Search the Community

Just read this in the newest Signs Of The Times March Issue. It's a letter to the editor from Harold Cortese president of EGL, basically a complaint as to why they weren't included in the article. Letter To The Editor http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/STMG/sott_201503/#/14 Original Article http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/STMG/sott_201411/#/36 I think they weren't included probably because it would turn into a fluff piece rather than wanting to get to the root of the problem. You can only do that from Neon users or suppliers themselves. Harold's letter was very self serving, and a free advertisement of "look here!". Here's the quote kicker ".....In closing, neon signmakers still have material and equipment vendor options outside of Chinese products: they'll be available for as long as the industry supports its own...." In a matter of fact, EGL has really hammered down on retrofitting Neon out with their LEDs, if you go to any show, you'll notice that the EGL booth Neon products have shrunk, and they're displaying what they're heavily invested in...LEDs. I mean, they've even advertised this in a few trade magazines EEEEeerrrrrr, brochures rags. Once they were a Neon company who proded themselves on real numbers and sources you can measure. If I remember correctly their LEDs are Chinese yes??? They say you can contact them directly and place an order. Not true. In a matter of fact, I've tried in the past to place an order and it's damn near impossible, they don't even return phone calls. This is the reason why I jumped on over to using FMS and Tecnolux. I'm glad Marcus didn't contact them, because all the SOT reader would have gotten in return was "fluff" and marketing garbage. Marcus's original article literally slapped manufacturers and sign suppliers like them in the face.....hard.... and it didn't feel, or taste good either. There is reason for that, that's because it was the hard truth. Cheers to you Signs Of The Times! P.S. I don't even know why SOT even printed that letter from EGL.

I'd like to get some opinions of the various trade magazines we have for our sign trade. I'm referring this topic to the electric sign industry of our trade. Are you of the opinion that they are genuinely helpful? Or are they just used to promote products of their vendors and advertisers? Do we really see "Honest Journalism" that performs background checks, information checks into what they write BEFORE publishing. Do they preserve our sacred trade? Or are most articles intended to propagandize and sell first, integrity second? Have you ever seen a "whistle blower" hard investigative type articles from any of them? Articles that deal with product quality & integrity, industry monopolies, etc? Why have we never seen test comparisons of light products on Neon & LED's published like The Sign Syndicate.com has done for over a year now? With so many article used to promote products and the "anyone can do it, & sell it" attitude aimed at amateurs, what level of danger by inexperienced individuals does this affect? What effect does it have on the qualified individuals and companies? I ask this mainly because of all the surveys various trade magazines have been sending me. It seems they are not asking the right questions of why I would read one over the other or none at all, but asking me who I read or follow, and how often.