Do You Really Save Money With Wholesale Prints?

It is a known fact that you get bargain deals with wholesale orders.  In fact, you get a significant price cut compared to retail purchasing.  But does the same principle apply to wholesale prints?  If so, why? If we dissect the process of offset, you will get a better idea of printing in large volume.

Method of offset printing

Offset printing is an impression technique achieved by multiple transfers of images, from the plate to a rubber blanket and lastly, to the material like text and cover stocks.  Clearly, offset printing requires more than a simple stamp printing process or even digital printing.

It starts with your file being converted into film.  The image on the film is then transferred to a plate which is one of the notable expenses of each printing batch.   In the case of 4 color printing, four plates are required: one each for cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Each of these plates would register, although not directly, on the paper, and these are done at extremely fast rates.

Cost of production

Truth is, the cost of paper and ink is quite minimal.  What contributes much to the total expense are the plates.  The operation cost is divided among the printouts.  This is why ordering wholesale quantities can tremendously bring down the cost of each printed piece.  By ordering more copies, the cost is divided among more pieces so the unit cost becomes less.

For example, the cost of printing 50 posters is $350.  It appears that the price of each piece is $7.  But if you order 100 posters, the price become $360.  You doubled the quantity but added only $10!  The unit price drops to $3.6, nearly half of the unit cost with 50 printouts.  Increase the quantity further to 200 posters and you pay only about $8 more.  With $368 at 200 copies, the unit cost is cut down to about $1.80.  With less than $20 more, you get to quadruple the number of your posters, allowing you to reach more people with widespread advertising. 

This makes offset printing a very ideal candidate for wholesale prints.  As for short run orders, digital printing is the suitable option since the costs prior to printing is low, and the charge per piece remains uniform. 

But is offset printing good?

Aside from its cost effective offering for large volume printing, the quality of offset printing is among the best.  Color impressions are impressive.  The details of images are clear and texts are clear.  Moreover, the print results are consistent so you are assured that you get the same quality from the first print down to the last, even if you order 20,000 copies.

And as mentioned, the rate of offset printing runs at about 50,000 per hour.  This means that even if your order thousands of copies, you can get fast turnaround times.

The next time you consider cutting down your print quantity to less than a hundred copies, think of the additional printouts you would get by shelling out a few more dollars for wholesale prints.  With better and more ad exposure, you can easily get an ROI on those few bucks.