I’ve got a question for you.

How much do you pay for labels for check-in?

Why do I ask?

Well, I know that a lot of you out there are feeling the tight restraint of budget cuts. I don’t care how big your budget is, anyone would love to save a couple of hundred bucks for their ministry, right? Several years ago I moved into a new postion. The budget was a mess as it was one big pot and most expenses were coming out of that. When it was time to budget for the next year I was having to investigate what expenses were being lumped into this pot. I was trying to find all the things we spent money on and work that into the budget. As I was wrapping up the budget, I realized that I hadn’t accounted for labels for check-in. I dug in a little to find out what we had been spending. What I discovered almost made me sick. An administrator from another department had been ordering our labels from Staples or Office Depot and were paying the premium price of $30 per roll (350ish individual tags). THIRTY FREAKING DOLLARS! In 5 minutes of Google searching I found another supplier for $9 a roll. Just a few months later I was actually getting rolls for under $5. A little investigation saved me nearly $5000 a year for silly little stickers.

So, it might be helpful to share some information. How much do you pay for your labels? Are you willing to share your sources?

So, in the comments, tell us the following:

  • What system do you use (i.e. Shelby, Arena, F1)?
  • Where do you buy your labels?
  • How much do you pay per roll?

Here’s what I’m thinking. I know that the best price for rolls come when you buy a lot of them. I usually buy in the largest quantity to get the biggest price and as a result I only have to order labels once or twice a year. Some of you at small churches wouldn’t go through that many labels in 4 years, so you have to buy less labels at the higher price. I’d be willing to bet that if some of you went in together, you could take advantage of the lower price. So, let’s just see what you’re paying for labels.