I'm printing a magazine next month, and I would love to print in the USA or Canada, but the quotes I got from China are so much cheaper.
I can get 2,500 magazines for $3,000 or 6,000 magazines for $6,000 ($1 each) shipped to NYC. (specs below)
Are there any printers in the USA or Canada that can match these kind of prices?
Specs:
NUMBER OF PAGES: 96 page text + 4 page cover
SIZE: opened: 16.7500 x 10.8750 finished: 8.3750 x 10.8750
PRINTING: Text: 4 / 4 (process)
PAPER: Text: 60# Coated Gloss #3
Cover: 4 + UV / 4 (process)
Cover: 8 pt C2S
BINDERY: Perfect binding
You are approaching this in the way that I prefer my customers approach problems like this: get a quote to match and then see if someone can "reverse engineer" a price for you.
You see, there is a lot of uncertainty in pricing, not to mention the uncertainties in the production area.
Some people will come in with an "idea" and that's it. These people usually are (prudently) given a high price because the printer has no experience with them and truly doesn't want to get burned by a dissatisfied customer refusing to pay, for instance.
Going outside the loop to China sets up the equation differently: the vendor will know that it might be a one-shot, but if the money hits the bank, the order is good to work on. The vendor's risk of a refusal has now been taken out of the equation, and that is worth a lot.
Notice the difference in transaction style: payment up front versus the usual U.S. approach of "let's work out terms".
Cash is king.
If you "walk in" to any web printer in NYC and haggle this out, you should be able to get this price or possibly even better...
if you want to pay on the same terms and take the same risks as you would with a Chinese offer.
I mean it. The shop I work for could not produce this job effectively at this price (with our present equipt configuration), but a shop specializing in wide web publication work could. (I have a very good idea of the costs to a web shop.) You just have to come in with the right proposal.
The big thing in any intelligently run shop is to keep the presses running with work that is profitable... and the cost of shipping a ton or two of magazines from China is certainly what a low margin profit could be for the job, even compensating for lower wages. (And don't forget import duties and customs fees.)
Face to face is still the best way to buy printing. You just have to
negotiate (rather than take the price or deal that is offered) and that will also mean that you must understand the vendors' point of view. This is very uncomfortable for most Americans... we are reared NOT to haggle.
This, incidentally, is what I believe is a big source of failure of North American commerce: the American (and Canadian) prejudice against haggling cripples the supply system against inundation by foreign suppliers who understand the important of price fluidity. (A list price is worth nothing unless the goods can be sold in sufficient volume at that price.)
