[5098] in APO Printshop
Re: Printshop pricing confusion
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Leonard H. Tower Jr.)
Thu Sep 13 15:15:02 2007
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:14:53 -0400 (EDT)
From: tower@alum.mit.edu (Leonard H. Tower Jr.)
To: Mitchell E Berger <mitchb@MIT.EDU>
Cc: apo-printshop-journeyman@MIT.EDU, apo-printshop-operators@MIT.EDU
Reply-To: tower@alum.mit.edu
Mitch et al:
The policy has been for almost as long as we have had the press
shop**:
If you use a numbering machine, even if it's the only thing in the
chase, it's an additional setup and run charge.
In addition to the setup/run charges for each color of ink used.
The rationale for this is that numbering machines needs special care
and solvents, which cost the shop extra. Even with that extra care,
they wear out and need replacing. Even on ebay, they are pricey.
It isn't a question of how easy the labor is to print the job, but
what the costs are for special solvents, and buying replacements.
The shop doesn't charge for labor, but to recover it's costs.
Perhaps, it's more important to do service with the shop, even if it
costs AX money not raised by the shop. But AX decided, when it took
the shop over, that the shop should pay it's own way. Shouldn't the
actives in a Chapter Meeting be consulted, if the shop is no longer
going to pay it's own way?
We could have a meeting and discuss it, if the journeymen and
qualified press ops feel we should change this policy. Which is how
the shop has made decisions like this in the past.
When I last dealt with an LSC Chairperson about the M-cards/passes, he
felt he was getting a bargain, even with the full charges.
yiLFS -len
** the shop's first numbering machine became unusable, 'cause none of
us knew how to care for it - didn't even realize it needed special
care. We did take it apart, and fully cleaned it (a lot of effort),
but it was too worn to work.
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 01:21:17 -0400
From: Mitchell E Berger <mitchb@MIT.EDU>
To: apo-printshop-journeyman@MIT.EDU
Subject: Printshop pricing confusion
Hi guys,
I'm lost; please help. I'm trying to figure out what the LSC
Munchicard/ Multipass job should cost, and I can't reconcile the
previous few entries in the printshop log with either each other or
the press fees in the binder.
The binder claims:
Press use: $3.00 setup* + $0.10 per 100 impressions
* Each color ink, each numbering run, and each perforator run is a
setup and an impression.
For LSC, we usually print what we log as two jobs:
Munchicards/Multipasses part 1 (during which we print the top and
bottom of these cards in one ink color), and
Munchicards/Multipasses part 2 (during which we print the line in
the center that lists the year, any expiration date, and a serial
number). The charges for the part 1 job are fairly clear and
consistent: they get charged for 2 setups (one for each card
design) plus the total number of impressions (number of Munchicards
plus number of Multipasses).
And then we get to the billing for the part 2 job, and it's a mess.
The last few times we've run the part 2 job looks like they've been
charged:
Date #setups #impressions
============= =============== ========================
2/26/2006 4 2x total #cards
3/31/2005 4 2x total #cards
3/25/2004 2 2x total #cards
2/04/2002 1 0
(The 2002 line is adjusted because it was only Munchicards, and was
billed on a single line, but it was numbered and cost $6.50 for 500
cards, so I read that as above for "part 2" of the total job.)
What gives? Evidently our fee structure isn't clear, because I
can't even tell what's right. Here are questions that come to
mind:
1) Is an additional setup fee incurred if there happens to be a
numbering machine in the lockup, or only if we make a separate
pass with the numbering machine?
2) If we print the LSC job as in the past, when we run the second
pass to print that single line that includes year, expiration,
and serial number in a different color than the first pass, is
it one setup fee for that single line, or two?
3) Do we actually charge twice the number of impressions if a
lockup contains a numbering machine, or only if the numbering
machine is run in a separate pass from the rest of the job?
I guess a way to simplify some of these questions would be to ask
this hypothetical:
Let's say I run a Munchicard-only job, all as one pass in one color
with the numbering machine. How many setups and how many times the
number of actual impressions do we charge? The fee sheet makes it
sound like it's either "1 and 1" or "2 and 2". I could see
charging a second setup fee for the trouble the numbering machine
causes, but honestly couldn't see it being fair to charge twice the
number of impressions we make. But the sheet also says that it's a
"numbering *run*" (emphasis mine) that costs more money, while I
got the feeling that we usually interpret it as "anytime there's a
numbering machine" that it costs more money.
What's reality, and can we clarify it on the fee sheet, please?
I'll point out that LSC prints its own membership cards at this
point... they've figured out that they can print many copies of
something on an 8.5x11" sheet and then use their paper cutter to
make small cards, and if we zonk them on setups and impressions
here for a job that's actually quite simple for us, I think we're
likely to simply lose them as a customer. That is to say I'm
unconvinced the job is worth what we've sometimes charged them for
it by interpreting the unclear rules one way, and that I think
they'd be right if they realized they could do it cheaper
themselves.
Mitch
