Neon vs. LED.....Round 13

[DAVE THE NEON GUY]

While LED has managed to muscle it's way into a large part of the Channel Letter market, it has very little impact on the business model we use here in Georgia. We are a custom neon sign shop focused on providing novelty neon signs for small businesses and your "Man Cave" dudes who got more expendable cash than they have sense....oh well, both are well received here and have been valuable customers in tough economic times. Although I don't post here often, I enjoy the dialogue many of the regular posters share with all of us. Many questions I have had over the years have been answered here and I appreciate the job Erik does in keeping me posted via email with new topics and ideas....

I have gotten a little off task, so let me get back to the meat and potatos of my post....When LED first came on the market as a sign alternative, much of it's focus was pointed toward derailing the position Neon has held in the sign market since the early 1900's. Many of the ads that were generated in Signs of the Times, Sign Builders, as well as this very message board were quick to point out all the negative things neon was rather than what alternatives LED could offer. Now, Neon folks like myself took offense to this relentless assualt on our livelihood and the result was several years of battle and millions of dollars spent at trying to undercut the other rather than improve our product. As time has passed, I have noticed that LED has relaxed its postion as the aggressor and neon has survived another attempt at making it extinct. The emobossed plastic sign dudes were the last aggressor who tried to bury Neon.

So what is my point? nothing really....just felt like expressing myself because I can. Niether plastic nor LED have any any impact on my business model and quite frankly, as a true sign enthusiast, wouldn't it be "dull" out there if we did not have variety. I have seen some great looking displays of LED right here in my back yard. I have often admired the embossed look you get with plastic...the three diminisional look you get with sandblasted signs.....the great looking fleet graphics you get with digital printing....I even enjoy getting stopped by trains just so that I can admire some of the artwork done on the box cars with a can of paint......and of course Neon still remains the most unique, eye catching salesman of them all. Just my opionion.

I wish all of you a very Happy New Year and the best of luck in 2010. Let's all work together for a change. Being a part of a "Team" means being a part of something bigger than yourself. I look forward to reading some of your insights.

David Shields

David Shields Neon

www.davidshieldsneon.com

[imanut]

It has been a long time for you on the board......

Interesting thoughts, and true. Neon and LED can co-exist along with other sign types - just NOT in the way our neon world once was. Your business model is far different than most commercial shops - that being channel letters. Your type of signage is not the business model for led's. Being a long time maker/lover of neon --- I would hate to see it go away. But, as has been stated before, the industry has been shooting itself in the ass for years in regards to neon. From poor tradesmen, shitty, shoddy installs, poor regulation of the safety standards for neon, and the denial from within to try and better our particular trade in regards to all of the above left itself open to attempts to kill neon. Like I said, your particular business model lends itself quite well to staying the onslaught of leds. However, most in the industry that do channel letters ------ well, its a different story. Not that neon will disappear --- but leds have, and will continue to hurt the neon side of the trade. Neon, still having to battle the mercury issues - and continually denying that there is anything that needs to be done - having to do battle with changes in glass composite - soon to go unleaded, and the problems that will occur because of tube benders NOT knowing how to bend that type of glass - still having issues with shit installs as seen on this board in all of its glory with great pictures of lousy work, dealing with mfg's either cutting back, or quitting the neon industry because of slipping sales, dealing with mfg's that have had to supplement their business model by sharing their bedroom sheets with "the enemy" - that being leds and now making, selling, and offering an alternative to the beloved neon, dealing with owners, developers, and buyers that have had their fair share of dealing with inadequate insstalls, quality, outages, etc ------- and are now looking for, and finding alternatives to a once, no alternative but neon world. ALL of these issues have done their bit to shrink the world of neon, as we have known it. Go away - not likely. BE made smaller in quantity of neon jobs - most definitely. Where the Neon Group is now trying, where the old INA tried to get the ball rolling, and where ISA and all the other associations failed to even try ----------- day late and a couple dollars short in their attempt to save. ISA and the associations went the way of $$ in advertising, and sold out, and the NEON GROUP, though valantly trying ---- its a bitch of climb when you're at the bottom of the hill and an avalanche is on its way down the slope.

I'm glad that your business is doing well ------ and it will continue to do so. For the letter channel companies, and the large buyers, corporations, and large shops that sell most of the signage --- I fear that its a "done deal". The neon trade, and the sign shops - shot both of their feet off.

gn