This can be a touchy subject for the Commercial Printer,
The Commercial Printer was an entity unto its own; for centuries, all printing came to the Commercial Printer.
Because of the time consuming efforts of the pre-press and press areas, the cost of printing was dictated by the amount of time it took to print results.
The Commercial Printer encouraged their customers to print in larger volumes in order to lower the “per unit cost” and pass it on to the customer.
This system is now similar, but somewhat altered with the advent of the colour printers in the Commercial Printer’s shop.
On occasion, we are confronted with competition from Big-Box photocopy stores.
In the old days, before big-box copying stores started up with the acquisition of full colour photocopy machines, these stores threatened the survival of the Commercial Printer; they were in direct competition with the classic Printer.
Over time, the Commercial Printer has adjusted to the shift in the market, by adding Digital Printing equipment to Traditional Offset Printing on the big printing presses.
In dealing with the influence of big-box copy stores, sometimes customers want us to quote for tiny or small print runs, and will ask us to match the big-box prices.
Maybe they will compare our quotes to these establishments.
At times, we cannot match the big-box prices for these small print runs.
To do so, would sink the Commercial Printer.
However, this rarely sends our customers away because they understand the process and they appreciate our service & expertise, our business networking experience… and they also value the personal relationships we have developed with them.
Full Service Printing versus DIY (Do It Yourself)
We are a full service print shop. We accept peoples’ digital print files and print them.
We manage the customer’s files and we will assist them with branding through their logo design.
We design ads, print newspapers & newsletters, we print pamphlets and wedding or birth announcements .
The customer either orders their printing by email, or over the phone or fax … or they come into Hucul Printing to talk in person.
Being long time residents of Salmon Arm, we understand the local community’s business landscape, we know many of the other store owners in the vicinity and we will happily recommend other local services that might useful.
We have a vested interest in the success of our clients. Being a small businesses, we recognize the importance of maintaining strong bonds with our business colleagues and partners.
That is what successful businesses do. And that is what we do.
The lower quotes for small print runs at the big-box reflects the lack of service in the preparatory areas.
This is fine if a you want it to look homemade, or if the product is strictly for personal use and a professional presentation isn’t required.
When to use Big-Box Alternatives for Photocopying?
- Very small projects that you will never repeat, such as 20 flyers for garage sales, bake sales or bottle drives that you might be tacking up on a hydro pole.
- Under 100 “one-time or one-event” calling or business cards. (ie. Going to a hobby conference, or knitting club, or the dog walker’s club.)
- 1 to 20 prints of personal greeting cards made from homemade art or children’s sketches
- If you are a very cost sensitive business who also competes on price and are willing to sacrifice your time to reduce costs and where quality isn’t important
- You are a new business with very little start up money and need to run things as lean as possible
The above reasons are examples of when you should downgrade to a lower cost option. In these situations, we feel they have their place, but when you are ready to get serious about your business and/or have outgrown your home computer’s capabilities you can find us at Hucul Printing and let us in on your plan.
Our prices are competitive. And, what you get is so much more than what you get from a big-box copy store!