Rocco

At first i was a bit annoyed (am old and decrepit and dislike change like a typical old coot) with the new landing pages, but I've come to like it.

My shop is outside of Philadelphia, across the river in NJ. Yesterday there was a protest march here, but it remained peaceful. I had to run into the city yesterday and at least where I was, there was no damage and all was quiet. Maybe i was just up too early in the AM? Several stores were boarded up, though I doubt that would stop a dedicated bunch of looters. There is a section of the "Rocky Balboa" neighborhood (dislike those movies but that's a subject for a different venue) in Philly where a row of stores were burnt out. I'll be a few blocks away next week and will probably bring an extra pair of hands just to keep an eye on the truck. It's one of the roughest neighborhoods in town and you need to keep everything under lock and key in normal times. May we all come through these times with ourselves intact and our families healthy.

Some time back the city of Philadelphia decided that just using caution tape was no longer acceptable for keeping the public out of your work zone. I had to agree because of the number of times people would just deliberately lift up the tape, show you a particular finger and walk under it. After painstaking research and untold nickles in R&D costs, our team came up with the following system. It's really high tech (well...), quite portable (if a bit heavy) and certainly keeps them out from under your lifting zone. I give you the Bucketenator 5000!!! (pat pending) Simply set your Bucketenator 5000 in place (multiple units will be needed) and staple orange construction netting to it, and voila instant barrier. Please note the aerodynamic styling, integrated carrying device and recyclable support post. The Bucketenator 5000 was the hit of the 2019 Philadelphia Junk Yard Exhibition, earning the coveted Broken Manhole Cover award. Pending OSAH certification, there will be available to you for the low low price of $699.99 each with Free Shipping, allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. I'm sharing this initial IPO (Immature product obviously) exclusively with the members of The Sign Syndicate. You, yes you, can the the first sign shop in your area to protect the public with this innovative system. Available in a variety of colors to fit any decor or job site. Void where prohibited by law.

Just trying to lighten the mood a bit. I saw this truck in a local H.D. parking lot a few weeks back. While I do admit that the design sticks in your head, IDK if it really gives great advertising value. Plus I suspect that the "artist" might have been a bit on the high side when this was done.

So far, we are still working daily though we are a tiny operation compared to some. I'm having some issues getting materials (i.e. normal steel supplier in Philadelphia closed for at least two weeks) but can find other sources on this side of the state border. I'm seriously considering not going over into Philly but don't know if I can pull that off. The suits in the corporations don't care about people. There is a driver non-cooercion law, see below for an excerpt. "The Coercion Rule explicitly prohibits motor carriers, shippers, receivers and transportation intermediaries from coercing drivers to operate in violation of certain FMCSA regulations, including the drivers' hours-of-service limits, the commercial driver's license (CDL) regulations, the associated drug and alcohol ..." I'm hoping we can get something similar about not coercing contractors to finish jobs if we have issues due to Corona. In Phila. and NJ they have closed restaurants, bars, etc. Schools are closed for at least another week. Restaurants can only sell take out. They even closed the casino's in Atlantic City and that's a big revenue stream. My daughters college is doing the rest of the semester with online classes. i have several very large projects that are now on hold, if only because the township offices are closed and we can't start permitting on them. We just finished a couple of restaurant jobs and they are not going to be able to open. Both are good customers (one paid already) and I will get paid by the other though I may have to be patient to get the balance due. We're making sure that everyone washes up regularly. My hands are dry and raw from all the hand washing. We are running low on iso alcohol because we are using to wipe things down. I'v eeven considered buying a still to make my own alcohol - for cleaning only of course. TBH, I think it will get worse before it gets better but am keeping my hopes up. P.S. (and I hope this doesn't double post) but I was about to buy a 5x10 router and have put that on hold. Plus there were other upgrades that I've been considering but am holding tight for now. Eventually things will go back to normal, or something close, and we can get back on track.

Another good book (out of print so you will have to search for a copy) is Sign Structures and Foundations "A guide for designers and estimators". it was a Signs of the Times book and the author is Peter B Horsley. The copyright date on mine is from 1984. I did a quick google and there are some copies out there. It's a great book to help you to get basic footing, wind load, etc. calculations using basic math - no calculus required. Way back when we road dinosaurs to work, I made a spreadsheet using it and have been using that to get me pretty darn close for freestanding signs for many moons. Of course no engineer I've ever asked about my spreadsheet will even respond. After all, I don't have that piece of paper and so can't possibly be able to do math. 😉 It also goes into lighting design but of course doesn't have any info on LED's.

I use the Vector Doctor. Vectordoctor.com. The last logo I had done by him cost $24 but it's usually under $20 if it's fairly simple. He has pricing examples on the site. Send him the art and he shortly gives a price quote. And the finished work has minimal points, smooth curves, etc. I'm never converting a logo myself again.

The only recent time I was asked to sign an NDA was for a company that was doing work for a huge international food chain. The NDA required me to not solicit work directly for said customer for the particular item they were selling (digital menus in the drive thru lanes) so I had no issue that. I don't make that and any big company wouldn't be interested in dealing with me because I couldn't deliver said product. It had an expiration of two years, over by now. I've had other companies ask me to sign NDA's before even looking at their bid package, but declined those. These asked me to not do work for their client even if I were approached by another company that had landed the account. Sorry Charlie. This thread reminded me of an episode from long ago. Many many moon ago, I was asked by the local Coke bottling company to come in and give them a price on some neon signs. It was for the Bicentennial. Within fifteen minutes I was there. Dang, I'm giving away my advanced age. I was let into the office of one of the assistant managers who showed me some very detailed drawings and asked for a price for 500 window neon signs. I told him I'd have to sit down and make a bunch of phone call because the amount then wanted was so big. It would have entailed getting most the tube benders in the Phila area to drop what they were doing to get this done by their deadline. A hard task for certain, but I wanted to try. I asked for a copy of the plans and got the stink eye. No, I couldn't have a set. Can they make a copy of just the small scale drawing? Again, the cold shoulder. At most i was allowed to make a rough sketch of it to work from. Needless to say, without a decent of plans I couldn't get anyone to give me costs on multiple units. AFAIK, they never had the signs made, at least around Philly. IIRC it was a cool design. Oh well, they lost out on all that advertising because of being too scared of competition, possibly Pepsi. However, no NDA was asked for.

I agree 100% that clear red glass is the way to go. However given the cost of neon in my area anymore, plus two transformers plus making an enclosure etc. it's way more than this guy will spend. it would last the longest by far, but if he won't spend the $ I have to find another alternative. I am going to inform him that any LED solution I come up with will only last so long. Hmm, maybe I'll have him buy them from Amazon and so when it dies he won't blame me. Thanks all!

It's a nice idea, but are even more expensive than neon. I'll give my customer the option of doing neon (the longest lasting option) or of my buying a ready made LED "sign" that I'll put in a box.

Hi all, A customer wants to add a vacancy / no vacancy sign to his pole sign. I quoted him on neon. When he got up off the floor (four units, two transformers, enclosure, etc.) he asked about something LED. I've done a bit of searching online but keep finding either indoor items, single sided units or things that look to be a POS. Does anyone have a good source for this sort of thing? Thanks! Rocco

Hi all, Does anyone have any info on Ritelite of Concord NC? I just got a rfq for several supermarket locations and am wondering if they are good to deal with. Thanks and happy holidays to all. Rocco

Hmm, isn't that company from the OP located on Long Island? IIRC quite a few of these national maint. companies started out on L.I. Just an observation, though I guess I don't have enough statistical data to draw a meaningful conclusion. And I just popped onto google maps and that address is the first bank of long island. Hmm, curiouser and curiouser. Wasn't there another thread with a national maint. company with a questionable address? I'm glad that, at 59, I only have to deal with this sort of people for another 30 or 35 years before I can afford to retire. 🙂

What I need is a plain 1 3/8" round punch without "wings". The one shown in the photo is the one I have with "wings" for an older style snap-in socket. While it does the job, it leaves a pair of burs after punching the hole.