Cost of incidentals and consumables

[Kev Williams]

After over 40 years of putting tape on stuff, I've never really gave it much thought other than grumbling that it's a tedious but necessary evil in this business

The other day I actually kept track-- but this order made it easy... A customer ordered 300 identical labels, 2-1/2" x 1-1/2". Then, as per the 'Jumping Thru Hoops' thread, they needed them sooner than expected, so the rush was on--

Each label needed a strip of tape across the top & bottom. For less amounts of tags we'll usually just use the dispenser. But for bunches of tags, to save our fingertips I'll let the laser cut the tape... easy to use and all pieces are identical.

For these I used 3/8" wide yellow tape. BTW I save all my used postage label 'slickbacks' just for this purpose. 2.2" is perfect for 2-1/2" plates, which yields 5 strips across exactly 11". I was also able to fit exactly 20 strips down the 8-1/2" width. 5 x 20 = 100 strips.

Then it dawned on me-- I need 600 strips! That's six 8-1/2 x 11" sheet of paper completely covered with 3/8" wide tape, 561 sq. inches worth...

I started with a full roll of tape and had to break out a second roll... That's about $15 worth of tape at Johnson's Plastics prices...

I never really knew I was using that much tape, just been one of those things you do without really thinking about it!

So 561 sq. inches of tape at $15 comes to around 2.7 cents per sq. inch... Not too bad I guess, and price-wise, since this job paid $1100, that's not a bad return

And this (again) leads me to the cost of Cermark (sorry! ) --
Many people hate using it because it's expensive. In reality, it IS expensive, to BUY, but it's actually very cheap to use.
I ran a cost per use test not long ago, and found that, as mixed, Cermark was costing me $4 to cover 670 sq. inches of stainless--

And I now find that tape is costing me $15 to cover 561 sq. inches of plastic... quite a difference...!

Fact is, it's all just good old CODB, and we're stuck with it! But it IS nice to actually figure out what your supplies are actually costing

[Ian Stewart-Koster]

Goodness me, you might need to start to experiment with the flour-and-water paste method of making your own glue, to tape on - You can't have an exhorbitant $15 being spent on such a tiny piece of stuff - what horrors!

[Scott Shepherd]

And this (again) leads me to the cost of Cermark (sorry! ) --
Many people hate using it because it's expensive. In reality, it IS expensive, to BUY, but it's actually very cheap to use.

One of the best quotes I've ever seen on this forum. You know the old saying, take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.

[John Lifer]

Got to have it! Just don't like to buy it! Btw, I was playing with the cost of Cermark myself and I figured out that it is a penny and a half per square inch. Your number is almost exactly that! And everyone complains about the cost and how to use something else that doesn't work nearly as well just to save about a quarter of that price.

[Brian Leavitt]

FWIW, I buy my gold tape from Halco/Klasse. I can get a 50 yard roll from them for less than JDS' end case price of the 36 yard rolls. It's pretty much the same tape, and I use quite a lot of it.

[AL Ursich]

I track every purchase of inventory including JP Tape in Quick Books. I enter the item on the purchase date. I deduct all usage on December 30th for the year.

I run a inventory report for Jan 1st, Dec 30th, and Dec 31st. With the 3 numbers I get my cost of goods sold for Taxes.

AL