What would you sell these for?

[Jeff Wilkins]

I made this for our football boosters silent auction. I am guessing that I might be getting requests for these. Our robotics club could sell them as a fundraiser but wondered what we should price them at. They are made of masonite so material cost is ~$1, they take ~10mins to cut on the laser. The hard part is the painting and the assembly as you could have guessed. I was thinking ~$40. If we personalize it with # and name of player add $15. Dimensions are 20in wide and 12in tall.

Thoughts?

[Scott Challoner]

The price is probably OK, but since it's for the robotics club, why don't you give them some practical Industrial Engineering experience and have them time every operation. Then you can put a price of $2 a minute or determine an hourly rate to apply. The other nice thing about doing this is that now you have an idea of where the bottlenecks exist so if you do have large volumes, you know where to attack.

[Gary and Jessica Houghton]

Would you try foam letters? This might save time on painting and ultimately on price. As a consumer, I wouldn't pay $40. I might pay $20 and $30 for my kid's name. That ultimately is how you sometimes have to look at things. - What will the market bare? Not how much time and cost do I have in it? If the time and cost of material is more than what the market will bare, it's time to rethink.
Just my humble opinion.
Jessica

[Jeff Wilkins]

Foam might be a great option for these. I will check costs at our hobby store tonight. Adhesive back just peel and stick much better than glueing about 50 pieces.

[Gary and Jessica Houghton]

Just remember that the foam will tend to melt and shrink the letters. Overcompensate by making them thicker.