Ahoy Mateys!

I hope this message finds you in good spirits, or at least within arm's reach of some!

Dare to compare my first experience creating and selling merchandise in 1975 to a free Printful account. Today you can integrate Printful with your free Square merchant account to make money while you sleep.

In 1959 I was born in Chicago, and at that time, The Junior Sales Club of America diabolically promoted their business of selling greeting cards door-to-door to kids via comic book ads. Draggin' my wagon around the block to make sales was empowering, fun, and so easy that an eight-year-old could do it. Quickly selling out, I felt like a pirate going home with the loot to order more! This was in 1967, the Summer of Love, and by high school, my sales experience included retail, fundraising, and services. Mastering new challenges always led to new tools and, of course, more loot. 

A high school shenanigan amused my pal Nik's Pop, the local screen printer. The basketball team missed their Monday practice after a Sunday night house party we'd facilitated. On Tuesday, Coach Harry told his players they were out if he even saw them with "those yahoos" responsible for the party. That Friday, as we crossed the gym floor in our street shoes, eagerly planning our next shindig, he busted my pal Wayno and me with a bellow, "Get off my floor, you damn yahoos!" 

The name stuck, the story got legs, and the conspiracy began. Once Mr. B stopped laughing, he graciously showed me the ropes of his screen printing business. I made the sales, he printed the t-shirts, and, together, we laughed all the way to the bank. 

My pencil sketch was simplified for print by an artist, and colors of ink were assigned to various parts of the design. You could also pay an hourly rate for the artist to work from your ideas. Three silkscreens were created to produce the Harry's Yahoos design, and upon approving the paper proof, they ran the sample, cleaned the screens, and stored them until production. They did this in four days for me, where two weeks was the typical turn-around time unless you agreed to a Rush Charge. Set-up charges were usually $50 to $75 per screen, depending on the design and order size. My sample cost was $75, which covered his time and materials.

Charging me the price reserved for non-profits and high-volume orders, we each made a wee bit from the two dozen shirts I sold. He would have made all the money at his regular prices for the quantity ordered. Raising the retail price to my classmates would have driven sales down. Retail customers typically paid a 50% deposit when placing their orders; Nik's Pop trusted me to square up with him after the sales were made, which I did. 

Building a cult of personality and creating something to sell 'em is a time-honored formula for business success. In the '70s, it required up-front cash, artistic talent (or more cash), and time for the pre-production process to unfold. After paying the wholesale cost of the goods, you still sell and distribute them. No returns if you guessed wrong on the mix of sizes or the quantity, so if you didn't sell out, you ended up with unsold inventory instead of profit. Sourcing merch was a much riskier business back in the day.

Compare that to what you can do with a free Printful account, in light of their policy changes enacted on May 11th, 2023:

• Lower product prices for most DTG t-shirt and hoodie bestsellers
• Free design and marketing tools are now available to everyone (previously required subscription)
• Shipping rates for t-shirts and hoodies increased - now consistent with the market
• We’ll now have a consistent embroidery service fees policy in all geographies

With these changes, Printful’s premium quality products are more accessible to everyone! 

You don't need to "know a guy" to get a great deal: Printful makes quality products available to everyone at new, lower prices. Sell more competitively online. Enjoy an additional 20% savings on up to three samples every month. The $75 I paid for one sample t-shirt in 1976 gets me 6 or 7 from Printful today.

Start without artwork: Begin by uploading your design if you have one, or create one online with the Custom Mockup Maker on your Printful Dashboard. Here's a mockup of a design created in the spirit of my original Harry's Yahoos t-shirt, with clip art and text I found on my Printful account. Stylistically different but equally effective in making a statement. Uploading a scan of the original proof created the Harry's Yahoos t-shirt for sale today.

Digital marketing support: Mockups of Printful Products can be created with your designs in just a few clicks. No models to hire. No sets to design. No photos to shoot. Fill your online store and/or promotional channels with images of your merch generated by Printful. E-commerce facilitates customers buying from you when they are ready, rather than you trying to find and sell them. Use blogs, newsletters, social media, and more to create awareness and grow sales.

No inventory hassles: Print-on-demand fulfillment from Printful replaces investment in inventory and the logistics to ship orders. Customers buy, enter shipping and payment info, and pay you in full for the order. When you transmit orders to Printful, you pay the wholesale cost for the goods and the shipping cost. With your profit already in the bank, item(s) get produced and shipped straight to your customer with your branding on the package.