Ouch! Small Stationery Orders Can Be Painful

It was a simple request from my husband: a new batch of personal stationery, please.

I had given him stationery several years ago, but then the zip code changed. Instead of going whole hog with engraved stationery this time around, I opted for another type of raised printing: thermography.

Sometimes referred to as the "poor man's engraving," thermography costs a lot less than engraving, yet looks and feels similar to the untrained eye.

Thermography's quite an interesting process. Sheets of paper are printed on an offset press using slow-drying ink. The printed sheets then drop onto a moving conveyor belt, passing under the thermography unit, which sprays fine, colorless powder on them. The powder sticks to the wet ink, and a vacuum unit sucks up the excess powder. The remaining powder is melted into the ink by a heating unit, causing it to swell up as it melts--and rise above the paper. This powder takes on the color of the ink below it, so you can get thermography in any color.

But I digress.

My graphic designer got an estimate from her printer for my order: a ream of Monarch letterhead with matching printed envelopes. My first choice for stock was Crane's Ivory.

His estimate came back at a whopping $620 - $290 for the letterhead and $330 for the envelopes.

I don't want to sound cheap, but over 600 beans for one small stationery order? Not happening.

So I contacted a colleague, Jay Smith of Matheson Higgins/Congress Press (www.mhcp.com), a fine finisher in the Boston area. I figured Jay would know a good thermographer who'd handle a small order.

Bingo! He told me to call Fred Sozio of Quaker Process Printing Company in Sagamore, MA. Fred's number (write this down) is (508) 888-3338. I called Fred. He had a different shade of Crane's letterhead on hand, which was close enough for me. Best of all, his price was $220.

This was the ballpark I had in mind. Within 5 days the job arrived, beautifully printed.

If I'd been someone with no industry know how, I might have paid three times' higher for this job - or even worse, I would've been furious at the price and blamed the entire printing industry.

Small stationery orders are extremely difficult to get done reasonably from commercial printers. The profit margin is really low. A lot of this work has moved to Internet-based printers.

This presents a great opportunity for printers like Fred Sozio to promote themselves to folks who need small stationery orders, including wedding invitations.

Inexperienced print customers should always get more than one estimate. Three is better than two. There is no other way to know if the price is competitive.

I'm delighted to recommend a great service provider like Quaker Process Printing. Good news can travel pretty darned fast.

Comments? Talk to me at mdana@bostonprintbuyers.com.

©2008 Margie Dana. All rights reserved. You're free to forward this email to friends and colleagues: please do! However, no part of this column may be reprinted without permission from the author.

Print Buyer Conference Update

September 11th - 12th, 2008

Sheraton Boston Hotel, Boston, MA

2 Print Buyer Panels!

Thursday, September 11, 10:30 am

Government Print Buyers & Digital Printing - Moderated by Bob Wagner, VP, Xerox Creative Services Business and Premier Partners Program

Panelists:

• Steven A. Boortz, Manager, Columbus Regional Procurement Office, United States Government Printing Office

• Julie A. Hasenfus, Assistant Director, Customer Services, Agency Publishing Services, Agency Strategic Team 6, United States Government Printing Office

• Barbara Nice, Print Purchasing Agent, University Communications, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Charlie Schuh, Materials Coordinator, Epidemiology & Immunization, State of MA

Thursday, September 11, 4 pm

Print Buyer Panel Tackling Biggest Challenges Today - Moderated by Margie Dana, Print Buyers International

Panelists:

• Melinda Bluett, Production Services Supervisor, UCB, Inc.

• Alan M. Hamil, Purchasing Manager, Fortegra Financial Corporation

• Mariah Hunt, Senior Production Manager, Digitas

• Ray Kunzmann, Principal of The Kunzmann Group

• John Wamback, Marketing Services Manager, The TJX Companies

Join us for one or both and find out what's on the minds of print buyers today. Such opportunities don't come around that often.

Register today at www.printbuyersconference.com/.

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