(Lion in the Stars @ Aug. 14 2006,22:59)
QUOTE
It's not the paper, it's the full-color printing that costs. ?On anything less than a full commercial color printer (the kind that costs upwards of $15,000), the toner costs are really prohibitive. ?Even the Lexmark C750s (commercial-grade color laser printers) in my old office would choke on color saturation like what I saw on the sheets at the FLGS. ?You're talking production costs of over $1 per 8.5x11 page. ?The only way to reduce the production costs is to reduce the color density, which makes the product less likely to sell.
Lion,
They should not be doing it on a color copier or an ink jet if they are serious and they should not buy the equipment.
I know a printer (real commercial printer, not photo copy) who will do 500 sheets of 4/0 for $200.00
That is less then .50 a sheet. So let us say that I have $300 in printing just to be fair and that already includes the 7 point card. Let us say further that as the person who did the design I want $200 for my work out of the first batch. That is $500 for 500. Or a $1 a sheet.
They are selling them for $10.
I do this for a living and I will say that they may have issues with starting capital, but they are selling direct so there is no wholesale level in the mix. Even is you say my printing and original artwork numbers are off by 100% that still takes it to only $2 per sheet and this all assumes I only did 500 sheets. And that pays someone $400 for doing the pill box?
The cost per unit drops quite a bit when we go to higher print runs.
Look, all I am saying is they are charging quite a lot for a simple design and a very cheep medium. That is it.
dafrca
