ASUCD LONG-RANGE PLAN
Aggie Threads
I. PURPOSE AND HISTORY
In 1976, ASUCD established Classical Notes for the purpose of providing lecture notes to UC Davis undergraduate students as additional study aids. Over the next three decades, Classical Notes grew to a staff of about 45 and changed its name to Campus Copies/Classical Notes. It expanded its services to include copying and printing.
In 2011, ASUCD Senate Bill #28 (HU) authorized a transfer of $33,199.90 from Campus Copies/Classical Notes Reserves to purchase start-up costs for an expansion of Campus Copies/Classical Notes infrastructure. The new t-shirt component within Campus Copies/Classical Notes served as a way to increase sales and provide Campus Copies/Classical Notes with new revenue. The new component was beneficial to ASUCD and allowed students to have a convenient location access to custom apparel options on campus which otherwise would only be available off-campus or online. In 2012, ASUCD Senate Bill #110 (BARNETT) authorized an allocation of $8,070 from Campus Copies/Classical Notes reserves to purchase additional equipment.
In the first months of the expansion, Campus Copies/Classical Notes named the new business Aggie Threads, which drastically increased its sources of revenue from a high demand business. Because of the high demand of orders, Campus Copies/Classical Notes staff was overworked; therefore, the unit needed to be divided and given with its own set of staff. This occurred with ASUCD Senate Bill #112 (GOSS), which established Aggie Threads as a separate unit within ASUCD.
In 2013, Aggie Threads experienced extensive problems with its Ana Jet printer. Although Anajet has been relatively good at fixing the printer, it has ultimately failed to provide Aggie Threads with a fully functional printer that lasts more than three months. Aggie Threads is investigating alternative printing options, including sending the printer back for a refund, retaining with the current printer after getting it fixed, or buying a new printer.
II. PERSONNEL
1. Director (1): The Director ensures that Aggie Threads produces and distributes high quality t-shirts in a timely fashion. The Director hires employees and has the final authority in the hiring of other staff members. They are responsible for planning and implementing advertising, public relations, and expansion programs. In addition, the Director reports once a quarter to the ASUCD Senate and acts as the liaison between any ASUCD Official and Aggie Threads. The Director’s annual stipend is $3,815.
2. Printer (3): Printers are responsible for screen printing designs from the machines onto the T-shirts, as well as producing ad hoc products. Printer payrates are dependent on seniority and performance.
3. Graphics Designer (3): Graphics Designers produce potential designs assigned to them by the Director for clientele or student organization on any t-shirt order, upon request. Graphics Designer payrates are dependent on seniority and performance within Aggie Threads.
Organization Chart:
Future Plans:
1. Establish the Design Intern position to allow volunteers to gain printing and design experience.
2. Fill all budgeted positions.
III. OPERATIONS
Aggie Threads provides convenient access to custom apparel options on-campus. In addition, it provides students with t-shirt printing job opportunities that would otherwise not be available. The mission of Aggie Threads is to provide low-cost t-shirt printing services to the UC Davis Community. The first five sections detail the process of printing a shirt; the other sections detail other operations.
Design and Digital File: A digital file of the design is obtained from a client. Graphics Designers may need to tweak a design, create a design from a mockup provided by the client, or make other modifications to the original file. The customer approves the final design.
Pricing: Aggie Threads has a general pricing guide because the variation in designing and producing shirts is extensive. The customer’s shirt is priced based on the number colors, type of shirt, quantity, and complexity of the design.
Shirts: The blank shirts are ordered from different vendors, including Jiffy Shirts and American Apparel. The shirts may be in various colors, as requested by the customer.
Printing: The shirts are pretreated using the Viper Printing Machine, which is fully functional. After pretreatment, the shirts dry for approximately one day. After drying, Printers print the shirts, which takes approximately one minute. The shirts are then transferred to the printer to dry. If another side is required, the process is repeated for the other side.
Order Delivery: The order is finalized, boxed up, and picked up by the customer. The customer is charged (cash, check, and credit cards are accepted).
Discounts and Deals: Aggie Threads holds a Houseboats Tank Top special in May for the annual Houseboats trip to Shasta Lake. A Crew Neck special is also held during the winter months.
Volume: Since Aggie Threads performs regular printing, they are competitive on orders from 1-50 shirts. At orders of this volume, they have low fixed costs. Screen-printers are competitive at higher volumes since they minimize the variable costs associated with printing lots of shirts.
Advertising: Aggie Threads advertises through KDVS, through social media (Facebook and Twitter), and by pitching to clubs during club tabling efforts.
Future Plans:
1. Determine what action to take on the printer (send back for refund, fix again, or buy a new printer).
2. Investigate the possibility of screen-printing with imminent renovations of the Memorial Union.
3. Establish further seasonal discounts and sales.
IV. FINANCE
In the 2012-2013 budget, Aggie Threads had a projected $35,000 income and $40,408 expenses. The Unit is zero subsidy in the budget it transferred $5,408 from Campus Copies/Classical Notes Reserves.
Detailed Projected Income (Total: $35,000):
1. T-shirt Sales, $35,000.
2. T-shirt Recharge, $0.
Detailed Projected Expenses (Total: $40,408)
1. Office Supplies, $100.
2. Telephone Equipment, $500.
3. Repair and Maintenance, $2,000.
4. T-shirt Printing Supplies, $1,200.
5. Staff Development, $86.
6. Blank T-shirts, $12,800.
7. OP Tax, $83.
8. Salaries, $23,639.
Future Plans:
1. Increase the marketing budget to increase exposure to the student body.
2. Investigate establishment of an Aggie Threads Equipment Replacement Reserves.
V. ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Aggie Threads is a unit that strives to be as sustainable as possible. Aggie Threads relies on environmentally friendly water-based ink. In addition, Aggie Threads has been saving all of its used cartridges with the hopes that they will be able to recycle them in the future. Aggie Threads also uses scrap pieces of paper to conduct their nozzle checks.
Future Plans:
1. Aggie Threads is looking for an affordable supplier of organic t-shirts that will allow it to be more environmentally friendly.
VI. EXTERNAL RELATIONS
Registered Student Organizations: Aggie Threads is working to establish a closer relationship between Aggie Threads and the registered student organizations in order to serve them by providing them with affordable and well-made shirts.
AnaJet: Aggie Threads has been having continuous problems with their AnaJet printer. They have attempted to get a replacement printer from AnaJet, but the company is only willing to continue to repair Aggie Threads’ printer. Aggie Threads also receives its ink through AnaJet.
Viper: Aggie Threads owns a Viper pre-treatment machine and purchased its ink for this machine through AnaJet.
Future Plans:
1. Acquire a new printer that will not suffer from the same problems that their current printer does. This will allow them to achieve higher revenue and more consistent operations.
2. Establish more specials that will attract interests from different organizations.
3. Utilize social media more for advertising.
VII. INTERNAL RELATIONS
Campus Copies/Classical Notes: Aggie Threads currently shares the same credit-card machine with Campus Copies/Classical Notes. This is counterproductive at times as it makes distinguishing the different units’ revenue difficult.
Creative Media: Aggie Threads recently had their logo redesigned by Creative Media. Creative Media also provides technical support to Aggie Threads.
KDVS: In the recent past, KDVS has advertised for Aggie Threads in return for discounted shirt prices.
Future Plans:
1. Aggie Threads has expressed much interest in building closer ties to all units in order to become unit’s go-to for print services.
VIII. TWO-YEAR GOALS
Aggie Threads aims to become the “go-to” print shop that provides all student organizations with quality t-shirts. To do this, Aggie Threads must establish a loyal customer base.
The first major obstacle of expanding business is the printer. Aggie Threads must determine if the current printer can be fixed and maintained at a low cost. AnaJet, the printer’s manufacturer, has been cooperative in fixing the current printer, but this is not sustainable in the long run, as any problems with the main printer stop business. Aggie Threads is investigating alternative options, including returning the printer for a refund or replacing the printer with one from a different manufacturer.
Aggie Threads also wants to expand advertising and marketing. Establishing deals with campus media organizations, reaching out to the Greek community, and instituting special seasonal deals are a few options for the Unit to expand their advertising efforts.
Finally, Aggie Threads wants to expand their business through screen-printing. With imminent renovations of the Memorial Union, the possibility of obtaining a facility large enough for screen-printing is good. Aggie Threads cannot currently screen-print because of the need for more space and running water to cool the screen-printed shirts. The ability to screen-print would make Aggie Threads competitive in high-volume orders (greater than about 50 shirts). This could greatly expand Aggie Threads customer base to include large clubs, campus departments, and administrative organizations.
DO PASS AS AMENDED, 12-0-0, BY A ROLL CALL VOTE OF THE ASUCD SENATE ON JUNE 6, 2013. YES: BURKE , FIGUEROA, KAPPES, NONGA, ONG, SAGALA, SAHOTA, THOMAS, TOPF, TORRES, WONDERS, XIONG.
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Carly Sandstrom Date
ASUCD President