Keeping MY cost low = keeping YOUR cost low
I recently had a friend ask me about how I print and fulfill my notecard orders from home. The truth of the matter is - I don’t work with a printer for my notecards. I’ve done that. I’ve spent the money up-front to have 1,000 of something printed at the lowest cost possible. Printing 1,000 of something is definitely cheaper(the per piece price) than having 200 printed, most of the time… but when you still have 850 leftover, that savings goes out the window!
These days I keep my cost low by doing all my printing in-house. And until I get to the point where I’m selling more than I can physically keep up with, I will continue my little “print on demand” model.
So below I’m going to lay it all out for you. What I do. How I do it. How much it costs. What equipment I use. What materials I source. And also any downfalls to my “at home” print-on-demand model.
I’m not really telling you any of my juicy secrets…and you may look at this and say, “you could do this so much easier THIS way.” And that’s ok…. below is just the process that works for me in the stage of life that I’m in.
The equipment:
I use an Epson WF4740 printer. I love Epson printers and just feel the print quality is a bit higher than others. This one will take up to an 8.5x14 sheet of paper (and of course it takes smaller sizes like envelopes) and it also serves as a copier, scanner and fax machine (do people still fax stuff?). It’s not the top of the line, but I did my research and found the best printer for my budget. And the ink isn’t too expensive either. I use the XL size black (because the majority of what I print is black) and a regular size of the cyan, magenta and yellow. Together the ink is around $120, which averages out to about $0.06 per page. Not too bad! I’m awful about staying on top of my ink consumption though, so I usually have to rush out to Office Depot at the last minute to buy more ink. Shhhhh…..
The letter size paper I buy can be found online or at Office Depot. The brand is Neenah and I specifically chose this paper because it’s buttery-soft and totally uncoated. Uncoated = no smear. It’s 110lb, so it will hold up to markers and paint. I have to get my 8.5x14 paper on Amazon. It’s this one and it’s $20 for a ream. Neither of these papers are quite thick enough for postcards. I would LOVE to be able to print my own postcards at home, but that’s one drawback to the printer I chose - it doesn’t really like paper heavier than what I use.
I love these little kraft envelopes for my 4x5 cards and they’re only $6.99 for 50. These are my FAVE envelopes for my 5x5 cards. You can get them on Amazon or Envelope Mall, and they’re pretty inexpensive too - $16.00 for 50.
The packaging I use can also be found on Uline or Envelope Mall, but I usually order through Amazon because I never seem to realize I’m out of packaging until I’ve got a big order to fulfill. Go figure. Thank goodness Amazon ships FAST!
When packaging individual notecards (like these 5x5 **link** notecards), I seal them in these little poly-bags. This is what I have bought in the past and they’re $6.95 for 50, so it only adds $0.14 to the cost. If I’m packaging a set of notecards (like these **link** 4x5 notecards), I like to get these little boxes. Again, they’re not expensive (only $13.26 for 25 of them), but I think they really make the sets look nice. I’ve tried wrapping them in tissue paper or twine, but the boxes are much more professional. They sure are a PAIN in the butt to put together though.
The technique:
I have tons of templates set up for myself in InDesign. I’m a designer. It’s what I do! I’ll draw my design on the iPad and then transfer the file to the computer and insert it into my layout and save it out as a PDF. I ALWAYS print from Acrobat - sometimes prints go all wonky if you print from InDesign. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but this little extra step saves my sanity and it doesn’t actually take THAT much extra time.
I print my 4x5 cards 2-up on an 8.5x11 and my 5x5 cards get printed 1-up on the 8.5x14 paper. When they’re printed, I’m totally old-school and I trim them out with an Xacto knife and then I fold using a bone folder. Sometimes I have to trim a bit of excess off, but that’s just if I haven’t been paying attention and it gets folded off-center.
Then everything gets packaged up and shipped out. SOMETIMES I’ll go ahead and print up some extras (if I know they’re a design that usually sells), but for the most part, I print on demand.
And there you have it! My technique for running my own “print on demand” business from home. Now this model isn’t all fun and rainbows. Yes, it takes me a while to print these orders out. Yes, it takes me a while to fold, cut, and package all of these orders. Yes, I have to always make sure I have stock on-hand for fulfilling these orders - it sucks to have to run to Office Depot LAST MINUTE because I ran out of ink. BUT….. My profit on these notecards ius more than DOUBLE what it would be if I had them printed somewhere else.
That money I’ve saved = money my customers save = more profit for me = less inventory storage!