Some of the vendors we use for gift sales are:

Deneen Pottery out of St. Paul MN (mugs)
Wood Wizard from Cumberland, ME (wooden bookmarks)
Backwoods in Rangeley, ME (fleeces, bookbags, hats) - They do screen  
printing for us. We provide our own designs. The initial set-up is a  
little more expensive, but once our design is in their system, it is  
reasonable for repeat orders. They ship all over, so it does not  
matter if you are not local to them.

We make a few thousand dollars per year from gift sales. We plan on a  
50% markup over what we pay for the merchandise (which is what most  
retailers do). I am sure it helps that Rangeley is a tourist  
destination. I am not sure that our gift sales would be all that  
profitable in a small town like ours if we did not have an influx of  
seasonal visitors.

Janet Wilson

Quoting "Reiman, Kara" <[log in to unmask]>:

> I can share the experiences I've had with Reading Roundup materials.  
>  We are currently (but not for much longer) using Teespring which is  
> very easy to use, but we're finding the customer service terrible  
> and have had a lot of errors in our printing.  So I recommend NOT  
> using them.
>
> We have used  http://www.portlandad.com/ in the past, and they do  
> quality work relatively quickly.  I do recommend them.
>
> Our merch has not made us a ton of money; it's a slim margin on each  
> item, but you could make more if you control the pricing and your  
> production costs.  Either way, I wouldn't count on it making a lot  
> of profit.
>
> Kara Reiman
> Youth Services Specialist
> Region 2 Liaison
> Maine State Library
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Maine Libraries Discussion List <[log in to unmask]> On  
> Behalf Of Kelcy Boles
> Sent: Tuesday, May 2, 2023 4:36 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [MELIBS-L] Promotional Materials
>
> EXTERNAL: This email originated from outside of the State of Maine  
> Mail System. Do not click links or open attachments unless you  
> recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
>
> Hi all
>
> I am looking for advice and guidance about getting promotional  
> stickers and/or book bags and the like for our library. Have you  
> found any providers that you would recommend? Have these things  
> raised money for your library or friends group?
>
> Thank you for your help as always!
>
> Kelcy Arciga
> Sent from my iPhone


-- 
Janet Wilson, Director
Rangeley Public Library
P.O. Box 1150
7 Lake St.
Rangeley, ME 04970
(207)864-5529
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