Same Press...Same Paper...Same Price???

So I’ve become a regular at a local musical instrument store, and was asking advice on a piece of equipment. After much chit-chat, his final conclusion was, “You get what you pay for”. And of course…it got me thinking. The same can be said about nearly everything; including commercial printing. Often times, commercial printers have comparable material costs, but excel by having lower overhead. For example, many long-run book printers in the United States have difficulty competing against China book printers, simply based upon the premise that China book printers have lower labor and overhead costs (and it doesn’t hurt that there are a number of low-cost Asian paper mills on that corner of the globe). BUT, for the most part, Acme Printing buys the same paper as “Commercial Printer ABC” down the road, for the same price, and from the same source. So with that being said, where does the “you get what you pay for” phrase come into play? Well first, we don’t feel comfortable putting a job on our presses without having Kodak approval proofs; which is the highest quality proofing available in commercial printing and is a true representation of the color you have in your files. Unfortunately, this proofing can be costly. BUT it’s well justified when a project exceeds your expectations. We also refuse to reproduce industry “corner-cutting” standards like pushing black ink on press to thicken a (printer-made) weak 4-color image; this is a trick used to save on cyan, magenta, and yellow ink costs. Or substituting quoted paper stock with an obsolete inventory stock. We take the road less traveled by employing higher-than-standard QA policies. In fact, we estimate typically a higher make-ready when ordering materials to insure that the press-sheets we keep are acceptable (and of course, the press-sheets that don’t meet our color standards are recycled). Just some food for thought for the next time you are reviewing the menu at a fine cuisine restaurant, go car-shopping, are choosing a college education for your children, or something a bit smaller in the scope of things…like choosing where to house a commercial print project. Ask yourself, "can our commercial print be better?"

My e-mail signature...the scroll

Okay, okay, I finally trimmed my e-mail signature down a bit. I had a notoriously long e-mail signature that listed everything but my social security number. I like being up to date on everything that's going on, so naturally, I want everyone to know how to get in touch with me.

Shortening my signature feels like one of those "Home Invasion" remodeling shows, that comes in and throws away all of the home owner's bobbling-head-doll collection. It was sad to see most of it go, but I'm grasping on to what remains: my cell number, Acme's website and address, the "FSC..certification", and of course, this blog's URL.

I can't believe I just dedicated two paragraphs to this topic. :-)


FYI - I'm sending out a very valuable piece of information on the next e-mail newsletter about "green" coated paper. I'm giving out THE list of all lists. Send me an e-mail if you want to get in on the fun.

Nobody told me this was a race!

I had the opportunity to ponder during a quiet car ride this weekend, so I pondered about the past, present, and future of the printing industry. Although I wasn’t around the commercial printing industry during the 20th century, I’ve heard enough stories to gain an appreciation for history. Nowadays, (unfortunately) commercial printing is considered a commodity product. Somewhere between the past and the present, the art and craft of FINE commercial printing became obsolete.

It seems that my generation, a generation dependent upon "all-in-one-mobile-devices" and "drive-thrus", has prioritized the needs of a purchase as: 1. Price, 2. Speed, 3. And that other stuff (e.g. quality, a trusting relationship, reputation, etc.). Don’t get me wrong, on any given day I can be seen pulling up to my local Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru, but where do we draw the line? Is"speed dentistry" a possibility? How about "Get your own new home built for three easy intsallments of $19,999!"? The thought makes me cringe.

My father is a sales rep for highly reputable design and construction firm. He and his company bring the elements of a quality and trustworthy reputation to new clients. But often their "no corner cutting" and "no surprise costs" attitude equates to a higher price than their competitors. Most of the time, price is the reason that they lose a project.

On the radio, I heard a story about Power Fasteners Inc., the company whose sub-par epoxy caused the fatal July 2006 Boston, MA accident. Now I know I’m stretching a bit here, but really, where do we draw the line?

Well, my point is that great commercial printing is a craft; a craft that we still take very seriously. It’s sad to see so many companies and commercial printers treat it as a commodity business. But on the other side, it’s optimistic to still meet so many clients that still have as strong of a passion for commercial printing as we do.

As always, I welcome plant tours to see fine commercial printing come to life. Please let me know if you’d be interested, and I’d be happy to give you the nickel tour.

Offline Co-Mail Service...An Opportunity For An Entrepreneur?

Many long hours…that’s the amount of time invested in researching mail-prep service providers that offer co-mailing and/or co-palletizing services. The results to my research were worse than disparaging.

I recently read an article that contained interviews from a number of small publishers that was heart-breaking, to say the least. One publisher explained that they were "closing their doors" due to the recent postage increases AND new postal regulations that charge full postage for non-registered addresses (regardless of the pre-sort discount that the piece originally had).

Currently, there are only a few major international printers that offer these services. And in addition to the limited options, scheduling a publication or catalog for co-mailing is extremely difficult. First, the catalog or publication must fit well with the predominant catalog/pub’s mailing list (e.g. they must have a combined minimum quantity for each mail-drop). Second, they must share the same ink-jet location. And third, they must share the same binding and trim size.

Here’s my thought: Is there anybody out there that wants to take a risk with some capital investments in PPE and labor to be the first to penetrate the market as an offline co-mail partner? Sure, there’s risk attached to it, but you may have your first customer right here.

Life On the Other Side

I am a subscriber to a number of printing and marketing news sources and one of my favorite sources to keep up with, is Margie Dana’s “Boston Print Buyers” (shhh, I even borrow some of her ideas). She frequently gives us printers an idea of what it’s like to be a print buyer; which, being on the other side, is much appreciated (…information I never had at high school dances). But it got me thinking that not many people know what it’s like to be a print rep. So, without further ado, I bring to you…

Well other than the Aussie Crocodile Hunter, overall, it’s the coolest job in the world (but slightly less dangerous). What other job can you work with somebody’s creative ideas, and custom build a product, to make their vision come to life? And I am fortunate to represent a company like Acme: Not too big, not too small; that “family-run feel” atmosphere; and an unprecedented reputation for quality, Acme’s outstanding client list, and a genuine, 100% concern for the customer’s well-being makes it easier on a print rep.

Though, there are plenty of bumps along the way. For the most part, I’m probably one of the youngest reps I’ve met in the commercial printing industry (by far). And in such a specialized industry, it’s often very difficult to convince companies that I visit, that I am a resident expert (even with 3+ years of printing experience). No, I am not an RIT graduate, nor was I raised in a “printing family”, but instead I learned the hard way: asking what seems like millions of questions along the way.

But like any printing rep, there is always a lot more to learn (fortunately, at heart, I’ve always been a student). As a printing rep, we must be the local expert on printing, paper, binding, finishing, die-cutting, postal affairs, marketing (thank God for the marketing background), and industry news (e.g. eco-friendly printing, etc.). Though, part of what makes this job so challenging AND so enjoyable, is getting to know my clients’ business and having a positive affect on their operational performance.

It’s been fun thus far and hopefully for much longer. And sometimes, I get carried away talking shop to friends and family (talk about “deer in headlights”). Which by the way, regardless of how often I explain my profession to my family, I am, in their eyes: an advertising sales rep, a paper sales rep, and a magazine subscription sales rep. I get this gut feeling that they think that somehow, printed product just sort of “magically appears”.

"An Ode to Digital Printing," By: an offset printing rep

For anyone who has any general concern in the printing industry, the latest craze has been digital color. I won’t deny digital color has made long strides to reach near-offset quality. And certainly I won’t deny that 1 to 1 personalization has proven incredible responses on direct marketing campaigns.

But, it has its faults (e.g. small sheet sizes, no true color matching, no metallic inks, varnishes, and coatings, etc.), but frankly, I’ll be the bigger man and admit it…variable color is still pretty neat.

But just like anything in the printing industry, it has its place. For example, the maximum run volume is typically 5,000 impressions before the cost of offset becomes more viable. This is because the main costs associated to digital printing are variable, and correlated to the volume of a job. Typical costs of digital printing are: 1. Pre-press (which are normally fairly fixed as most digital print jobs don’t incur that much pre-press), 2. A flat set-up cost (fixed), 3. A per-click-charge or per-page-charge (which is variable to the job’s volume and can range between 7 to 12 cents), 4. Paper (variable), 5. And any additional finishing charges (which contain both fixed and variable costs).

The biggest costs here are the per-click-charge and the paper charges. Remember when deciding upon a job that requires variable color (or changing copy/graphics), to see if it can be gang-ran with on an offset press. At Acme we DON’T run digital presses, but we DO run significantly larger sheet-fed offset presses in which we produce semi-variable pieces.

For example, you’re a retailer printing a 10,000 piece direct-mailer in which there are 4 lots with different retail location maps on them. This may be a better fit for a gang-run on an offset press. It never hurts to test the waters both ways.

And that's my two cents...

What do you mean "you already have a print vendor"?

I heard a great comment the other day from a non-Massachusetts-based customer. "There are so many print reps in Massachusetts. In fact, I have three reps from the same company calling on me, and they have no idea."

It’s true; there are a lot of us. In fact printing makes up a whopping 18% of the Massachusetts state economy.

In such an ultra-competitive industry, it is amazing that I still here horror stories like (laughable, but true!):
-"The printer stitched the pockets collated in the wrong order" (somebody would have to TRY to make this mistake).
-"The owner of the printing company gave us a tour of the plant with his button-up shirt, unbuttoned. He was bare-chested and sweating profusely" (so much for business-etiquette).
-"Every issue of [the publication], they print the run twice. The first run always contains quality issues" (what if every time you went grocery shopping, you're food was bad? There are a lot of supermarkets in town, right?).
-Not to mention the QA issues that I see that the customer misses like: pockets that are so misaligned that the pages can't be opened (the pocket hasn't been trimmed on one side) or color issues on two-page spreads.