Where the letter board travels.
Merch Troop is based in Orange County and treats Los Angeles, San Diego, and Las Vegas as home turf — crews and gear roll to all four regions constantly. Everything past that is a travel quote, and we take those gladly with enough lead time.
Orange County
Home base. Shortest lead times, no travel fee, and the deepest crew bench — from Anaheim ballrooms to Newport lawns.
Los Angeles
Convention halls, studio lots, and hotel ballrooms from downtown to Santa Monica. No travel fee.
San Diego
Gaslamp hotels, bayfront venues, and convention-scale crowds. No travel fee.
Las Vegas
Strip resorts and expo halls, with the logistics handled — flat $900 travel and honest advice on shipping blanks ahead.
Outside these four? Nationwide dates are quoted with freight and crew travel itemized. The earlier you ask, the friendlier the number — start here.
How the travel math works
Inside the Orange County / Los Angeles / San Diego triangle there is no travel line at all — crew hours and the station are the whole invoice. Las Vegas adds a flat $900 that covers equipment transport and crew drive time, and it stays flat whether your event is one evening or a three-day expo run. Beyond those four regions we quote travel honestly per date: freight for the presses and letter stock, flights or drive time for the crew, and a day rate if the schedule strands them overnight. No percentage markups hiding in it.
Lead times by region
Orange County can sometimes be staffed inside a week. LA and San Diego like two to three weeks, mostly for blank sourcing in your colors. Vegas wants three or more during show season because dock calendars fill early. Nationwide dates are happiest at six weeks — enough runway for freight and, if you want custom chenille shapes, the production run too.