Outsourcing print jobs to other countries, thoughts???

[amazing1589]

Hi. What are your thoughts on outsourcing printing jobs to China or India?

It seems that a lot of Chinese companies are looking for American business.

Is it worth it? Have you done it? What was your experience???

I've been reading the comments made here: RTTS: Outsourcing - Statisticsand it seems that it's a scary venture.

[almaink]

Ya why not send your business to another country. In my area 90% of the print shops that were open 10 years ago are closed. People that outsourced their printing was one of the reasons those shops are all closed now. Why would you want to support local businesses? Why care that by outsourcing you are putting your fellow citizens out of work? I wonder why the government doesn't require everyone to outsource. Then we can all be in the same boat, out of work...

[sivaji]

Imagine USA run by someone from Vietnam - President's job outsourced.

[VladCanada]

And banknotes will be printed outsourced...mmm, I want that job!

[prepresscolor]

Well, let's see. The language you have to give directions and orders in is different. The inks and papers available are different. The solvents and chemicals are different (this could be harmful to children that like to eat and chew on printed things). Obviously the labor is cheap and mostly semi-skilled. The epuipment is sometimes the castoffs from America, refurbished if possible.
Then when your job is printed you get to decide how to get it back to the states. Do you ship it by AIR (expensive as all get out) or do you print about five times what you really need, place it in a "container" and put it on the deck of a ship and wait three to four months to receive it. After which you will need to open the container and sort through the product to find the ones not water damaged, and the ones that actually do have the color you signed off on at proof.
But, Hey, every big business is shipping jobs overseas, why not you?

[Lennyr]

Us printers work too much already. By all means send it all overseas, so we won't have to work at all.
Another plus is that the pressmen are probably making 5 or 6 dollars a day. If we send enough printing jobs overseas pretty soon we'll be able to make 5 or 6 dollars a day too!
After the job is printed it gets to take a nice ocean cruise on a oil guzzling freighter, not to mention the train ride once it gets here. This is great for all of our environmentally conscience printing customers. Just make sure it's being printed on post consumer recycled with soy based inks, and you'll be fine.
Let's save every penny we can. No matter who it hurts

[josh hoang]

We are a prepress company in Shanghai and are doing prepress packaging artworks for many European companies. If any of you are intereseted, please mail to:josh.hoang@hotmail.com.

[dabob]

A while back I read a payroll study that had an interesting point . . . that the average printer in America pays more in health and welfare in one hour than the lead pressman on a 40 inch press makes in a day (in china as I recall). .. . tough to compete with that . . . .

[CD102]

Maybe they can build one of those gigantic factory barges and they can print the work while it's enroute to the States?

[Servicetech]

I saw container after container of printing equipment go overseas my last 6 months in the printing industry, Hong Kong, Argentina, Brazil...I have no doubt they are seeking work for them here also.