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31 "Best customers" are always the ones who pay. :rolleyes: I have worked in many shops and I have seen really good customers in one shop that would be a worst possible fit in another. It really depends on what you are set up to do... if you're set up as a small copy shop and don't care to...

54 Thanks, Engin.:)

The first question to ask is, "How precisely do you need to count these sheets?" (Which is predicated on another question, "Why are you counting these sheets?) It may seem like a flippant question, but it will direct the entire rest of your search. If you are simply trying to make sure that...

We have at least three "tricks of the trade" that help our trade business. Our third "trick of the trade" is that we market only to our local area. We have a 1-hour radius population of about 800,000, which is certainly enough to support a trade shop. We turn many jobs in two days, with proper...

Two economical alternatives to setting up a folder or buying a brand new piece of machinery: We've got a Miehle vertical that we run scores and perfs with a few times a week in the back of the shop. Simple to set up... less than 5 minutes usually. (We picked up the Miehle for well under a...

"What the market will bear" is always the guide. If you have competitors, get their pricing by hook or by crook. Surely you have customers (or potential customers in mind) who would share this information with you, if only by saying, "I'd NEVER have to pay that much!" And do a search on the...

I have to add two names (breaking the rules): Charles Fenerty and most assuredly Friedrich Gottlob Keller. If you don't know who they are, you should... they burst the one greatest wall that printers faced in making printed matter available to the masses. God bless 'em both: the poor were...

Back of an envelope costs, assuming this is only one piece: (and you'd have to add a markup) (These figures are illustrative, like a "downtown retail space printer", and probably don't indicate what you or your competitor really have for costs) On a 14x20 Lithrone L-420 running at about 7500...

I used to do this a lot in the '70s before mylar makereadies were usual. We would use a piece of index stock pasted or taped to the gripper finger, and we'd add a strip of Scotch tape on the underside of the index to stop ink bleed-through. If it was carbonless sets, we'd tape a 36 pt 1/2pt...

Send low rez proofs. If they insist on pdf, proof as a low rez jpg and then make it a pdf for them. If they want a really detailed output for proof, it's time to ask for money because they are asking for reproduction quality art, which by trade custom is not part of the bargain unless otherwise...

I have seen many methods of calculating salesperson commission. I know a quick printer who pays between 4% and 6% of invoice to any sucker who comes to work for him. He usually starts the salesperson at 6% and then pulls downward. This is a commission against minimum guarantee of $15K a year...

That is true about being a PC program... but it will apparently run well using Boot Camp or Parallels on Mac.

(I am editing this somewhat because I had not thought of Morning Flight.) There is little inexpensive software that is worth anything, in my experience. (Based on U.S./Canada market.) Two very good options in the marketplace are PrintSmith and Avanti. Both are in the 10000 USD range or higher...

Day-um! I sure am glad I don't live in the same world as a lot of other folks here. Of course, there's a lot of crap going on with our business. I remember the same happening in the 70's when linotype operators were losing jobs left and right and letterpressmen were anxious to train on offset...

Being able to restore from any time in the past is wonderful, even if not needed except for one time in a year.:) Memory is so inexpensive and the advantages of pulling up the past (when urgently needed) are so great. It is supremely foolish to think now as we did ten years ago. The flip side...

It's not always dumb to ask questions. In this situation, I wouldn't really ask as much of my peers as I would of the employee in question: "Why don't you want to accept this offer?" Maybe he'll give you an honest answer.

Interesting thread. Many things not said, many prejudices not acknowledged. From the workman's point of view, the guy is right in trying to assert his position and get the most money he can before the end of the year and position himself for even better than he was offered. From the manager's...

Typical Bain-Romney, I'm sorry to say. Usually, the best ones would appreciate "love AND money".

Unfortunately, the whole world has to pay for this crap. It would be very productive on a global scale to take some boneheads out of the buying and employed population. Then some "real" work could get done, rather than cleaning up after someone's niece or nephew who can't be otherwise employed.

I thought about your situation last night and I remembered something that another shop did once upon a time... which means that you should at least put it in your play book. They priced mailing really low, because they absorbed part of the cost in their printing costs. In fact, they would often...