Custom Pin-Back Buttons for Herricks, New York

The closest thing to a next door neighbour

If our booth pulls a bigger crowd than we planned and we have to place a second run, will the buttons for our Herricks team cost more per button than the first run did? Yes, and the saving applies to the whole run of that size. Three counts matter, and all five are counts of one size: 100, 250 and 500. Reorders start their own count. If the combined number would clear 100 of one size, ordering it once is the cheaper route. The only figure that moves between one order and the next is the flat shipping charge, which is set by the number of buttons on that particular order. Nothing in the pricing rewards a larger order or penalises a smaller one, which means you can order what you actually need rather than padding a count to reach a better rate. There is no better rate to reach.

Most places have a nearest neighbour a few miles off. Herricks does not. Garden City Park is 0.9 miles away in a straight line, which is close enough that a single order often has to serve people on both sides of that line. Williston Park, Searingtown and Manhasset Hills are each 1.0 miles away. Mineola is 1.3 miles away. All of those are places we cover.

That matters for one practical reason. When a handout is being organised by two or three people who are not sitting in the same room, the instinct is to place separate orders so each person has their own box. With neighbours packed this tightly, that instinct usually costs you money rather than saving you effort. Designs at the same size pool for the discount and different sizes never do, so a mixed order does not combine its way into a band. Splitting a single box between people a mile apart is a smaller problem than paying three separate shipping charges.

Five sizes and the price of each

There are five round pin-back buttons and nothing else.

The 1.5 inch button is $1.89 each. The 2.25 inch button is $1.99 each. The 3 inch button is $2.49 each. The lowest per button figure belongs to the 1 inch at $1.49; the 1.25 inch is $1.69.

Every one of them is full colour, printed from artwork you upload. The size you choose settles which ladder you are on, and the count of that size settles which rung. The per button figure is set by the size and by how many of that size you order. For a table handout, the practical difference between the sizes is how much of a logo, a QR code or a line of text you can put on the face before it gets crowded. The 3 inch face carries a mark someone can read from a step or two back from the table. The 1.5 inch face is the one people tend to pin to a lanyard or a bag strap without thinking about it.

A full order, priced out

Here is a real order with every number in it, so nothing is left to guess.

An exhibitor orders 501 of the 3 inch button. At $1.74 each, 30 percent below the listed rate, that is $871.74 in buttons. The flat shipping charge for an order of that size is $24.99. The order comes to $896.73 before tax.

Notice what did not happen. The per button price dropped because the count crossed 500 of one size, which is the third and lowest published band. It stayed at $2.49, the same as it would be on an order of 20.

Where the shipping boundaries fall

Shipping is a flat charge decided by the total number of buttons on the order.

Up to 100 buttons is $9.99. Up to 250 is $14.99. Up to 500 is $19.99. Up to 1000 is $24.99.

100, 250 and 500 appear in both ladders, which is a coincidence worth knowing rather than a rule. Look again at the 501 button order above. Ordering 500 instead of 501 would have kept it inside the $19.99 tier and saved $5.00 on postage. One button over a boundary is worth noticing, and it is the sort of thing worth checking before you place the order rather than after.

How far the shop is from here

Herricks is 16.4 miles south west of the shop in a straight line. That figure is context, not a cost input. Distance does not enter the pricing at all. What you pay for shipping is decided by how many buttons are on the order, and by nothing else, which is why an order going across Nassau County and an order going somewhere far less convenient are charged the same way.

Planning a booth handout without guessing

Work backwards from the table rather than forwards from a budget. Decide the size first, because that fixes the per button price and nothing later will change it. Then settle the count, because the count is the only thing that touches the shipping charge. Then look at where that count sits relative to 100, 250, 500 and 1000.

A few things exhibitors tend to sort out at this stage. If two products or two brands are sharing one table, two designs on one order still sit in a single shipping tier by total button count. If the handout is going to be pinned to a lanyard rather than set out in a bowl, that usually pushes people toward the smaller face. And if the count you have written down is a round number someone guessed at, it is worth checking against the tier boundaries before it becomes final, because a difference of one or two buttons can sit on the wrong side of one.

Four situations that come up again and again

The single booth exhibitor. You have one table, one design and a rough sense of how many people will stop. You are choosing between the 2.25 inch at $1.99 and the 3 inch at $2.49, and the honest answer is that the decision is about how much artwork has to fit, not about the budget, because the gap is fifty cents a button, which is what 1 to 99 of a size costs.

The two brand table. Two designs, one booth, one order. The shipping tier reads the total number of buttons, not the number of designs, so keeping it on one order is the cheaper arrangement.

The chapter or association table. You are handing out to members rather than selling, and the count is driven by attendance rather than by demand. This is the case where the tier boundaries do the most work, because attendance estimates land on round numbers and round numbers land near boundaries.

The person buying for someone else too. A colleague a mile away needs the same button for a different event. One order, one artwork, one shipping charge, split afterwards. Two orders would cost you two shipping charges for no benefit.

Questions people ask before they order

We are exhibiting and need 501 of the 3 inch button for our Herricks team. What is the actual total?

$871.74 for the buttons at $1.74 each, 30 percent below the listed rate, plus $24.99 flat shipping for that quantity, which is $896.73 before tax.

Does ordering 500 instead of 501 change what we pay per button on a Herricks order?

No. It is $2.49 per button either way. What changes is the shipping charge: 500 buttons falls in the $19.99 tier and 501 falls in the $24.99 tier, so dropping that single button saves $5.00 on postage.

Our booth staff are split between Herricks and Garden City Park. Should that be one order or two?

One. The two are 0.9 miles apart and a single order pays a single flat shipping charge based on the combined count. Two separate orders would pay two charges, and the per button price would be identical on both.

Which size makes more sense for a Herricks trade show table?

It depends entirely on the artwork. The 3 inch at $2.49 gives you the most room for a logo plus text. The 2.25 inch at $1.99 is the middle option. The 1.5 inch at $1.89 is the one people pin to a lanyard. All five are full colour.

If our Herricks order doubles next year, does the per button price come down?

No. The thresholds are 100, 250 and 500 of one size, and they are the only places the rate moves. Each size climbs its own ladder, and 100 is the first rung. The rate for each size and the one shipping charge are the two figures a bigger count touches.