Custom Die-Cut Stickers for Shirley, New York

Collect it, or have it sent

For an order heading this far east, the first honest question is not the artwork or the quantity, it is whether anyone is realistically going to make the trip in to collect the box or whether it should simply be sent instead. Both doors are open. Pickup at the counter costs nothing, and some people pass our way often enough that stopping by is no trouble at all. Shirley is 28.1 miles east of us in straight line terms, though, and for plenty of orders that is far enough that paying to have the box sent is the saner answer. We ship anywhere in the United States, so the parcel route is always available. The reason to raise it first is that the choice is worth making on purpose rather than by default. One option suits a person who will be nearby anyway, the other suits a person who will not, and there is no prize for going out of your way.

A tight little cluster of places

The five nearest places we also cover all sit within 4.1 miles. Mastic is 1.8 miles away. Moriches is 2.7. Mastic Beach is 2.8. East Yaphank is 3.7, and Yaphank is 4.1. That is a small radius for five separate names on a map, and it changes the sensible way to buy.

If the people contributing to one design are spread across that handful of places, you do not need five separate orders. One person can gather the sizes and counts, place a single order, and hand the stickers out afterwards. An order placed from Shirley for people living in the neighbouring places is still one order to us, priced as one order. The rate depends on how many pieces are on the order, not on how many households the stickers end up in, so five small orders sit in five small quantity bands while one combined order sits in a better one.

How the square inch rate works

Die-cut stickers here are priced by area: width multiplied by height gives the square inches in one sticker. The rate per square inch then falls as the quantity climbs: 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 at 500 and above.

An example is easier to hold onto than a table. A 2.5 by 2.5 inch sticker is 6.25 square inches. At 120 pieces you are in the 26 cent band, so each one is $1.62 and the 120 come to $195.00. Move the same design up to 250 pieces and the band changes to 24 cents, so each sticker is $1.50 and the 250 come to $375.00. That is why the quantity is worth a conversation before anyone approves a number.

A group in Shirley working to a set budget can read that backwards just as easily. Decide what you are willing to spend, then work out which band that reaches and how many pieces it buys there. Sometimes a slightly smaller sticker at a higher count is the better trade, and sometimes it is not.

The minimum, and what it is not

An order qualifies once it reaches 10 or more pieces or $10 of merchandise, whichever comes first. Two routes to the same gate. A small sticker is inexpensive per piece, so a run of 10 will usually clear the piece count before it clears the dollar figure. A large sticker is the reverse: the merchandise total passes $10 while you are still counting on your fingers.

This is not a price floor. We are not rounding a tiny order up to a minimum charge. It is simply the point at which an order is big enough to put through the shop, and either condition satisfies it. Checkout takes guests, so nothing needs setting up before you price your own numbers.

Artwork, and where the cut falls

The cut line follows the outline of the shape you give us, which is the whole point of die cut rather than a square. A logo with a clean silhouette cuts beautifully. A design with hairline serifs, thin trailing tails or a shape that nearly closes on itself needs a little more thought, because the cut wants a bit of margin around the art rather than running straight along the edge of a letter.

Two habits help. Look at your design at the size it will actually be printed rather than at the size it is on your screen, because text that reads fine on a laptop can disappear at 2.5 inches square. And keep a small border of flat colour around the outside of the art, so the cut has somewhere to land. Everything is printed and cut in one place, our shop at 205 East Main Street in Huntington, so if a file looks like it will fight the cutter, the people who print it are the ones who will tell you.

Four situations we see

A parent group raising money for something specific. The design is usually a mascot or a slogan, and the count is set by how many families are expected to buy one. The quantity bands are the lever, because the gap between what you pay and what you sell at is the entire fundraiser.

A spirit run volunteer working a table. This person wants a design that reads from a few feet away and a count that covers everyone who shows up, plus a margin, because running out at the table is worse than carrying a few home.

A booster club selling alongside other merchandise. They tend to want two or three designs rather than one, and each design is counted separately for the rate. Three runs of 40 are not one run of 120.

A parent ordering a classroom set. Small count, one design, often names or a simple emblem. This is the order most likely to clear the minimum on the dollar figure rather than the piece count.

Questions we get asked

What does a run of 120 of the 2.5 by 2.5 inch stickers come to for a Shirley school group? That size is 6.25 square inches, and 120 pieces falls in the 26 cent band, so each sticker is $1.62 and the order is $195.00.

Is it worth a Shirley group stretching from 120 pieces up to 250? On the same 2.5 by 2.5 inch design it moves you from the 26 cent band to the 24 cent band, so the per sticker price falls from $1.62 to $1.50. Whether the extra pieces are worth buying depends on whether you can sell or hand out that many.

Our Shirley order is only 8 stickers. Is that too few? Not necessarily. The order qualifies at 10 or more pieces or at $10 of merchandise, whichever comes first, so 8 larger stickers may well clear the dollar figure on their own.

We are pulling names from Shirley, Mastic and Mastic Beach. Can that go on one order? Yes, and it is usually the better move. Those places sit within a few miles of each other, so one person combining the counts keeps everything on a single order and a single quantity band.

Does a Shirley address need the township or county written on it? No. Write the mailing address the way you normally would, with the ZIP 11967. Brookhaven and Suffolk County are how we describe the area when we talk about which places we cover, not something the label needs.