Printing Add-ons

By Author: Irene C. Thompson
Total Articles: 100
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A commercial printing company runs like a tight ship because its production involves a lot of equipment, materials, and of course, manpower. And all of these should be considered in the computation of printing job costs. These are charged against the client because that will be the only way to keep the commercial printer afloat. Otherwise, there is no reason to run a printing business.

But aside from the usual requirements like the paper, ink, manpower, and other operational costs, there are additional printing requirements, or add-ons, that could be added to the printing job. But these are just optional, as the print jobs can go without them. However, some clients like to add them so that their final output is much improved both in quality and aesthetics.

When you go to a printing press, the sales rep will receive your inquiry and will make computations based on the details, such as the kind of output you require, the materials needed, the size, and the number of copies. The operational costs are the unwritten additional costs to your printing. And then ...
... the sales rep will compute the taxes. The government dues, however, will depend on where you are. That is just about how much you are to pay, unless of course you negotiate very well and you are able to get a good discount. Just don’t ask for such a big discount or you might not like the output of your printing job.

Anyway, aside from the things mentioned above, the commercial printer will ask you if you want add-ons to your material. The most common would be lamination, which would either be glossy or matte. Clients like this because it makes their material, like the brochure or flyer, tougher and also very presentable. But these are additional finishing touches—your materials can do without them.

You may also want to have a special shape for your materials. For example you want your brochure design to reflect a part of the inside page and so the front cover should be cut so that it will have a window to the inside page. That is called die-cutting. It is not simple cutting a straight line so that would mean a separate mold for the cutting and then extra effort. After your brochure is trimmed, the cutter will let your brochures undergo another cutting process, this time in order for your cover to take the shape of your design. You will have to pay then for the extra effort and the cost of the mold.

You can also emboss a part of your printed surface for emphases or to apply gold-stamping to make your material classic and elegant. It really depends on what you need and the effect that you want to achieve. Your printer can guide you on the best output for your material.

There are just so many things that a commercial printing company can do for you and your advertising materials. Ask your commercial printer about the things that they can handle at their end because in some cases, local commercial printers would outsource the finishing in case they cannot handle them. This makes the job more expensive. So if they can’t handle it directly, find another printer that can do so. That way, you get the additional finishing touch at cost.

For more easy tips and wise ideas about cost effective and impressive print materials visit: commercial printing company.