Sign Supplies

[Erik Sine]

I was curious what sing supplies sign shops out there are having a hard time finding. I know 200 housings and a few others have been hard to find in stock, also those grounding rings from Electrobits were hard to find also but those seem to be starting to come back now.

So, what my question is, what do you buy that you have had a hard time find availability?

[HansonSigns]

We really haven't had too much issues, except for some odd light bulbs (weird spot lights on fairly new buildings)that our supplier doesn't carry. We can usually find 'em on the net...

[Erik Sine]

So finding supplies for everything you need in the sign industry locally is easy for everyone else but me who lives in a major city with 4 major vendors?

[PhillipM]

New installations for us have primarily been contract installs so everything is included and most have been LED. I have a supply of G, GG, standard housings, and peanut housings on hand. I've been ordering replacement transformers and not had a problem. I guess its time to hoard and salvage used components!

[HansonSigns]

Our two main suppliers really go all out to find supplies for us - right now we are looking for a gloss overlay for digital prints, and no one seems to use it / stock it. We normally use a matte finish overlay, but the customer insists on gloss. That's really about it.

[Camelot Sign]

I know that as far as electrical sign accessories such as 200 housings and such UL 879 put a damper on supplies for a bit. Things should be catching up very soon though as UL gets done listing or recognizing things.

[Erik Sine]

I know that as far as electrical sign accessories such as 200 housings and such UL 879 put a damper on supplies for a bit. Things should be catching up very soon though as UL gets done listing or recognizing things.

You know, I heard a lot of manufacturers are probably going to stop making these products because of UL submittal process's and fees, from my understanding it's over 10k for each product just to change a few specs UL feels they should make. Oddly enough I don't know what NEEDS to change on these, never heard of any safety related issues. But cheers to the Environmental & Safety movement I suppose

Not only the Ul thing, but a lot of supply vendors have stopped stocking these products because they feel everything is going LED, and again oddly enough there is a huge demand on these products because of a huge shortage.

N.Glantz put out a survey the other day that arrived in my email box, one question I remember it asking was, "would you rather buy from a one stop shop (such as them), or from a niche market supplier". For over a year now I've probably switch gears from the Montroy's, N.Glantz, and Interstates to the smaller "niche" market suppliers because they have stock of the neon/fluorescent supply components.

Things I've found hard to get in stock are 200 housings, 250' rolls of GTO & Electrode Caps, tube supports, magnetic trannies, gridded pattern paper & other misc stuff.

[Camelot Sign]

I think a lot of the larger distributors are stocking what sells. I know getting some of the distributors to carry certain products is like pulling hens teeth. Most of the time it is because they feel that some items are too expensive to take up shelf space and sit there for too long. Sometimes I wonder if it is even worth going through the distributors for products when they won't carry it.

Makes me wonder who is really falling for the LED hype and trying to push neon out. If you can easily get the LED products and hardware and it is very difficult to get the neon hardware, which way would you go if you had to do a quick job?

[Erik Sine]

It does make one wonder, especially when you have a major distributor such as n.Glantz who forms a partnership with JT led.

Now you have the other distributors looking for a similar special partnership with led companies. So if you're Glantz, which products would you rather push or sell?

I'm sure they would sell whatever they could to make money but, what would make you the most if you had a special partnership in place?

N.Glantz laughs when I ask for neon components, " no one buys neon dude, we don't even stock that stuff. It has to come from central"

These are interesting times.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[garettc]

The distributorship business model has been slowly dying for years, brought on mostly by the Internet. WRT glass tubing, they have all been equally horrible in terms of stocking anything you need. Glass is a tough one because shipping is expensive and problematic (breakage, etc.). I wish someone would start a "Glass Warehouse" for neon, that would stock all the colors and diameters, and ship it out to you.

Sure, shipping is an important cost factor, but hell, if Interstate is out of stock, they are going to make you pay for it anyway!

So, like most people in the middle, the world is slowly realizing...who needs you?

Garett

[universalsupplyco]

As the economy tanked so went our GOOD paying sign shops, our receivables & past due accounts were staggering. We will not extend credit to any sign shop that does not have a long history with us. This goes for a few suppliers also. We think we are the only manufacturer of aluminum perforated mounting pads with 10-24 or 1/4-20 nuts attached. We get calls daily that say "why don't you advertise, it was so hard to find you" our answer is we can't solicit customers who don't pay on time or get insulted when we say we only accept PayPal. When the economy improves the stock shelves at the suppliers will fill up again as most reputable companies such as Glantz will carry more slow moving products if there is a profit to be made. Let's all look forward to better times.

[6366]

Hi Everyone,

If you are having a hard time finding neon supplies, please visit our on-line neon supplies web site: www.wccdUSA.com

We sell 99% neon supplies.

We stock most everything we sell like: Glass Housing (limited quantities new/old stock), 250' rolls of GTO, Electrode Caps, tube supports, magnetic trannies, Neon Testers, Neon Dimmers and Flashers and tons of other misc neon stuff.

Best Regards to All and keep neon alive!

Steve

Edited June 18, 2010 by NEON JUNKIE

[YYZ]

As the economy tanked so went our GOOD paying sign shops, our receivables & past due accounts were staggering. We will not extend credit to any sign shop that does not have a long history with us. This goes for a few suppliers also. We think we are the only manufacturer of aluminum perforated mounting pads with 10-24 or 1/4-20 nuts attached. We get calls daily that say "why don't you advertise, it was so hard to find you" our answer is we can't solicit customers who don't pay on time or get insulted when we say we only accept PayPal. When the economy improves the stock shelves at the suppliers will fill up again as most reputable companies such as Glantz will carry more slow moving products if there is a profit to be made. Let's all look forward to better times.

Thanks for sharing a distributor perspective of things.

The economy sucked everything back right down to natural resources. Everyone had to reduce their inventory and their debt or risk going under. On the manufacturing side, some components now require 10~12 weeks lead time even if they are a regular mover. The only product or material that is produced is what is ordered - and what is ordered is often just the bare minimum as end-use projects shrunk drastically as well - as everyone was holding onto their money. Retailers cleared their shelves and their warehouses, and on down the line. Irregular spec work like signs and custom manufacturing had no choice but to really cut back.

It'll get better a little at a time, but there really should be a reduction in how much credit and debt companies operate with. It's no different than homeowners getting mortgages that are above their means. It's often said that "it's better to work with other people's money" and there is some truth to that - but it should be your customer's money - not the bank's money. When you get it, it becomes your money and not still owed to a 3rd party. There has to be a more healthy ratio of your customer's money vs lines of credit.