[5099] in APO Printshop
Re: Printshop pricing confusion
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jennifer Tu)
Thu Sep 13 15:17:16 2007
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:17:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jennifer Tu <jtu@MIT.EDU>
To: "Leonard H. Tower Jr." <tower@alum.MIT.EDU>
cc: Mitchell E Berger <mitchb@MIT.EDU>, apo-printshop-journeyman@MIT.EDU,
apo-printshop-operators@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: <200709131914.l8DJEre6018560@all-night-tool.mit.edu>
Len -- out of curiosity, what *is* the correct charge for this job?
--Jennifer
On Thu, 13 Sep 2007, Leonard H. Tower Jr. wrote:
> 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
>
>
>
