Custom Pin-Back Buttons for Islip, New York

A small act with a van and a folding table is usually trying to solve the same problem at the end of the night: the shirts are the big sale, and there needs to be something sitting next to them that a person can pick up on the way past without a decision. Pin-back buttons do that job. They hold the same artwork as the record sleeve, they sit in a bowl where people can pick through them, and they go home on a bag strap. A lot of the band merch orders that come to us from Islip look exactly like that, and the pages below are written for that order rather than a generic one.

Where a shared name causes mix ups

There is a second place a mile and a half from you with the same name root, and East Islip is close enough that the two get swapped on paperwork constantly. Nobody in Suffolk County confuses them in conversation. Order forms are a different matter, especially when the drummer is typing an address from memory into a phone in a parking lot. If the delivery address and the billing address belong to two different members of the band, write out both in full and check them against each other before you submit. We print exactly what is on the order, so an address that is one word short of correct will be handled as if it were right. Bay Shore, Brightwaters and North Great River are all inside three miles of you as well, and we cover those too, so a neighbour picking up a box on your behalf is a normal arrangement.

Five sizes, and what each one does on a table

There are five round sizes and nothing else. The 1.5 inch at $1.89 each is the small one, best when the art is a single mark: a logo, a symbol, a short band name in heavy type. The 2.25 inch at $1.99 each is the one most acts settle on, because it takes a whole sleeve image without the detail collapsing, and it is only a dime more than the 1.5 inch. The 3 inch at $2.49 each is a statement piece, large enough for a tour date list or a full illustration, and it is the one people pin to a jacket rather than a bag. The 1 inch at $1.49 and the 1.25 inch at $1.69 are the two smallest, and the ones that keep a big count affordable.

20 percent comes off at 100 of one size, 25 percent at 250 and 30 percent at 500. It is the same at ten buttons and the same at a thousand. The rate falls in steps rather than on a curve, at 100, 250 and 500 of a size.

What a run of 251 comes to

Take the size most bands pick. Two hundred fifty one of the 2.25 inch button at $1.49 each, the published 250 to 499 figure, is $373.99 in buttons. Flat shipping on an order that size is $19.99. That puts the order at $393.98 before tax. There is no setup line, no plate line and no per-colour line hiding behind that total, because the art is printed full colour from your upload either way. If you want to work out a different run yourself, it is the per-button price times the count, plus one flat shipping figure based on how many buttons are on the order.

The line sitting at 250

That worked example is one button over an edge. Shipping is a flat charge that steps at fixed counts: $9.99 up to 100 buttons, $14.99 up to 250, $19.99 up to 500, and $24.99 up to 1000. An order of 251 lands in the $19.99 band by a single unit. Drop it to 250 and the whole order falls back into the $14.99 band, which takes $5.00 off the postage and also removes the cost of the button you did not order. The per-button price is untouched by this. It is purely the shipping step. Worth a look any time your count sits just above 100, 250, 500 or 1000.

Two ways the box gets to you

Islip is 14.3 miles from the shop in a straight line, to the south east. That is a real distance but not a remote one, which is why orders here split about evenly between two routes. The first is shipping, at the flat tier that matches your count, to any of the local ZIP codes: 11705, 11706, 11716, 11717, 11718 and 11722. The second is picking the order up in person, which takes the shipping charge off the order entirely and is worth considering on a large run where the tier has stepped up. If your band is already driving that way for a show or a practice, the second option is usually the sensible one.

Getting artwork to read at button size

A button is a circle, and part of that circle wraps around the curved edge where nobody looks at it straight on. Keep your type and anything you need people to read well inside the middle. Band names in thin script are the thing that most often disappoints at 1.5 inch, and the fix is either heavier type or the next size up. Flat colour and high contrast read better than a photograph with a lot of dark detail. If your art is square, decide yourself where the circle crops it rather than letting it get decided for you, because the corners of a square sleeve image are always the first thing lost.

Four people who end up placing this order

To the act playing its first run of shows: pick one size and one design. Splitting a small budget across three designs gives you three piles that each look thin in the bowl, and a single strong mark reads better on a table anyway.

To whoever is actually running the table: buttons are the item people buy with change, so keep them at the front edge where a hand reaches without stepping in. A shallow bowl beats a flat tray.

The artwork makes no difference to the count, but the size does: only matching sizes add up. Divide the total by however many of you are paying and the number is the number.

To the act with a friend doing the art: send that friend the size you have chosen before they start, not after. Redrawing a sleeve to work inside a small circle is a different job from cropping one.

Questions that come up

How much is 251 of the 2.25 inch button delivered to Islip? $373.99 for the buttons at $1.49 each, the published 250 to 499 figure, plus $19.99 flat shipping, which is $393.98 before tax.

Should an Islip band trim an order from 251 to 250? Usually yes. At 250 the order sits in the $14.99 shipping band instead of the $19.99 band, so you save $5.00 on postage and the price of the extra button.

Do buttons get cheaper per piece on a big Islip order? No. Quantity moves the rate, but only within a single size and only at three points. Ten pays the listed rate. A thousand of one size is past the ceiling, so that one is quoted rather than priced automatically. Count each size on its own, because that count is what sets the rate for it.

How do we keep an Islip order from going to the address next door? Write the delivery address out in full on the order rather than shortening it, and if the billing and delivery names are different people, say so in the order notes.

Which Islip ZIP codes do you ship buttons to? 11705, 11706, 11716, 11717, 11718 and 11722, at the same flat shipping tiers that apply to any order.