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Ten Ways to Save Money & Get More from Your Printing Budget

Every business or organization, including nonprofits, needs printing and it can be a large portion of the budget. Below are recurring issues that can save both clients and printers a lot of expense and aggravation. In our ongoing efforts to save trees, tempers and timelines, we offer the following tips.

1. Be organized.
One person in an office should be responsible for handling all printing orders. It is not uncommon for two different people to place orders for the same job because of vacation overlaps, or for one person in an office to order a single set of business cards without knowing that their entire business printing design is to be revised the next week.

2. Plan out the big picture.
Know your audience and delivery method. What is it that you are trying to achieve? Efforts to reach upscale donors or informing membership usually call for different levels of flashiness and expense. Perhaps the best way to publicize your open house is a simple flyer rather than a three-color poster. Knowing the end recipient of the printed piece and how it will reach them is the first step in making smart printing decisions. Often getting advice from direct-mail professionals and mailhouses will save you a lot of time and money.

3. Use standard sizes and formats.
A 7" x 9" program booklet may be cute, but it could also cost you almost double what a 6" x 9" one will. Don’t make assumptions about standards – one common mistake is to base booklets on a legal-size sheet (8.5" x 14"), which is not efficiently available in papers other than 20 pound bond. Let your designer/printer know that you are flexible and interested in cost-saving suggestions.

4. Accurately assess your numbers.
Nothing is more frustrating for a print buyer than to order a mailing of 5,000 and then be told when the job reaches the mailhouse that the actual mailing list is 6,500. Rerunning a job is slightly cheaper than it was to print the first time, but it is still dramatically more expensive than a longer run to begin with. If you need exact count, be sure to let your printer know – trade customs allow that quantities of 10% over or under your order are acceptable.

5. Try to use the most appropriate reproduction method.
Roughly speaking, the best way to reproduce small quantities (1—500) of a document is by photocopying or docuteching; the next step up (500—2,000) is "quick printing" (disposable plates), then offset printing with metal plates (500—10,000), and finally web printing (for very large numbers), running from rolls of paper. Other technical factors that will affect your options include use of photos, desired print quality, choices of paper, and ability to gang parts of a job together. It is important to note that as organizations get bigger (or smaller), their printing needs change. The corner copy shop that printed their small-run four-page newsletter may not be the best place to handle their largerrun eight-page newsletter. Also, just because something is physically small doesn’t mean it should be printed on a small sheet – it is often most efficient to run large numbers of flyers several up on a large sheet.

6. Not all donated paper and services can be used.
Sometimes nonprofits or community groups can get expensive portions of a job donated, such as paper or color separations. In all cases, be sure that you work with your designer/printer to make sure that the materials supplied meet their technical specifications. For example, paper should be of a type suitable for the job, it must be an appropriate sheet size, it must show up in time to print and be in good condition. Be prepared to use a house sheet as backup in case the supplied donated paper doesn’t work.

7. Get appropriate graphic design.
Good design can make or break a printed piece, but be sure that whoever you use is familiar with your budget and audience. A classic printer’s nightmare involves equal parts designer fresh out of school looking to create an award-winning product, an overworked client giving said designer free rein in putting together an annual report, and an unspecified budget. Using volunteer design and type can be a great idea, but be careful. Not all designers are attuned to the slim budgets of nonprofits, and the recurring costs of producing overdesigned printing may be far more than a single fee to a professional who has the long-term interests of the organization at heart.

8. Avoid late changes.
It may seem obvious, but make sure that copy is carefully proofread and scrutinized by more than one person before it goes off to the designer. Catching a misspelled donor’s name at a blueline proof could easily cost you $50 or more.

9. Avoid rush work.
Again, planning helps. Aside from additional charges, rushed work lead to shortcuts and hasty proofing, which lead to errors, and then everybody is unhappy. This problem has actually gotten worse with the advent of "desktop publishing" (digital page composition), because clients now expect instant results. In some ways this has created new and greater opportunities for errors, such as a minor font substitution reflowing text and knocking out a final sentence. You must allow time and attention for all proofing stages. It is especially important to see a blueline, which is made from the final film and reveals the actual pagination and folding. Tight schedules work best when you call ahead to schedule time and have the technical people talk to each other to make sure there are no nasty surprises.

10. Price is not everything.
Saving a few dollars on a job is usually no reason to drag your printing all over town. Other factors to consider in a long-term relationship with your printer include volume discounts, the convenience of having film or type on file, their familiarity with your work and staff, and the support of union shops and affirmative-action vendors. If you are a regular account, letting your printer know that a particular project needs some financial support may well result in a discount.

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