SE Sign Guy

Saw a post on www.signweb.com and contacted this company. Within 10 minutes I got the following reply. Maybe we have a solution to dealing with an out of date, monopoly that is UL... "Thank you for your interest. We are putting this program together as a response to a cry for help. It will take a little while (maybe a week or two) to get it set up at our end and then we'll try to get everyone enrolled and converted. If you haven't heard from me or someone else in my office within the next 2 weeks, please call me. The program will require initial training to UL48, with pricing comparable to the initial UL cost. There will be NO annual fee and audits are planned to be twice a year instead of quarterly or more like UL. We are currently working out all of the finer details of the program. Our primary goal is to provide a more client friendly attitude than exists currently from our competitors, without jeopardizing any safety requirements. We are also setting up conversion parameters for companies who are already UL sign shops. You could help our cause greatly by continuing to spread the word. The more interest that is shown, the faster this process will move. Thanks again, Phil Phil Henning Sales Engineer CertifiGroup/MET" Ya gotta love this!!! SE Sign Guy / Sign Lights, Inc.

CAO Group will be exhibiting LuxemBright and Dynasty CL LED modules. Not sure what booth number they are in, but if you see them stop in and check the product out for yourself. Then, contact me at Sales@SignLightsInc.com when you are ready to buy some product. Thanks, SE Sign Guy

Icon ID Solutions... Right? These guys are infamous slow pay. About 5 years ago they owed me over $15K for SERVICE work for Walgreens. I called and called and spoke to the PM, the Account Payable supervisor, etc. Then I left a message for the President of Icon and told him I was going to contact Walgreens directly. I had a number to the National Operations Director so I was fortunate there. When I didn't hear back from the Pres. of Icon witin 24 hours, I called my Walgreens contact. Walgreens called Icon and I got a call from the President of Icon who screamed at me that I was never going to work for Icon again. I told him there's no value in that relationship anyway and that I would start taking transformers out of signs I had serviced if I didn't see a check for the full amount due by the next business day. The check arrived and Icon was true to their word. I have never done anything further with them and not had the headaches and wallet pains of financing there service dept. I just don't mess around with late pays any more, unless they make an effort to contact me and provide me with honest information and make some sort of good faith payment. If yours is a Walgreens issue (I think they lost that account though), call me at 321-863-2791 and I will see if I can find the number to the National Operations Manager. Good Luck SE Sign Guy

Well said YYZ. I think I could volunteer my other company, Kendal Signs, to manufacture, the letters and faces at something at or below cost. Those costs could be kept down if we were able to get various suppliers to be willing to provide materials for free or at discounted rates. Shipping would be relatively expensive from FL to CA but I am sure we could find a way to spread the shipping costs out among those wanting to participate. I guess I will sum that up by saying Kendal Signs will do as much as we can to help things along if you decide to run with a channel letter application. SE Sign Guy

I actually think red is a good study due to the massive use of red within the industry. But, I think this study may best serve the site and the public by not only comparing brightness and coverage but also by realistically looking in to the cost of red LED vs. Neon. Again, the short and long term costs should be taken in to consideration. In the traditional sign industry, most of us try to talk clients out of utilizing blue neon and blue acrylic faces because the letters blend together, signs become hard to read and the lack of brightness makes the signs less noticeable during nighttime hours. I typically encourage those who want "blue" as a main color for channel letters to utilize white faces with a first-surface blue vinyl overlay and to maintain a white border around the entire letter to allow for some contrast at night. On the flip side, exposed blue neon or blue neon/LED as cove or accent lighting is a different subject altogether. It's eye-catching and soothing. That said, border/exposed neon and cove lighting is just too minimal to consider worthy of such a case study. So, there's my THREE cents worth. I'll participate with whatever color you decide to roll with. Thanks again for this forum and opportunity to express my thought. SE Sign Guy