An offset run lengths question

[gordo]

Is it correct that offset printers are doing very short run jobs - perhaps in competition with digital? An example: 300 copies of a 450 page book (black only) on, for example, a ManRolland sheetfed press.

 

[gregbatch]

In the "old" days before Xerox, small presses, and instant plate systems, it was quite common for printers to do that. Though they usually did it for good customers, not someone off the street. Could a paid off press and a starving workforce compete with a digital press payment and $250 in clicks? Probably.

 

[MailGuru]

Some employers who care about their people are either paying a set weekly salary (instead of hourly), or at least, some sort of guaranteed number of hours per week. In that scenario, one could rationalize: "Hell, I'm paying 'em anyway. They might as well be doing something....."