably looking at a handful of pieces and the top of the rate card. Size them properly and let the count fall where it falls.

If you have several doors, an entrance, a side entrance and a back of house, the count climbs higher than people expect once you include a spare for each. That is often what pushes an order over a band edge without anyone planning it.

If you are the person ordering for a second location as well, draw both sets at once. One order, one artwork pass, and the total count sets the rate for everything on it.

If you are trying a design before committing to a wall of them, the minimum is the thing to look at rather than the rate card. Ten pieces or $10 of merchandise, and you are through.

Free local pickup is available at the Huntington storefront, and orders otherwise ship within the United States.

Questions we are asked

Our Deer Park shop has one window and two glass doors. Is three decals enough to place an order? It can be. An order qualifies at 10 or more pieces or at $10 of merchandise, whichever comes first, so three decals of a decent size may well clear on the merchandise figure alone. Three very small ones may not, in which case adding a few spares is the usual answer.

What would 300 of a 2 by 3 inch decal cost for a storefront in Deer Park? $1.44 each and $432.00 for the 300. The sticker is 6 square inches and 300 pieces falls in the 24 cent band.

If a Deer Park order went from 300 pieces to 500, does the lower rate apply to all of them or only the extra 200? All of them. At 500 the rate is 22 cents a square inch for the whole order, so the same 2 by 3 inch decal becomes $1.32 each and the run totals $660.00.

Does a Deer Park order have to be shipped, or can it be picked up at the shop in Huntington? Either. Pickup at the storefront is free, and shipping is there if you would rather not make the trip. Choose at checkout.

Our Deer Park address is in Suffolk County and the town of Babylon appears on some of our paperwork. Which version should go on the order? Write the address the way you would write it on an envelope, with the 11729 ZIP. The county and the township line are not needed and will not change how the order is handled.