Gala Mugs?

If a railway does a dedicated gala (with branding etc) mug what do you think is a reasonable price for them to be sold for?

 

£2.50-£3.

 

that seems a bit on the cheap side, I'd suggest a fiver meself...

Depends on the images too, if it is just the railway's logo and some text, it will probably end up being less than if it as some decent pictures printed on it.

 

We flog them at £5 for our private railway project, they sell too. Costs £2.50 for a charity to print them, so we both make a bit of brass.

 

A Fiver ??

A mug is a utility not a luxury.

I'd keep on walking at that price.

 

Bloody cheapskate, someone else who wants something for nothing.

LOLOLOLOLOL

Chris:

 

A mug is a utility, a gala mug is a utility and a memento, a conversation starter, a decoration, so much more ;D plus it's for charity, and a railway one at that!

 

Anyone else think this was going to be a thread about rover ticket prices ?

 

Agree. Maybe a fiver if it comes full of tea!

 

Find me a decent quality one cheaper then

 

http://www.asda.com ?

More seriously, the OP asked for opinions, and IMO a mug's a mug's a mug; I might consider paying a little extra for a nice picture on one, but it wouldn't justify a big premium.

 

I hear what you're saying George, but a railway or gala souvenir mug should be a quality product that looks well and raises a few pennies for the originator, not to be as cheap as possible. At various steam rallies in trade stands there are often folks selling mugs with tractors/cars/lorries etc on for a pound or two. I'm not too fussed about those, but if someone produces a good solid mug with an image of my favourite loco/railtour/railway on it for a fiver or thereabouts, I'd be more likely to buy (and have done). Some visitors to the railway we've had some made for have bought 2 or 3 to take home as they like them so much.

Each to their own really, I don't go in for key rings, mouse mats or windscreen scrapers so much for example.

 

Yep, I did at first

 

I tend to agree. I will buy souvenir mugs at galas if priced around £5, or even slightly more. Once you reach the £10 mark I am not so likely to as I can have a photo mug made from my own photo for around £7-8. (Vistaprint and Boots).

 

Also depends on the minimum order from the supplier and the number you think you might be able to sell. No point having hundreds left over after the event.

Or can you get them "printed" in small quantities these days?

Richard

 

Cheers guys and girls
Interesting comments
So it looks like the concensus is about the £5 mark and not much more.

To throw in a thought what if you bought a mug and it included free tea/coffee for the rest of the day/gala (produce said gala mug at cafe and get a free refill).
What would you consider a reasonable price? Decent quality mug (with say " X railway steam gala 2014" on mug) and free tea or coffee for the event.

 

The West Somerset used to do that (maybe they still do). Their offer was free tea for a year, and even back in 2007 when I bought one, I seem to recall the price was about £8 or so. I suspect a few people really filled their boots (or filled their mugs...) at that price, but I am sure many more were like me and paid £8 for a mug of tea, kept the mug and never had another refill all year. Which looks like a good deal for the railway!

I still have the two mugs we bought by the way, so the marketing g is long reach - the WSR is still calling me from the kitchen cupboard seven years on!

Tom

 

Now that would be much more likely to convince me personally - considering the fairly negligible cost of a tea bag, water and milk, the option of a few brews from a proper mug rather than polystyrene cups seems a winner! There's also the possibility that you might be able to get some sort of sponsorship with the "reducing waste and saving the planet" element of this.

 

... and getting people into the café lots of times with the offer of free tea might just make them buy something else.

Richard

 

I think my Beavertail mug (bought at Doncaster open day before it was restored) cost about £5 and is still going strong. It was a way of giving some money to the project. Well actually I gave them quite a bit more than that, so they did well out of it and I got an astronomically expensive mug, but I don't really think of it that way. The Beavertail got restored and I have enjoyed riding in it, and I have a permanent reminder that I helped in a very small way.

How many mugs do you have to get made to get those sorts of prices?