Competing with Xerox?

xcelprint

Well-known member
Small shop here...
we run xerox V80

the local college has an on campus print shop with a xerox crew

They provide copy copy services for students, faculty, AND solicit business from the general public. In a recent quote I noticed I could not get me price low enough to compete with their publicly funded, xerox supported price.

Seems im getting it from both ends. Anybody else dealing with a similar issue?

Thanks
 
Get on the government gravy train. How else are you going to compete.

Sorry. Guess I will just keep tightening the belt and putting out excellent quality and superior service while trying to convince my customers what the definition of value is.
 
You got it. That is the only way to beat them. They won't care about excellent quality and superior service. Why should they when their on the government gravy train. Make sure your customers are aware of that too.
 
Excellent point... I sent a carefully worded email to my customer this morning explaining the situation. She responded positively. Sometimes we have to defend our position.
 
We had a similar situation with a college print shop across the street that also solicited the public. We still sometimes got orders from college departments because we were motivated to give quick turnaround. Their captive shop default was "it will be ready in a couple of days". We would quote in hours. We did use them ourselves for saddle stitch which they did at very low cost. Eventually most of that operation closed during a layoff round. I think their admin saw it as a cost rather than a profit center. If they charge very low prices then they will be subject to looking like an expense in the long run.
 
Our local college has a print department too. We mailed a postcard they printed. I don't know who does their cutting, but almost every stack was cut to a different size. It was all kinds of fun in the mailing equipment.
 
What's this "government gravy train" that's been mentioned?
I work for a medium-sized offset shop that gets a lot of business from the local state university . . .
Are we talkin' DOD-type gravy train, or large corporation subsidies?
 
What's this "government gravy train" that's been mentioned?
I work for a medium-sized offset shop that gets a lot of business from the local state university . . .
Are we talkin' DOD-type gravy train, or large corporation subsidies?

I think he is referring to the fact that they don’t live on profits, but have steady income regardless of their service or volume of business.
 
A publicly funded print shop that is subsidized by Xerox and housed in a state owned building should not be allowed to sell to the general public. Period.
 
Are they collecting tax on what they are selling to outsiders? Might be worth it to secret shop them.
 
We have mentioned that to our Xerox reps in the past. They sell to anyone even the people who are our customers. I get it they are in it to make money and all but it does make it hard to compete. We push the value of our expertise and service. We strive to match and beat those prices but sometimes there is just no way. They usually come back from those types of places though because of the lack of attention to detail and doing the job properly.
 
We have mentioned that to our Xerox reps in the past. They sell to anyone even the people who are our customers. I get it they are in it to make money and all but it does make it hard to compete. We push the value of our expertise and service. We strive to match and beat those prices but sometimes there is just no way. They usually come back from those types of places though because of the lack of attention to detail and doing the job properly.

Yes. My thoughts exactly.
 

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