Buying Print in the US
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- nylon
Just wondered if you guys have any experience/thoughts on this...
I have been in the design industry near on 20 years.
I have done the smallest print jobs to 200,00 x 144pp annual reports...
I have been in NYC for 5 years and I genuinely am blown away by the outrageous cost when getting things printed.
It is far cheaper for me to get stuff printed in London and get it shipped over...
"Oh you want to use metallic ink..? That comes as an extra..."
"Oh you want to use fluro ink..? That comes as an extra..."
"Oh you want to print that offset..? That comes as an extra..."
Just wondered if you guys feel the same? Happy to share my UK printers to my US counterparts if that would help?
- SimonFFM0
I have experienced the same thing with Australia. It was cheaper for me to produce stuff in Germany and send it to Australia, even though postage was really high, it was still cheaper to do it that way.
- bklyndroobeki1
Thumbs up on this thread, good to know.
- deathboy0
what are some uk runs/numbers vs the states? Seems like metallics and fluros are an added cost because added labor but its pretty minimal in my experience but I'm west coast. Some jobs I think we use to use R.R Donnelly(midwest connected straight to freightlines) for straight volume. I think they were more cost effective and ship from there. I am also curious because i wouldn't think shipping from another country would be cost effective at all.
- omg0
If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself
- monNom0
It really depends on who you're dealing with, and what they're doing.
Gang-run offset printing (printing a bunch of jobs on one plate) is always going to be cheaper than a one-off, unless you're doing a large order. If your printer does gang-runs, you are probably limited to CMYK + varnish. Therefore you get a big step up when you want custom colours.
Specialty inks like metallic and flouro may need to be dried prior to doing the next pass, so you've got additional press-time and handling to factor in.
Your London printer might send their stuff to Poland to get it printed, just like some US printers just farm out to China. If you're dealing with a US printer paying NYC rents and doing good work, your can bet it's going to cost you some money.
Now you may be right in general that there's a discrepancy in pricing, but it's probably less to do with printers gouging you and more to do with their costs and the strong US dollar at the moment.
- monospaced0
Printing in the US is insane, yes, but I haven't been handling those jobs for as long as you. I really wish it were cheaper, as costs prohibit print jobs in general more and more these days. Depressing.
- monNom1
^ I feel like prices have been dropping, at least for smaller print runs that used to be cost prohibitive. You've got services like Vistaprint bringing prices down, digital offset technology like HP Indigo that delivers great quality with less overhead, and access to printing from all around the world. I mean, if it's cheaper to print in London and ship, that's what you should do. It doesn't matter where it is printed as long as the quality is there.
- freakpelican0
You guys dont use Moo.com for all of your printing needs?!
I jokingly ask that b/c i love a run i did of the Luxe Cards with the color band in the edges... but oh my, the print job was the highest price i've done on anything per unit outside off a laser cut+silkscreened card i designed for my own studio years ago.