Why is color printing so expensive?? (Kinko's Rant)

[UNCjigga]

Okay, I have a 100-page report I just finished, proofed, approved etc. that I need to send to NYC tonite. Sure, I've PDF'ed it and I could just fire off an email...but NO, senior executives need a hard copy. Our office doesn't have any heavy-duty printing capability beyond standard black and white laser printing (this really big HP laserjet/copier) and color inkjet printing (some slow Deskjet.)

So I need to print 50 pages, color, both sides, punch holes along the side, coil bind it with a clear cover and vinyl/card backing.

Kinko's charges $100!!! WTF??? How do they justify this? Even the local printshops/copyshops won't go below $75. Am I looking in the wrong places?? There's gotta be someway to get this done cheaper!

 

[dabuddha]

Color ink isn't exactly cheap. Plus all those extra services you're requesting. It all adds up.

 

[Lager]

100 page report? :Q

 

[rootaxs]

Another thing to ponder - Kinko's cannot accurately colormatch PMS colors. Even CMYK is significantly off.

Do you have a friend that has a laser printer? It's going to be a lot cheaper to go that route.

 

[filmmaker]

Most of the charges I get at Kinkos is for the machine time. Not print off time.

 

[UNCjigga]

Originally posted by: dabuddhaPlus all those extra services you're requesting. It all adds up.

Nope. They are throwing in coil-binding and the cover etc. for free...that stuff only costs about $2. Its only the printing that's expensive...but I know for a fact that their cost/consumables on their Canon Fiery is MUCH lower than that for our inkjet. As of right now, I am sitting next to our damned inkjet for the next 3 hours, printing this thing in high-quality on good paper, and I will take it to Kinko's for the binding. Yes, I have backup ink cartridges on standby!

 

[UNCjigga]

Originally posted by: lager
100 page report? :Q

Didn't you see all my posts this weekend? No, you didn't, cuz I was working!

 

[Ness]

I believe kinko's charges 60-70 cents or so a page for color. Tag on the binding fee of a minimum of 8 dollars, the cover which would be about a buck, the fee for making it both sides, then add in the fact that you need it by the end of the day, I think $100 isn't bad, especially because you should be able to get your company to refund that to you.

The price is right for me when I have to print out projects for school. Never more than 2 copies or 2 or 3 pages.

Consider that if you went out and bought a printer for 50 bucks, it would probably make it through about 40 pages of full color before it started dying and you would have to replace the ink cartridges for about another 50 bucks, I think you are getting off a little better, because that doesn't include the binding fee and the pain it would be for you to put holes in every page because you don't have the resources to do it all at once.

Not to mention, they have top-of-line equipment and everything they've ever done for me is beautiful.


Yeah, the price sucks, but there's no way it could be pulled off cheaper and sent out tonight. Sorry man

 

[UNCjigga]

Originally posted by: rootaxs
Another thing to ponder - Kinko's cannot accurately colormatch PMS colors. Even CMYK is significantly off.

Do you have a friend that has a laser printer? It's going to be a lot cheaper to go that route.

I'm printing from a digital file...not making color copies...so whatever they have is gonna be better than what any 'friend' would have...unless of course I could walk into my friend's office at Bank of America and have him drop off my file to their in-house printer!

 

[samgau]

We charge 50c per page for color printing/copying... but it doesnt do 2sided... so that would be $1 per page.... we have a canon color laser printer/copier....

 

[Looney]

Um, that's because you're printing 100 pages, double sided, color. $1 a page is the going rate.

 

[xXgambitXx]

$1 a page is what the CopyMax i work at charges. well, $1 per impression so that's $2 for double sided.
$100 sounds about right w/ a volume discount.

 

[Viper GTS]

Color printing is expensive, there's no way around it.

The consumables (toner, etc.) alone to print the document you printed would easily cost $20. That doesn't include paper, binding, hole punching, the cost of the printer, the overhead of the B&M location (employees, the insurance in case you run your hand through the fuser, etc.), profit, etc.

$100 is a bargain.

Viper GTS

 

[Regs]

100 pages? I'm guessing you are schooling in the political field or economics.

 

[EyeMWing]

Tell your company to stop being lame and spend $700 on a 10k page monthly duty color laser.

 

[rootaxs]

Originally posted by: uncJIGGA

Originally posted by: rootaxs
Another thing to ponder - Kinko's cannot accurately colormatch PMS colors. Even CMYK is significantly off.

Do you have a friend that has a laser printer? It's going to be a lot cheaper to go that route.

I'm printing from a digital file...not making color copies...so whatever they have is gonna be better than what any 'friend' would have...unless of course I could walk into my friend's office at Bank of America and have him drop off my file to their in-house printer!

If you're printing on inkjet - any laser printer would do much better. When we did our brochures here at work, we were actually better off printing them through our Tektronix Phaser as it matched the colors more accurately than Kinko's could do -even after several recalibrations. It also ended up being a whole lot cheaper for us.

 

[austin316]

Originally posted by: lager
100 page report? :Q

you a grad student or under grad? for the business cluster here we had to do about a couple of 100 page reports, but we were in groups of 4. If you did that all by yourself, congrats to you.