The Ins & Outs of Retractable Banner Stands

University of Scranton Printing and Mailing Services has a busy retractable banner business. Here, Melissa Sherrill shows off some of the in-plant’s work. | Credit: University of Scranton

According to a recent In-plant Impressions’ report, “Trends and Services in the In-plant Industry (2024),” 90% of in-plants are providing their customers with banners and signs. These banners come in all sizes, from tabletop to taller than your average person, and many of them roll shut into the base of a retractable banner stand.

While alternatives to banner stands are common — Melinda Arnson, manager of Ferris State University Printing Services, in Big Rapids, Michigan, says her university’s student center now has a digital sandwich board — retractable banner stands are still a popular option for  temporary purposes, such as wayfinding signage or marketing at events.

Michael V. Paolello notes that while the number of banners being produced for banner stands at the University of Scranton at any time fluctuates, Printing and Mailing Services makes plenty of them.

“Certain [banners] that we replace every year, we’ll do 30 of those over the course of a month or two,” says Paolello, assistant director of the Scranton, Pennsylvania, in-plant. “We do the smaller banner stands, which are 11x20". We’ll do a hundred of those just for counselors to go out to schools.”

The Basics

When looking to add a new product to your in-plant’s offering, there’s always the question of how it will impact your finances. With retractable banner stands, the impact can be very positive.

Nikki Hiller, manager of Printing & Publications at Omaha (Nebraska) Public Schools, says 5-7% of her in-plant’s revenue comes in through retractable banner stands. At Monument Health, in Rapid City, South Dakota, Manager Larry Mills says the stands account for about 12% of Printing Services’ revenue.

Retractable banner stands account for about 12% of Monument Health Printing Services’ revenue. Putting the finishing touches on one of the banners are Jose Huertas (left) and Larry Mills. | Credit: Monument Health

Shops already equipped with wide-format devices can think of retractable banner stands as an easy add-on to their services. For instance, Monument Health has two Roland roll-to-roll printers: one is a TrueVIS VG2-640, and the other is a VersaCAMM VS-640. Mills says his shop also uses the machines for projects ranging from stickers and floor graphics to outdoor banners.

There are several ways your in-plant can provide stands to customers. At Monument Health, Mills says customers typically aren’t charged for the stands.

“I don’t charge back for anything; we’re a fully funded department,” he says. “There are, I’ll say, a handful of departments — six or eight — that want those banners and stands permanently, so I do charge the stand cost to that department or to their cost center.”

For instance, Mills says his in-plant’s biggest banner stand customer is the marketing department, which wants them permanently, so he orders and stores the stands until they need one and bills them accordingly.

Alternatively, you can default to charging for the stands and banners, like the in-plants at the University of Scranton and Omaha Public Schools do. Hiller says her in-plant purchases the stands from a vendor ahead of any orders so they are on hand. Once a job is printed and assembled, customers are charged for the banner and stand as a combo. Similarly, the University of Scranton charges for the banner stand, printing, and mounting, so it’s “basically their stand at that point,” says Paolello.

The Benefits

Looking at the big picture, the next thing to evaluate is exactly what benefits retractable banner stands bring to you and your customers. While there are many benefits, paramount among them is the fact that people want banner stands.

Shelly Dutiel and Robert Blum stand with two banner stands printed by Omaha Public Schools Printing & Publications. The in-plant charges customers for the banner and stand as a combo.

“We don’t do ‘marketing,’” Arnson says. “Most of our sales are pull sales rather than push sales. We’ll get customers, particularly in the new [school] year when we have students coming back to campus and people want banners for certain events.”

Something else to think about is the potential reusability of the banner stands.

“We will reuse the stands themselves, and every year we will replace the banners on them,” says Paolello.

Back in Omaha, Shelly Dutiel, printing and publications specialist at Omaha Public Schools, says the most important thing to do when replacing the banners is to change out the adhesive.

“You have to make sure not only the gripping is good, but … the banner’s adhered to a base, so you have to make sure that’s secure so the thing doesn’t come apart,” Dutiel says. “We have a special adhesive for use with wide-format materials. It’s a double-stick tape, and we will replace the adhesive when we replace a banner so that all of it’s secure still.”

Additionally, retractable banner stands are easy to put up, and they take up less space than other banner stands such as an X-frame, which is a tripod-style frame that forms an “X” shape to hold each corner of a banner.

“The positive of the retractable stands is you can put them right up against the wall,” explains Arnson. “They have a small footprint, whereas the ‘X’ stands have a bigger footprint.”

The Obstacles

While retractable banner stands may sound ideal, there are some challenges that you may encounter when adding them to your portfolio — particularly on the customer end of things.

A retractable banner printed by Monument Health Printing Services. | Credit: Monument Health

“From my point of view, handling it inside the print shop, we have more or less the procedure down,” Hiller says. “What we find the issues are is how they’re using it once it leaves here. It’s out of our control.”

Namely, those issues often result in broken stands.

“You have to be really careful how you let them loose or how you take them down,” says Arnson. “You can’t just unsnap the banner from the top and let it go. And that’s what a lot of students would do if they’re putting them out. Somebody would say, ‘Go get this banner stand,’ and they unhook the banner from the top and they just let it go. And then all the springs inside the base would come apart.”

However, with proper care, the stands can last for years, she says.

Another issue that might come up, as with any job, is the timeline of when banner stands are needed.

Retractable banners printed by Monument Health

“Sometimes it’s just the quantity needed and the short turnaround to get them done,” Mills says. “Most things people plan for, but there’s a lot of things they don’t. And then all of a sudden, last minute, they realize they don’t have messaging here or there for that particular need or a particular event.”

The Bottom Line

Across the board, in-plants have found value in adding more variety to their offerings through the introduction of retractable banner stands. Despite a few challenges, they recommend other in-plants take a step into producing these banners. Especially if you already have wide-format capabilities, banner stands are a great way to bring extra value to your organization.

“I think it’s a good way for [in-plants] to grow,” Hiller concludes. “Everybody’s looking for diversity within their shop, so this is a good spot for a lot of in-plants to just add a different marketing piece.”