Should I Photocopy or Print My Project?

ay you need 15,000 copies of a black and white letter. Or, maybe you need 500 copies of a full-color sales sheet. Should you photocopy or print them? With copiers becoming more sophisticated all the time, the line between copying and printing is becoming much more blurry. Here are the strengths and weaknesses of each option in terms of three important considerations:

Photocopying (which includes "digital printing" for the purposes of this article)
Time: Copying can usually give you a fast turnaround of small, or even large, quantities. A copy shop usually has several machines ready to work as soon as you walk through the door. There's also no costly preparation involved.

Money: Typically there's a fixed price associated with each copy. This makes photocopying ideal for lower quantities but quite expensive for larger quantities.

Quality: Though photocopiers have come a long way, printing still wins the prize for quality. Toner can chip off and typically photo reproduction quality is second grade comparatively. You'll also have fewer choices in terms of paper stock. Linens, in particular, do not work well for photocopying.

Printing
Time: Typically, a printing job will take longer as there's some "pre-press work" to be done. Direct-to-Plate printing cuts a lot of time and money out of this process. A print shop will usually have only a few presses at their disposal so your project will have to wait in line behind jobs that came in before it.

Money: Because of the higher costs of the press, film and plates, you can expect to pay more for a printed job. A high print quantity will offset these costs and will result in your paying less per piece as the quantity rises. Again, direct-to-plate printing, because you don't have to pay for film, can bring the price of smaller quantities way down.

Quality: The quality of the printed product is far superior, in most cases, to photocopying. You'll also be able to choose from a much wider variety of paper stocks.

But, what if it's simply a question of price? Let's go back to the scenarios in the first paragraph. If you need 15,000 of a black and white sheet, should you print it or copy it? How do you figure it out? Quite easily actually. Call the people doing your printing or copying and get prices from person/company for your specific quantity. Divide each price by the quantity (15,000 in this case) and you'll have the "per-piece price" for both printing and copying. In this case:

Printing: $450/15,000 = $.03 per piece - the price winner

Copying: $750/15,000 = $.05 per piece

Okay, how about our 500 color sales sheet example? Printing will give you the best quality product but are you willing to pay for it? Let's take a look at some figures.

Printing: $750/500 = $1.50 per piece

Copying: $500/500 = $1.00 per piece - the price winner

It all comes down to some pretty simple math. Keep in mind that this article and these prices were written to give you an idea of how to figure out the best method for your project. There are many variables to take into consideration (digital printing, cheap printing, in-house copying, etc.) but hopefully you now have a better idea of how to approach the decision.

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