May 12, 2003 -- Recently CAP Ventures surveyed 160 members of WhatTheyThink.com to determine pricing on several job types. This data provides a “snapshot” for your review. These printers offer a variety of services and vary in their size and equipment type. - 91.8% offer prepress services - 77.8% offer 4-color+ printing - 52.9% offer high-speed digital black and white copying - 48.4% offer large format printing - 45.2% offer color laser copying - 35.1% offer high-speed color digital printing We asked: - What is your regular hourly rate for PREPRESS SERVICES (e.g. layout, retouching)? - What is your list price for one 6' x 9' four-color scan? - What is your list price for one 12 x 18 INKJET PROOF (4 color, 1 side)? - What is your list price for one 12 x 18 COLOR LASER PRINTER PROOF (4 color, 1 side)? - What is your list price for one 12 x 18 FILM/LAMINATE PROOF (4 color, 1 side)? - What is your list price per square foot for DIGITAL LARGE FORMAT PRINTING on coated bond paper? - What is your list price per square foot for DIGITAL LARGE FORMAT PRINTING on photobase paper? - What is your list price per square foot for DIGITAL LARGE FORMAT PRINTING on vinyl? - How much would you charge for 100 COLOR COPIES on 28# bright white uncoated paper? Assume the job is a digital file (must be RIP'd), single sided (4/0) on an 8.5 x 11 sheet and requires no finishing and no proof. - How much would you charge for 500 FOUR PAGE BROCHURES on a high-speed digital color machine printed on 80# cover? Assume the job is a digital file (must be RIP'd), single sided (4/4) and no proof. - How much would you charge for 100 copies of a 100-page manual (10,000 impressions) printed on a HIGH SPEED DIGITAL BLACK & WHITE PRINTER on 24# uncoated paper? Assume the job is double sided on an 8.5 x 11 sheet and requires a thermal tape binding. - How much would you charge for 2,500 4-page brochures printed on an OFFSET PRESS on 80# cover paper? Assume the job is four color, double sided (4/4) on an 11 x17 sheet and requires a fold and trim but no proof. SPECIAL NOTE: We provided different pricing options for these printers to select from. If more than 20% selected the top price or “over”, we have noted that below. - For the 2500 4 page brochures, note that just over 20% said they would charge more than $1500 - the top price we included. - For the 100 copies of the 100 page manual, note that just over 20% said they would charge more than $600 - the top price we included. - For the 100 color laser copies, just over 20% said they would charge more than $100 - the top price we included. - For the large format print on Photobased Paper, over 30% said they would charge more than $15 per square foot - the top price we included. - For the large format print on vinyl, over 30% said they would charge more than $15 per square foot - the top price we included. That noted, here are the findings: Respondent Profile Sample size: 160 print providers Primary business: Approximately 55% of the respondents characterize themselves as general commercial printers primarily offering offset printing services. The other 45% included a mix of digital print specialists (mostly digital), quick printers, prepress services and other graphic service providers. Size of company: The sample is weighted towards medium to large print providers compared with the overall population of companies in the printing industry. Approximately 33% of the printers have annual revenues in excess of $10 million; another 25% have revenues under $1 million. We have slightly more companies with revenues in excess of $20 million. Geographic region: There is excellent representation from all major regions in the United States but slightly smaller sample sizes from the Mountain and Pacific regions. Title: The respondents are consistently from senior management levels within their company. Approximately 65% of the respondents are a VP, general manager, President/CEO or owner of their company. Equipment profile: The respondents have a variety of printing equipment including traditional presses, digital production printers, color copiers and wide format printing equipment. The most common device is two-color offset presses owned by just about 60% of print providers. Other common devices include 5+ color offset presses (50%), production black & white digital printers like (45%), and color copier/printers (45%), 4-color presses (40%), digital large format printers (40%), digital production color printers (26%).