Modern Printing in a Small Town...

[kdw75]

We operate in a small town that only has 5 other print shops. We are friendly and talk regularly with two of them and hear lots of gossip about the others. It turns out that all of us with one exception are using Xerox printers that are very close to the same model sold by the same Xerox Rep. and paying virtually identical per click pricing.

Back before digital became so popular there was more variation from one printer to another it seemed. Each had many different brands of imagesetters and film to choose from and just as many variations when it came to the brand of press and blankets and ink and.......you get the point. And then there was always press operator skill and making sure you didn't have hickeys and that your plates were in register and your inks were balanced. Now all of us have the same setup pretty much and we all have to charge about the same because we are just marking it up.

Now I will admit that running a digital press is fun and easy, but it still saddens in a way.

 

[chad.trent]

That's the way things are happening these days. I remember when I first got into the industry (late 80s) it wasn't uncommon for turnaround times to be 1-2 weeks on jobs. Now, if we get more than a couple days we feel like we have all the time in the world. There were I think 15 print shops in the area then. I can count the number of them now on one hand. The ones that are still around have made the switch to digital for a lot of their work.

I don't like it much, but that's how it works so that's how you have to do it.

 

[Possumgal]

That situation with the similar machines may be because the other companies aren't sending reps to your area, so that one salesman had the whole territory. Not a good idea on their part, and not so good for you either. Even if you want to go with one company, telling that company's rep that you have also been speaking with another company can get you a better deal.

 

[MailGuru]

We operate in a small town that only has 5 other print shops. We are friendly and talk regularly with two of them and hear lots of gossip about the others. It turns out that all of us with one exception are using Xerox printers that are very close to the same model sold by the same Xerox Rep. and paying virtually identical per click pricing.

Back before digital became so popular there was more variation from one printer to another it seemed. Each had many different brands of imagesetters and film to choose from and just as many variations when it came to the brand of press and blankets and ink and.......you get the point. And then there was always press operator skill and making sure you didn't have hickeys and that your plates were in register and your inks were balanced. Now all of us have the same setup pretty much and we all have to charge about the same because we are just marking it up.

Now I will admit that running a digital press is fun and easy, but it still saddens in a way.

First of all, stop being so pessimistic. Things are not really as bad as you think, and, they really haven't changed that much from the old offset business model.

Before digital, when I would buy offset from area printers, their pricing didn't vary that much from printer to printer. Most were using the same job estimation software (Franklin) and I could see that pricing, say, on a 100,000 pc print job, would only vary $100 to $200 between 4 different printers.

Also, just like offset press operator skill varied between printers, so does digital pre-press and having a good laser operator. Just because you HAVE a digital production press doesn't necessarily mean that you know how to use one correctly to obtain the best print quality and maintain color consistency between jobs. That takes a conscientious operator with an eye for detail and the skill to work with the proper profiles on the rip. I have seen the same digital piece printed by 3 different printers, with 3 different results. I could not tell which one was the correct one.

True, we all have about the same click charges on our costing, but, I think you will find that those charges don't really vary much (1 - 2 cents per color click) between different printer manufacturers. Also, remember that the color click charge is actually a relatively small percentage of what I will charge the customer for the final cost. For instance, if I am printing and mailing 5,000 6 x 9 4cp/4cp post cards on 10-pt C2S, I'm probably going to charge around 20 to 25 cents each. If I'm paying a click charge of $0.06 per side, thats $0.12 per sheet. I'm getting 4-out on a 12.5 x 19 sheet, so, thats $0.03 per post card in click charge cost. If my competitor has a much lower click charge (let's say only $0.04/side/sheet) that's $0.08 per sheet or $0.02 per post card. A penny less than mine per post card. If price is the major factor, you don't think I'll bring my price down from 20 cents each down to 19 cents each to get the job? Of course I will !!!!!! I'm still making good money!

Then, with digital, you have a unique opportunity to "corner the market" on some complicated variable-image/variable-data jobs that your competitors may not know how to do. On those jobs, you may have to write some programs to make it work correctly, but, when you're done, you can pretty much charge whatever you want because you are the only local shop that can do it!

Now, do you feel a little better?

-Best

MailGuru

 

[camasprinter]

I still have 2 color and 4 color ( DI ) presses and Xerox 700 & 700i. I get to price & choose based on different factors. l love the options to make coin.
My invoice on your 5000 4/4 cards of Heid. DI <10 cents per.

 

[kdw75]

First of all, stop being so pessimistic. Things are not really as bad as you think, and, they really haven't changed that much from the old offset business model.

Before digital, when I would buy offset from area printers, their pricing didn't vary that much from printer to printer. Most were using the same job estimation software (Franklin) and I could see that pricing, say, on a 100,000 pc print job, would only vary $100 to $200 between 4 different printers.

Also, just like offset press operator skill varied between printers, so does digital pre-press and having a good laser operator. Just because you HAVE a digital production press doesn't necessarily mean that you know how to use one correctly to obtain the best print quality and maintain color consistency between jobs. That takes a conscientious operator with an eye for detail and the skill to work with the proper profiles on the rip. I have seen the same digital piece printed by 3 different printers, with 3 different results. I could not tell which one was the correct one.

True, we all have about the same click charges on our costing, but, I think you will find that those charges don't really vary much (1 - 2 cents per color click) between different printer manufacturers. Also, remember that the color click charge is actually a relatively small percentage of what I will charge the customer for the final cost. For instance, if I am printing and mailing 5,000 6 x 9 4cp/4cp post cards on 10-pt C2S, I'm probably going to charge around 20 to 25 cents each. If I'm paying a click charge of $0.06 per side, thats $0.12 per sheet. I'm getting 4-out on a 12.5 x 19 sheet, so, thats $0.03 per post card in click charge cost. If my competitor has a much lower click charge (let's say only $0.04/side/sheet) that's $0.08 per sheet or $0.02 per post card. A penny less than mine per post card. If price is the major factor, you don't think I'll bring my price down from 20 cents each down to 19 cents each to get the job? Of course I will !!!!!! I'm still making good money!

Then, with digital, you have a unique opportunity to "corner the market" on some complicated variable-image/variable-data jobs that your competitors may not know how to do. On those jobs, you may have to write some programs to make it work correctly, but, when you're done, you can pretty much charge whatever you want because you are the only local shop that can do it!

Now, do you feel a little better?

-Best

MailGuru

Actually I do feel a little better. We actually had one client that was a regular tell us that she was going to start doing their mailing in house. About 2 weeks later she said she couldn't do the bar codes and gave it back to us.

Now cheer me up about the future of print media.

 

[MailGuru]

I still have 2 color and 4 color ( DI ) presses and Xerox 700 & 700i. I get to price & choose based on different factors. l love the options to make coin.
My invoice on your 5000 4/4 cards of Heid. DI <10 cents per.

1) Is that $0.10 print & mail? (Does that $0.10/per include the art setup, data processing, print postal paperwork & container tags, addressing, cut/trim, sort, tray & deliver to the post office)?
2) Will the DI vary images and pictures throughout the run based on a column in your data file at the same time as addressing for mail, or, do you have a second step & charge for that service?