Custom Pin-Back Buttons for Merrick, New York

How much does a shop logo on 150 buttons actually cost? That is the first thing most people ask, and the answer is short enough to give straight away: 150 of the 1.5 inch button at $1.51 each, the published 100 to 249 figure, is $226.50, flat shipping on an order that size is $14.99, and the total comes to $241.49 before tax. Nothing in that figure is a quote. It is the published price, and a retailer in Merrick can work it out before uploading a single file.

Five sizes, and the count that sets the rate

There are five round pin-back buttons and nothing else. The 1.5 inch is $1.89 each. The 2.25 inch is $1.99 each. The 3 inch is $2.49 each. All five are full colour, printed from artwork you upload.

One rate per size per band, and every size uses the same band boundaries. The order total does not set the rate. A single size's count does. At 100 of a size the 1.5 inch is $1.51 and the 3 inch is $1.99, and a thousand of one size goes to a quote rather than an automatic price. Padding pays only at a boundary and only within one size, where 99 of a size costs more in total than 100 of it. Order the count you actually want, and then look at it once: 100, 250 and 500 of a single size are the only counts that change the per button figure.

That makes budgeting unusually dull, which is the point. Multiply the size price by the count and you have the cost of the buttons. The only other line on the order is shipping, and that is covered below.

Which size the artwork is asking for

The five sizes are not interchangeable, and the deciding factor is usually the artwork rather than the preference.

A 1.5 inch button is a logo mark. A wordmark with a short name, an icon, a single line of type at a readable weight. Fine detail and long taglines do not survive the reduction.

A 2.25 inch button takes a logo plus a line underneath. A shop name with a tagline, a year, a punch card reference. It is the size most promotional pins end up at because it holds a second piece of information without shouting.

A 3 inch button carries a full composition: an illustrated design, a photograph, a stacked block of type. It also reads from further away, which is what a display card by the register is really asking for.

What an order of 150 works out to

Take the example above and open it up. 150 of the 1.5 inch button at $1.51 each, the published 100 to 249 figure, gives $226.50 in buttons. Flat shipping for an order of that size is $14.99. Added together, the order comes to $241.49 before tax.

Above 999 of one size the answer is a quote, so the published ladder stops there. The shipping figure is tied to how many buttons are on the order, not which size they are, and not what they cost.

Shipping is a flat fee that steps with the count

Shipping is charged once per order, as a flat amount, and it steps by the total number of buttons on that order:

• up to 100 buttons, $9.99
• up to 250 buttons, $14.99
• up to 500 buttons, $19.99
• up to 1000 buttons, $24.99

The steps are worth a glance before you place the order, because they are the only part of the total that is not perfectly linear. An order sitting just over 100 buttons pays the same $14.99 as an order of 250. If your count lands barely past a boundary, you are either trimming back under it or filling the rest of the tier out. Neither choice changes what each button costs. It only changes how much of the shipping fee you are actually using.

Mixed orders are simpler than people expect. Put 1.5 inch and 3 inch buttons on one order and the counts add together for the tier, with the fee still charged once.

A name that travels with the order

A straight line drawn from the shop runs 17.8 miles to the south west to reach this corner of Nassau County. Bellmore sits 1.2 miles off, Freeport 1.7 miles, Wantagh 2.1 miles and Roosevelt 2.5 miles, which is a reminder of how tightly packed the names are down there.

Which brings up the one thing genuinely worth flagging here. Merrick and North Merrick share a name root, sit next to each other, and are two different delivery destinations. Anything typed quickly, spoken over a phone, or copied from a supplier record can land in the wrong one. The ZIP code settles it. 11566 is the one to check on the shipping address, and worth checking again when the billing address and the shipping address are not the same building, which for a retailer is common. It costs nothing to confirm and a fair amount of nuisance to fix afterwards.

Pins a counter can hand out

Small retailers order buttons for two broad reasons, and they behave differently.

The first is loyalty. A pin given to a repeat customer, tied to a card, a membership, a club. These tend to be small counts reordered on a cycle, which is exactly where the per button rate you can look up earns its keep. Ordering again later costs whatever that order's own count earns, not what the first one earned.

The second is promotion. A launch, a new supplier line, a seasonal range, a giveaway with purchase. These are one off counts, usually larger, usually tied to a date, and usually designed around a single message that has to work at a glance. Both come out of the same upload, at a price you calculated yourself.

Four people who place this order

The boutique owner. One design, the shop mark, 2.25 inch, reordered whenever the drawer runs low. The pin goes in the bag with the receipt and the loyalty card, and the count is small on purpose.

The counter service operator. Staff wear one version, customers get another. Two designs on one order, counts added together for the shipping tier, one flat fee covering both.

The shop that stocks other makers. A pin per maker, short runs of each, ordered together. You can read the rate for your count off the table, so the small names are not disadvantaged.

The owner running a promotion with a fixed end date. One design, one count, one order, priced to the dollar before it is placed because the promotional budget was signed off in advance.

Questions from this part of Nassau County

I run a small shop in Merrick and want 150 of the 1.5 inch buttons. What is the total? $226.50 for the buttons at $1.51 each, the published 100 to 249 figure, plus $14.99 flat shipping for an order of that size, which is $241.49 before tax.

Does a larger Merrick order get a lower price per button? It does now. 100 of one size takes 20 percent off, 250 takes 25 percent and 500 takes 30 percent, and the count is taken per size rather than across the order. The discount is worked out per size and applied automatically. The 1 inch is $1.49, 1.25 inch is $1.69, 1.5 inch is $1.89, 2.25 inch is $1.99 and 3 inch is $2.49, and the bands above 99 take 20, 25 or 30 percent off. Quantity moves two figures, and the two are counted differently: the rate per size, the shipping across every size.

My Merrick order has both 1.5 inch and 3 inch buttons on it. Which shipping tier applies? Add the buttons together. The tier is set by the total number of buttons on the order regardless of size, and the flat fee is charged once.

How do I stop a Merrick order from being sent to the village next door by mistake? Check the ZIP on the shipping address reads 11566, and check it separately from the billing address. The two names are close enough that a transposed field is easy to miss.

Can a Merrick order be collected in person instead of shipped? Yes, local pickup is free, and choosing it removes the flat shipping fee from the order entirely. Everything else about the order stays the same.