Printing Question

[benorbeen]

I'm looking to print up some 4-page booklets, 8.5"x11". Newsletter-type things.

I only wanted about 25. I went to Kinko's and they quoted me $245 or something. I was completely flabbergasted by this price, hoping to spend about $50.

I'm wondering if anyone has any advice for getting what I want. A lot of online printing places start at 8-page booklets. Other online printing places start at 250 pieces, which is too many.

Hm?

 

[sharilyn]

For clarification... by 4-page do you just mean 2-sided folded in half? Or is there more than one sheet involved?

What you probably want is 17"x22" printouts, which you can just take, fold in half, and staple together yourself. The size might be the issue with Kinko's, but it's just as likely they only heard "booklet" and got excited about charging you binding and set-up fees and whatever else.

First question to ask is whether it absolutely has to be 8.5x11, or whether you can get away with smaller. I DIY'd 11x17 paper in half when I worked for a non-profit. Printed our 12-page annual reports on a desktop printer for only the price of ink, stapled 'em up the middle, and they looked like a million bucks.

Break down what you really need, in the simplest way possible (ie. two 2-sided colour 17"x22"s, printed from .pub files on cd, on 20lb copy paper) and phone around for quotes based on that. It'll prevent crazy "extra" costs from being factored in.

And then buy a stapler.

 

[benorbeen]

Imagine a 4-page .pdf document. Now, imagine that turned it into an 8.5x11 booklet. The first page is the cover at 8.5x11, the middle two pages are inside in the same size, and the final page is the back cover in the same size. That's what I was looking for. It's basically two-sided printing on an 11x17 sheet of paper.

I used the Staples website to create what I was going for, though I don't know if they'll let me do it as I wanted. Using their website, I ordered a double-sided job but also requested saddle-stitch binding, which seems to make my order just what I need. The problem is that I'd have staples (saddle stitches) holding nothing in the booklet. I added special instructions asking that they possibly just fold instead of adding the unnecessary staples and to call if they don't understand my note.

sharilyn, thanks for the advice. We shall see. I ordered 10 for about $26.

 

[MichelleD]

I like www.iprint.com.

 

[mike short]

That's what I was looking for. It's basically two-sided printing on an 11x17 sheet of paper.

Then that's your answer. Order this and only this and bite the bullet to fold 50 copies yourself. Fix your PDF so that it's two large spreads with the pages placed accordingly.

Also, it's a pamphlet at that page count.

 

[benorbeen]

I'll try searching for the term "pamphlet," though I don't recall seeing it on the sites when I researched.

Staples seems to have done my order after calling me for clarification.

Also, I learned of a site that will do what I want it to do ... $200 there will buy you about 1500 (!!!) of the darn things. Compare that with the Kinko's price for just 25 and you get VERY, VERY ANGRY when you have no options other than Kinko's. 1500 for the price of 25?

 

[benzado]

This should not be shocking. Most of the cost of printing is the labor involved in setting up and taking down the job. Set up the printer, load the right size paper, ink, etc. Then package it up when it's done. To the copy shop, it's the same fixed amount regardless the size of the job.

The difference between printing 25 and 250 copies is just extra time, ink, and paper, all of which are very cheap compared to the fixed costs.

That's the reason you get 1,500 for the price of 25, because the costs are not that much different, except that small runs tend to cost the copy shops more in terms of support (time spent on phone calls, etc.) since people ordering small runs are less likely to know what they want and how to order correctly.

 

[benorbeen]

Would this were true. The Kinko's person told me the (high) cost was because of the paper. Staples doesn't seem to have any issue giving me what I want for a reasonable cost (~$2.50 per copy).

I should have said that this is a color (4-color) job. I'm not sure if the quote for 1500 was for black&white or color.

 

[benzado]

Would this were true. The Kinko's person told me the (high) cost was because of the paper. Staples doesn't seem to have any issue giving me what I want for a reasonable cost (~$2.50 per copy).

The Staples person seems to have recognized that you really just wanted double-sided 11x17 color printing, and is basically charging you for that. You should thank them for offering such good service. I have no idea what you asked for at Kinko's, but if you were talking about booklets and binding, those probably do require heavier paper stock.

Also, it's easier to tell a customer "the paper costs more" than to explain how economies of scale work.