Just my thoughts on the topic. I run a medium-sized offset 3B format print shop. In my immediate vicinity, 5 print shops of my size have closed in the last 2 years. There is less competition dumping the prices. Due to paper price increases and energy price increases due to the war in Ukraine, the price increases can be passed on to customers without any problems, because they understand it and they feel the price increasing everywhere. That means the market situation is improving for those who have been able to hold out so far. We have more orders and for the first time we are only able to accept orders that are worthwhile and sometimes even reject orders. This is new for us in the industry. Normally there was always someone who offered it cheaper. Oh and by the way, thanks to your videos I bought my first used digital printer last week, just from a print shop that had to close. a C1060. Thank you for your assembly instructions from back then! Absolutely new territory for me. But it's fun to try new things!
Interesting. So precovid we were doing awesome and actually had 3 shops in our area go out of business in competition to us. We offer student printing near a University. Notes, reports, presentations, posters, flyers. Simple stuff. It was mostly self serve. Then covid hit and everything went online, they didn't have to print as much. So now we're in trouble. Rent went up 35%, paper costs doubled around here, and the student population hasn't come back to print like they were. I spend my days printing Amazon labels, resumes, and visa applications. Sometimes I'm getting sets of notes or something, but what should have been us crushing it has turned into scraping by. I'm trying to add in things like banners, business cards, brochures, etc. which I order and it's alright but sales are no where near where it used to be. I just noticed another place that was offering student printing has also stopped, and the place that is set up big time for signage, banners, posters, vinyl decals is apparently leaving in July when the lease is up. So it's super weird. I'm wondering if print in general is just dying. Of course this is what I'm seeing in my own city, this could be isolated. Sounds like you are killing it.
I grew up in the printing industry. I slept on paper cartons. falling asleep with the presses running my dad working into the night printing jobs. I learned what a California job case was, a type stick, I know what type lice is. I ran a Heidelberg windmill, Chief 15, Davidson and others. Later on I was typesetting on a computer and scanning pics for a newspaper my dad had bought. The industry has really changed in my lifetime. The Linotype was replaced by the Linocomp and today goes from computer to plate maker with no negatives or chemicals, or directly to a high volume digital printer. The printer I play with now is a 3D printer. I went on to be a maintenance worker for a city, so far almost 25 years. I turned 61 last year and all those changes happened in that time.
BWs Electronic I'm a little more than 10 years younger than you but I'm around 25 years out of the printing world too, when I left computer to film was the new hot technology lol....
@@ryananthony4840 I remember a friend who worked for a large newspaper in the area around that time and he said they were going straight to plate. The said thing is the paper was sold and I think their 3 story high press was scrapped. One of the major newspaper corporations bought the paper and they truck the paper in from a few hundred miles away every day. The paper is a fraction of before and several times the price it was
@@bwselectronic I'm sure! Big companies can afford it! I actually misspoke lol,it's been a while....... the first shop I left in the early mid 90's it was computer to film, for 4 color seps we went down the street to a company that just did film work for the big shops in the city. EDIT: I should mention we were a sheet-fed shop
@@ryananthony4840 we were both sheetfed and roll. The sad thing is when they went to copiers for printing the quality wasn't there in the beginning. Today they do 4 color on the copiers that looks decent. I miss it at times, change doesn't always mean better.
I agree, things is changing in this business. I have over 40 years in that and I did not see everything yet about it. I see you are an all-around worker in your own printing shop. This is one of changes due the digital printing technology. Outsourcing is still a good solution for some kind of jobs or long runs. Digital presses are not reliable and is costly to run some big orders, mostly using heavy paper, which can kill your digital presses. Off-set presses are the right one for long runs, but the process to start a printing job take to much material and time consuming. I hope my comment could help in something. Thanks for your video.
I've mentioned before that instead of slip sheets, we add a 3/4" to 7/8" rectangular 30% screen all around each book block and add that as the top sheet in our books. So you'll see a four up 6 x 9 as 4 black 30% rectangles. That way, when separating after cutting apart, they actually slip apart quite easily. If the front page has a lot of coverage, as many of our books do, we don't use a screen at all.
I work in a small in-house shop for a large manufacturer and we got a Konica 6136 in May. Our biggest issue hasn't been paper as much as toner. Seems like every other month we're put on rations. As far as the outsourced work coming in, we found out that due to supply chain issues in the manufacturing part of the company, they have to change which machines they work on according to what parts are available. That in turn has us scrambling to fill orders for manuals and other materials that the commercial shops can't fulfill with the short notice changes on the lines.
Just fascinated. From Africa, Malawi, i run a small printshop for college printing. But am always looking forward to a printing press, as big as your size. Love your videos
I would advice caution when buying paper on eBay or amazon or other market places. I have had issues in the past where they simply would not ship you what you ordered. I ordered 230gsm A3+ C2S Gloss and while i got that even tho it claimed to be from my usual Manufacturer all my color profile where of by a fair bit and the over all color space was smaller... The second time i ordered i again got a different kind of paper, this time you could tell with the naked eye... Same seller, same product. And the off brand stuff just has huge batch to batch variation the the point where unless i get a literal truckload calibrating, setup and long term concern just out way the savings and availability. Id rather turn down a job than print something that yellows after 1 year and ruins my reputation.
I remember seeing your channel a few years ago when you first started. Glad you are still in business. We sold our heidelberg 15 years ago and switched strictly to digital since with cannon/oce. We have two varios doing close to 2m clicks / month hi cap stacker is a must. 8x11 is cheaper because no one really wants that stuff. Operating costs to do only 8x11 comes out to be more in time/clicks than 11x17 , 12x18.
I worked the last Goss in 92 and the machine was a beast however going forward from that time things started to change rapidly for the print industry and the biggest handicap web offset was its inability to handle short runs profitably-smaller presses were labour intensive and though modular in some configurations - people were not buying into them so much -I believe Xerox changed the script with their 914 although the finishing could not par offset but hey a customer needs their work done-the last Goss web machine came out in 2019-before that Kodak had just introduced their Nexpress and HP came out swinging later with their T400 web printer -both systems digital-Heidelberg,Manroland(they bought out Goss),Presstek and KBA would soon join the fray-in between KonicaMinolta,Xerox,Canon,KyoceraMita ,Oce(a Canon product)were firing in all cylinders.By the way the Vario offers the best monotones in its class.
Do what you can to keep that NAS off the open internet; they're common targets for ransomware distribution. No one brand is more targeted than others, but there was an issue with Synology being targeted through a botnet as recently as May 2022 ("stealthworker" / "gobrut"). Happy to send along some tips if you're interested. Stay safe! Love the channel!
The last 2 months have been of our best since before covid. I have noticed a trend for faster turnarounds so I am doing larger jobs in-house rather than sending them out for offset and people seem more willing to pay the extra price (though now I have to explain to people I can't do 250,000 flyers the same day no matter the cost), also moving into labelling and short-run packaging. No issues with paper, but I think that comes down to running A Series sized paper, I buy in SRA2 and cut to SR3 on the guillotine which works out cheaper per sheet. Its still increasing in price though.
My shop has been able to compete more with outsource vendors. There is a crop of artsy dweebs right now that are on a “offset is best because it costs more” bandwagon that is getting a little annoying, but otherwise it is nice to beat out outside bids without having to give the job away. All my inplant machines have service contracts so my click rate keeps me from bidding on super long run jobs, but vendor pricing is going up more and more due to these big shops have investors and equity firms to please. As for your VP press you need a DeckLite XL A1 paper feed tray. Will allow for higher paper capacity and also run 13x30 sheet. Get yourself a post engine inserter as well.
On paper prices, I know why: it's because you don't negotiate with your vendors. Seriously that is the reason. Way back in the day I had a lovely little online office supply store and I wanted to buy paper products local (Xpedx/Hammermill) at the time. I set up an account looked at the prices and realized that they were horrible. I asked for a dedicated sales rep and said, hey let's discuss what we can do so I can buy paper from you, and make a few basis points when I sell it to my customers. We did a few things, one, I was the go to person to buy up odd and end things to try and test the markets. I also negotiated that I would never order less than a pallet but could be allowed to build a mixed pallet of papers. And if a price wasn't good enough or I found it cheaper somewhere else I'd show them links and see what they could do. Worked out nice, until the 2008 mortgage meltdown crisis, but that's another story. I remember outsourcing offset and envelope work to a local printer and we got to talking and I told him my envelope prices and he was surprised that my price was better than theirs and quite possibly they ordered more than I did. It's about negotiation and building up a relationship with your sales rep. Once they start to see you as a person trying to grow your business while also being a good customer of theirs then things will go better. Now, I wouldn't go in demanding anything but make your case that you would like to buy more things from them but it needs to make financial sense. They will either say no and then you go buy somewhere else or they will work out better pricing and they will increase their sales. FYI, if you need a purchasing agent or a copy paper loader I am available lol. I just gave out million dollar advice I should at least get an interview. 🙂
You are correct for sure. I have been working with my local paper distributor as well as other paper converters and mills. I openly tell each person if they are the best price or not and give them a second chance to meet another competitors price. I'm starting to buy paper by the trailer load. Its getting crazy! You are welcome to stop in and say hi any time! :)
@@justaprinter Oh wow! That's a lot of paper! Unless things changed, I believe some manufacturers wanted 40 truckloads of product a month, like Navigator and Domtar to buy directly from the paper mills themselves and skipping the distributors. I'd say at a truckload or more a month consider trying some of the paper mills directly, if you can consistently use that much. Have you considered buying by the roll and trimming down the papers? That may be overkill at this point and you did say you were running out of space. I will definitely stop in one of these days!
You gotta stop dealing with those jerks at Dunder Mifflin and give the Michael Scott Paper company a try. They're small, but they'll work hard for your business.
I find I'm able to print in-house more often and it gives me more profit and control. But then the maintenance items come up later and I second guess myself if it was worth it.
I agree that the smaller sheets seem to be more readily available than the larger 12" x 18" or 13" x 19" size sheets. And parent size sheets, don't even bother right now. We've definitely tried to print more longer run jobs in house than outsource, but that's mostly due to be a little slow the last month and half or so. Trying to keep folks in house busy rather than outsource it.
@@justaprinter Well. Funny you would say that. My best friend owns a bindery, he was mentioning how he walked into a large local shops warehouse the other day. Large as in 75 + employees. And about what an incredible amount of paper they had. He guesstimated a couple of hundred pallets. So I bought it up to the counter guy at my local distributor. He said that the "big guys" get first pick. He stated that when you order $100,000 a month, You don't run out. They get what they need and we get whatever (if any) is left over. I believe it. They're in the business of making money so they better take care of the big customers first. Sucks for us tho....
There is something very satisfying about printing. I got a very used Kelsey Excelsior when I was in sixth grade. By seventh, I had a little sideline going printing school event tickets. The good old days, one impression at a time...
Oh yes, I remember of something like that on my old Xerox Nuvera. Thats ok, I think these presses are just a temporary stepping stone for something better.
Great video. That little black box trick is genius! We do have to slip sheet some things. We actually got a creasing machine recently so now we print booklet covers first and score them, then run them back through the machine's inserter tray and that makes it so there's no more slipsheeting and hand collating the covers in. Paper prices definitely have gone up, we've been pretty steady but could always use more work. We do also have a two-color offset press in-house that we use to print our own books.
I have the same issue. It’s becoming cheaper to keep things in house. Also do you have any employees? And lastly. I buy my printers used & buy toner, and pay when they break v’s click charges. Saves me a fortune!
Do you know about Riso's Comcolor GL inkjet printers!? Since with their print volume, don't you think they make more sense for printing on uncoated paper than laser printers!? both for the speed and also for the page cost?
Took me a while to get around to watch this video but it was worth the wait. I loved the twinkle in your eyes when you mentioned running 16 pallets of paper through the digital presses. That would be cool indeed! Just curious about you click count spreadsheet. Do you mind sharing a bit more about it? Thanks again for taking us along on this journey.
I see the same thing in Denmark, where i have a printhouse. Normally anything over 5-10.000 units, would be outsourced to offset printing. Now it makes sense to print it ourselves on our digital Xerox machines. Crazy times..!
I also had to jump ship from the netgear NAS because their support was ending a few years ago. Synology is great, but we went with QNAP. Just a bit more robust for us. Plus the capacity was just right. Glad we made the switch. On another note, make sure you don’t expose your NAS to the internet.
As an Architect, I distribute my drawings half-scale on 11x17 bond instead of the more common 24x36 engineering paper. In-part since the traditional repro houses in my area all went out of business. The 11x17 I can repro in-house with an Inkjet, or laser copy at Staples. In 2022 and 2023 the 11x17 had become hard to find except on-line at Staples or Amazon. The Staples and Office Depot stores often don't stock 11x17 and legal on the shelves anymore. Other none-standard paper-sizes had neigh disappeared even on-line, even grip paper and tracing papers. Now in 2024 it's even more limited. Digital and digital repro are displacing all non-standard papers and methods.
It’s changed for me because my suppliers don’t seem to be able to provide the quality I need at a competitive price anymore. It’s either expensive quality or cheap crap. On top of that new production boxes are coming down in both price and maintenance rate. So yeah I’m seeing the same thing too.
Neat look into the industry. Tossed around the idea of buying a print shop. I'm getting fed up with sheet metal manufacturing and machining might be just as bad. I need something I can do mostly myself without a boss squeezing me.
FWIW (and yes, late to the party) I noted 3 years or so ago that traditional press printing were accepting jobs they would have laughed at 5 years ago. At one time, if you were lucky, 1000 sheet runs on a press was a favor. 3 years ago I talked to shops that took 500 sheet runs. This was pretty much a break even point after paying materials and the cost to setup and ink a press. Digital prices continue to drop making press work harder and harder to be competitive. It seems inevitable that POD and short runs will run traditional printing out of the market. The skill and labor to ink up a 4+ color press isn't likely to change much. Some company, somewhere, made the last buggy whip and I've no doubt they were very good at it, and very efficient at it.
Up here in Canada I’ve been noticing the same thing. Quotes I’m getting back on large runs have been high enough we’ve started doing more of them ourselves. My guess was there’s less and less companies running web or four colour process offset, and honestly less large run jobs which is hurting the big shops more than us little guys, so the market is just adjusting to digital print shop pricing.
By the way, for all the commenters here, how are those Canon machines? We currently use a Xerox V180 and it works great when it works great, but the customer service from our provider is horrible. Our leasing is coming up soon and we'd like to upgrade to a different machine that will autoduplex 130# cover. Would love to get feedback on how those Canons work.
Paper is hard to get also logistics with courries. You have to also take into account printers breakdown, consumables, smaller size sheet is more clicks to run big jobs, should be added to your cost to produce job. My 2 cents.
Hi, I've noticed that you use Konica Minolta machines more for your digital printing. I'd like to know whether Konica Minolta machines perform better than Xerox machines, especially the Versant Press. I am a fervent admirer of your content.
Hi Dan, what is the story behind printers naming as Develop and Konica Minolta? Are both of them same technology and same printers with 2 different logos for business and marketing purposes or else? Please advise.
Hi Dan, here in the UK paper supply is not too much trouble although you might not get the same brand or grade every time. Totally agree about the trade changing, someonre like yourself who is all over their costs is going to thrive, your core investment is sensible and you have pretty much everything you need. Trade printers who have massively invested are now charging fantasy prices to stay above water, any queries are met with Pandemic, Transport, Energy cost answers, it's sad but it is going to be survival of the fittest.
Yes, I agree with you. I'ts likely true for all industries. I keep printing menus for restaurants and they are raising their prices dramatically. I hope they can stay afloat!
Love the sign, makes me want to open my own shop and rule the world,..... The reason Amazon can offer cheaper stock is they probably buy in huge lots to get it cheaper. Printer for 37 years.....
As everyone else has been relaying, business is back up to normal pre-covid levels. Paper cost took some large leaps but the big thing everyone has been saying is that outsource companies have been increasing in cost. So much so, we have been also doing jobs that we would regulaarly outsource. Outsourcing also have been taking longer to process. Our city is in the middle of an election and we did everything in house.
Seems it's going down. I am from India; People here already burdened with pricey androids and all don't seem to be caring about prints etc. I am not so sure though but my new shop in a new area is really on thin ice. Your work is always a tonic anyways. tq
I'm still struggling with a Xerox 7120😂. Practically Rebuilt that machine. That in combo with my phaser xerox 6700 are nice for my business of callcards, tickets, etc. Any other suggestions of ways to utilize and expand more jobs. I will appreciate
Good stuff Dan, keep it coming. In So Cal we're definitely seeing more paper on the floor of my local distributors, not sure if it'll continue but the last month or two they've had a lot more on the floor.
wb mason (office supply company) randomly puts copy paper (20lb) on sale at a great price. you have to look every day and order when you see it. U.S. Packaging & Wrapping has supplies for shrink wrapping etc, when local supplier is out. announcement converters for digital sheets, stocks all kinds of envelopes and has #9, #10 white wove with and without windows.
Hello. What kind of folder is that next to the Canon digital printer and what type of fold is it running? It's at the 47 second mark in the video. Thanks
I'd like to see a video on overruns and underruns. How do you handle them? Can you explain them to a customer? Say you get an order for 1,000 pieces, but only 990 of them get successfully printed. Do you give a rebate to the customer? What if you print 1,100. Do you give the extra pieces to the customer? Do you charge the customer for them? Or do you throw them away? What do you consider to be acceptable overruns and underruns?
Just from another POV, when I had my digital SRA3 shop setup (sold now) I'd always print a little more, and never be under -- if there were spoils, there were reprints. I never charged extra to give a few to the customer, but we never had to really go over by that much. When outsourcing, our trade partners are usually over by about 2 to 5%, depending on the run length, can be more on smaller runs. A job today (150,000 flyers) I had about 2% extra. We've probably had one outsourced job in 30 years be under that I can remember specifically. I consider them bonuses to my customer, but often keep a few more for samples.
Question: Any tips on cutting books down without crushing or wrinkling the spines? I use a rubber magnet thing for NCR that sticks to the clamp on the cutter and doesn’t always stop the issue. Thanks!
Definitely seeing prices up at the trade printers we use for outsourcing. Had to ask earlier this week if what I was seeing was correct on something where the price had doubled over the last 3 months.
Agreed, my production manager and I were just discussing this. Outside of envelope jobs being sent to converters, we have been bringing more and more 4c work in house. Customers are happy with turnaround, but it also forced us to upgrade our B&W and color machines as well as slitter and cutter. It's an odd thing since it was the exact opposite about 3-4 years ago, which is why we were sitting on older, slower equipment. Maybe the big trade houses are struggling to keep labor or like everyone else, having to pay more for it? Great channel by the way, just subscribed.
@@CRHK88 Big houses are definitely having to pay more for labor. The CEO of 4Over talked about that in a recent interview. They're spending more to retain and attract talent/labor.
I am looking for a printer to print my book in 100’s only 90 Pages It is my first book so I am looking for the best price. B&W page Front & back Pages in color. Where can I find a printer for this?
ive mentioned the black box thing to my boss 3 years ago but he didn't want to do it. i got used to seperating them now though. sometimes static (or lack of), they seperate themselves in blocks we've also been hoarding paper since we can only order once a month and prices still keep rising....
Love the videos. First watched your videos during COVID lock-down. I'm a printer in the mid-west (Ohio). Nice to see you're getting paper. Our suppliers are hit and miss on various stocks. 100# cover, coated or uncoated, is still hard to find. Keep up the good work.
iv'e been saying to switch to those cannons. ever since my shop has we smoke jobs, 35k-50k pieces a day through just one and we have three. the only thing iv'e seen change is 80lb dull text is super hard to get. we have to cut dull text on a sheeter from the roll sometimes and it sucks.
@@mikewilliams7019 never worked with a xerox. but i print thousands of color pages everyday using 80lb dull cover and text. it jams very infrequently and i really can just register the tray and set it and forget it.
As a former Konica Minolta dealer who now sells Canon and Ricoh production machines, you would be wise to continue your research in to the Canon units. Depending on the types of Jobs you run, they are a great fit for the printshops we sell to. Not as cheap as the RICOH, but more productive in many ways. Also, Xerox has lost their manufacturing agreement with Fuji Japan, so buyer beware on the Xerox production going forward. You can google for this fact, its readily available online.
do you run a lease or service contract on any of you konicas? and if so what does konica charge for just a service contract with tones. say for like a 1100 black and white
Hi Im just a print shop in Vietnam, i love all your vids and i wish you could sell a printer too, i d to buy my first Konica from you 😊😊😊 . Thank You and wish you all the best.
I apologize, but this is a bit off topic. I'm hoping someone can help me. We are in USA, home publishers, and need to find reasonable POD vendors for USA as well as international. I have a large international following of people who will want our books, and we need to find reputable POD sources for people in England, Canada, Australia, etc. Thanks for any help! PS. I love this channel and wish so much I had a print shop like this!! Does the man in this channel do POD? I'm guessing maybe not. Any help is appreciated. Interestingly, we have the content, the typesetting, artwork and even a large following.. now we just need printer help so that people can afford to purchase our books. Thanks again!
Thanks for the great video! I have a question and will be very glad if you can give me a quick recommendation: Im the owner of a book publishing company. We are selling around 10'000 Booklets per year. Each one of them is printed as 11 x A3 sheets (= 44 pages A4), then sequentially stapled -> folded -> squareback folded -> and front trimmed to A4-Booklets (= 440'000 Pages A4). We are now planning to produce them by ourselves with an Epson c21000 Inkjet printer, followed by Morgana BM60 + SquareFold Trim for finishing. As I know, Inkjet printers are very easy to run/maintain and they produce less errors (therefore cost efficient). What do you think about printing this much Books with an Inkjet Printer? Especially about the Epson Workforce c21000 (only for our own books)? Thanks a lot!
not just in printing always do everything in house or you will outsource yourself all the way to out of business (brokering in 2022 only gets you so far) . some jobs you cannot do but anything you can do, do it! It is a little more complicated than that I know but my rule of thumb.
I am very confused whether to take Konica Minolta 4070 or buy Konica Minolta 14000 machine. Which would be the best between service and cost of ink. In this, the investment matters a lot. All in all, which one will be better? And I prefer the 6136 model for printing black color. I am beginner this industry. I am Bangladeshi.❤
HI Dan!! This is my first question, but I've been a big fan and subscriber for a while. If the Rip Resolution limit is 1200dpi, you can't print higher than that, right? I'm asking because almost all manufacturers' print resolution face spec is higher than rip resolution
I'm not 100% sure how they figure all of that because some manufacturers have a way to print higher resolution. My rule has been to not care about that and just compare the actual printed product.
Hi Dan!! This is Danny Joseph, we are based in the Middle East in an island named Bahrain and been in the printing industry since 2005. What do you say about adding digital printing to offset printing, We added a Versant 280 press recently but for a fact regretting buying this as 400gsm papers not working through the tray.( Any comments on the Versant 280???) and What’s your call on adding few more machines for the printing of banners and all. Will that work???
I'm loving these videos, great work. Have you had any experience with HP indigo presses ? Ive been running them for 26 years and in my opinion they're the leader for quality :)
Looks like you are running out of room and need a bigger shop just like me...btw I dropped the Patron because you hadn't added anything in months. Let me know if you start working on it more. As for the outsourcing, my job mix changed a lot when we lost a long time big client 10/2020 due to them being bought out. Add it the paper supply chain issues and yes we are printing everything we can in house for the same reasons.
Any info on printing trading cards like Pokémon on a large scale? I am looking into starting a small cardboard game printer. I want to learn how to do holographic cards. I just need a place to start. Any info will help thanks!!
@@justaprinter the printer controller has problem connecting to the nip board. There are a couple of reasons for that. I suggest you get service manual.
We’d be gold if the entire paper debacle was cleared up! We’re running around 125,000 to 150,000 LTR Sized sheets a week. Thank goodness we have pallets of parent on the floor. Just cutting it takes time/manpower we don’t have!
@@justaprinter we’re already having to skimp and save toner and liquid ink for our wide format inkjet. What used to take 3 days to get here now is 2 weeks.
In India we get paper cheap from local distributor than Amazon if DOUBLE A is Rs. 280 per team of 500 sheets A4 than on Amazon it will be 350+ same paper and that to not in good condition chances are there that paper from Amazon will be mositured and get jammed on the machine so we buy from local distributor
I was concerned about poor paper conditions from amazon. I bought a pallet of paper from amazon and it ran well. Hopefully they don;t raise their prices!
@@justaprinter actually Amazon is American based so good paper available in us but India all things of amzaon are good but some products like copier paper are bad may be due to the seller selling on behalf of Amazon
Hello Just a printer, I have a question. What you say about the Canon imagepress C1+ ? I am in the opportunity to get one for an offer of €700,- but the machine has an error. When starting it up it shows paper jam but there’s no paper jam at all. Can it be solved? Is it a good machine to buy with such a problem? Than k so much for your advice. Regards, Guno
It’d be interesting to see you getting a colour Canon machine. We’ve had a Konica C3070 for a few years now and recently bought a used Xerox Versant 80. Had lots of issues with the Versant (changed the magenta drum about 4 times having only printed 2,000 or so pages). Luckily it’s on a service contract so Xerox are paying for the drums but it’s awful. Not sure what press I’d get next though.
As a former Konica Minolta dealer who now sells Canon and Ricoh, depending on your types of Job's you produce, I would recommend you look at the new Canon V1000. Its media handling is outstanding and the registration is some of the best we have seen on any machine from start to end of a job.
The issue with the Versants was(is) the toner. There is probably still some bad toner floating out there still. I've had it go away on mine except for on the magenta, I think I still had an older bottle of toner, or there was still some mixed in with the developer. For awhile, they were replacing the developer housings.
@@Alex-gh6xv yeh I’ve read about the toner issues. There’s a few other issues with the Versant (it appears that the fuser has a voltage issue now so won’t print more than a few pages before asking to be turned off), and it seems to eat toner like it’s going out of fashion. Now, on the other hand, the Xerox is fantastic such as it’s automatic alignment adjustment.
@@justaprinter the good news is that for the printers that survive, our opportunties will continue to increase. I just don't think it'll be easy for new printers to play the game. Long term I think it'll be harder and harder for small printers to compete because the tech will continue to focus on larger companies. There will be less innovation and less players for smaller format printers, while the quality and tech keeps on improving for B2 size printers. I have a feeling you'll bei n the B2 category soon if you keep it up. Awesome vids
At one point in the early 2000’s recession it was cheaper to buy palates of 8.5x11 from Costco vs. Lindenmyer. Regarding slip sheets, we put use a pitstop action to put a “bleed page” in at the end of a document the page is the size of the rest of the document and has black lines running edge to edge on the short side. It’s easy to see, We also do something similar for pages that need to be replaced with a color inset.
Just my thoughts on the topic. I run a medium-sized offset 3B format print shop. In my immediate vicinity, 5 print shops of my size have closed in the last 2 years. There is less competition dumping the prices. Due to paper price increases and energy price increases due to the war in Ukraine, the price increases can be passed on to customers without any problems, because they understand it and they feel the price increasing everywhere. That means the market situation is improving for those who have been able to hold out so far. We have more orders and for the first time we are only able to accept orders that are worthwhile and sometimes even reject orders. This is new for us in the industry. Normally there was always someone who offered it cheaper.
Oh and by the way, thanks to your videos I bought my first used digital printer last week, just from a print shop that had to close. a C1060. Thank you for your assembly instructions from back then! Absolutely new territory for me. But it's fun to try new things!
Best of luck with the C1060, happy to answer any questions if needed, have used 1060s and have a 1070 at the moment
@@aaronuk Oh thats great! I think there will be a bunch of questions coming up in the near future. Thanks!
Glad my videos help! I agree with everything you have said! The future will be interesting!
Interesting. So precovid we were doing awesome and actually had 3 shops in our area go out of business in competition to us. We offer student printing near a University. Notes, reports, presentations, posters, flyers. Simple stuff. It was mostly self serve. Then covid hit and everything went online, they didn't have to print as much. So now we're in trouble. Rent went up 35%, paper costs doubled around here, and the student population hasn't come back to print like they were. I spend my days printing Amazon labels, resumes, and visa applications. Sometimes I'm getting sets of notes or something, but what should have been us crushing it has turned into scraping by. I'm trying to add in things like banners, business cards, brochures, etc. which I order and it's alright but sales are no where near where it used to be. I just noticed another place that was offering student printing has also stopped, and the place that is set up big time for signage, banners, posters, vinyl decals is apparently leaving in July when the lease is up. So it's super weird. I'm wondering if print in general is just dying. Of course this is what I'm seeing in my own city, this could be isolated. Sounds like you are killing it.
you from Ukraine?
I grew up in the printing industry. I slept on paper cartons. falling asleep with the presses running my dad working into the night printing jobs. I learned what a California job case was, a type stick, I know what type lice is. I ran a Heidelberg windmill, Chief 15, Davidson and others.
Later on I was typesetting on a computer and scanning pics for a newspaper my dad had bought.
The industry has really changed in my lifetime. The Linotype was replaced by the Linocomp and today goes from computer to plate maker with no negatives or chemicals, or directly to a high volume digital printer. The printer I play with now is a 3D printer.
I went on to be a maintenance worker for a city, so far almost 25 years.
I turned 61 last year and all those changes happened in that time.
Wow! You have seen a lot! Thanks for commenting.
BWs Electronic I'm a little more than 10 years younger than you but I'm around 25 years out of the printing world too, when I left computer to film was the new hot technology lol....
@@ryananthony4840 I remember a friend who worked for a large newspaper in the area around that time and he said they were going straight to plate. The said thing is the paper was sold and I think their 3 story high press was scrapped. One of the major newspaper corporations bought the paper and they truck the paper in from a few hundred miles away every day. The paper is a fraction of before and several times the price it was
@@bwselectronic I'm sure! Big companies can afford it! I actually misspoke lol,it's been a while....... the first shop I left in the early mid 90's it was computer to film, for 4 color seps we went down the street to a company that just did film work for the big shops in the city. EDIT: I should mention we were a sheet-fed shop
@@ryananthony4840 we were both sheetfed and roll. The sad thing is when they went to copiers for printing the quality wasn't there in the beginning. Today they do 4 color on the copiers that looks decent. I miss it at times, change doesn't always mean better.
I agree, things is changing in this business. I have over 40 years in that and I did not see everything yet about it. I see you are an all-around worker in your own printing shop. This is one of changes due the digital printing technology. Outsourcing is still a good solution for some kind of jobs or long runs. Digital presses are not reliable and is costly to run some big orders, mostly using heavy paper, which can kill your digital presses. Off-set presses are the right one for long runs, but the process to start a printing job take to much material and time consuming. I hope my comment could help in something. Thanks for your video.
You are correct. Offset is still king for long run.
The algorithm brought me. I have been deeply immersed in 3d printers I guess UA-cam thought I should lose a dimension.🤣
Great video.
I've mentioned before that instead of slip sheets, we add a 3/4" to 7/8" rectangular 30% screen all around each book block and add that as the top sheet in our books. So you'll see a four up 6 x 9 as 4 black 30% rectangles. That way, when separating after cutting apart, they actually slip apart quite easily. If the front page has a lot of coverage, as many of our books do, we don't use a screen at all.
I work in a small in-house shop for a large manufacturer and we got a Konica 6136 in May. Our biggest issue hasn't been paper as much as toner. Seems like every other month we're put on rations. As far as the outsourced work coming in, we found out that due to supply chain issues in the manufacturing part of the company, they have to change which machines they work on according to what parts are available. That in turn has us scrambling to fill orders for manuals and other materials that the commercial shops can't fulfill with the short notice changes on the lines.
Just fascinated. From Africa, Malawi, i run a small printshop for college printing. But am always looking forward to a printing press, as big as your size. Love your videos
I would advice caution when buying paper on eBay or amazon or other market places. I have had issues in the past where they simply would not ship you what you ordered. I ordered 230gsm A3+ C2S Gloss and while i got that even tho it claimed to be from my usual Manufacturer all my color profile where of by a fair bit and the over all color space was smaller... The second time i ordered i again got a different kind of paper, this time you could tell with the naked eye... Same seller, same product.
And the off brand stuff just has huge batch to batch variation the the point where unless i get a literal truckload calibrating, setup and long term concern just out way the savings and availability. Id rather turn down a job than print something that yellows after 1 year and ruins my reputation.
I remember seeing your channel a few years ago when you first started. Glad you are still in business. We sold our heidelberg 15 years ago and switched strictly to digital since with cannon/oce. We have two varios doing close to 2m clicks / month hi cap stacker is a must. 8x11 is cheaper because no one really wants that stuff. Operating costs to do only 8x11 comes out to be more in time/clicks than 11x17 , 12x18.
Wow, 2 million a month, those varios are work horses.
I just came by to check that you're doing ok. Glad to see you are!
I worked the last Goss in 92 and the machine was a beast however going forward from that time things started to change rapidly for the print industry and the biggest handicap web offset was its inability to handle short runs profitably-smaller presses were labour intensive and though modular in some configurations - people were not buying into them so much -I believe Xerox changed the script with their 914 although the finishing could not par offset but hey a customer needs their work done-the last Goss web machine came out in 2019-before that Kodak had just introduced their Nexpress and HP came out swinging later with their T400 web printer -both systems digital-Heidelberg,Manroland(they bought out Goss),Presstek and KBA would soon join the fray-in between KonicaMinolta,Xerox,Canon,KyoceraMita ,Oce(a Canon product)were firing in all cylinders.By the way the Vario offers the best monotones in its class.
Do what you can to keep that NAS off the open internet; they're common targets for ransomware distribution. No one brand is more targeted than others, but there was an issue with Synology being targeted through a botnet as recently as May 2022 ("stealthworker" / "gobrut"). Happy to send along some tips if you're interested. Stay safe! Love the channel!
The last 2 months have been of our best since before covid.
I have noticed a trend for faster turnarounds so I am doing larger jobs in-house rather than sending them out for offset and people seem more willing to pay the extra price (though now I have to explain to people I can't do 250,000 flyers the same day no matter the cost), also moving into labelling and short-run packaging.
No issues with paper, but I think that comes down to running A Series sized paper, I buy in SRA2 and cut to SR3 on the guillotine which works out cheaper per sheet. Its still increasing in price though.
Glad you have no issues with paper!
My shop has been able to compete more with outsource vendors. There is a crop of artsy dweebs right now that are on a “offset is best because it costs more” bandwagon that is getting a little annoying, but otherwise it is nice to beat out outside bids without having to give the job away.
All my inplant machines have service contracts so my click rate keeps me from bidding on super long run jobs, but vendor pricing is going up more and more due to these big shops have investors and equity firms to please.
As for your VP press you need a DeckLite XL A1 paper feed tray. Will allow for higher paper capacity and also run 13x30 sheet. Get yourself a post engine inserter as well.
Good to know. I didn't know about those paper feeders. Thanks!
On paper prices, I know why: it's because you don't negotiate with your vendors. Seriously that is the reason. Way back in the day I had a lovely little online office supply store and I wanted to buy paper products local (Xpedx/Hammermill) at the time. I set up an account looked at the prices and realized that they were horrible. I asked for a dedicated sales rep and said, hey let's discuss what we can do so I can buy paper from you, and make a few basis points when I sell it to my customers. We did a few things, one, I was the go to person to buy up odd and end things to try and test the markets. I also negotiated that I would never order less than a pallet but could be allowed to build a mixed pallet of papers. And if a price wasn't good enough or I found it cheaper somewhere else I'd show them links and see what they could do. Worked out nice, until the 2008 mortgage meltdown crisis, but that's another story.
I remember outsourcing offset and envelope work to a local printer and we got to talking and I told him my envelope prices and he was surprised that my price was better than theirs and quite possibly they ordered more than I did. It's about negotiation and building up a relationship with your sales rep. Once they start to see you as a person trying to grow your business while also being a good customer of theirs then things will go better. Now, I wouldn't go in demanding anything but make your case that you would like to buy more things from them but it needs to make financial sense. They will either say no and then you go buy somewhere else or they will work out better pricing and they will increase their sales.
FYI, if you need a purchasing agent or a copy paper loader I am available lol. I just gave out million dollar advice I should at least get an interview. 🙂
You are correct for sure. I have been working with my local paper distributor as well as other paper converters and mills. I openly tell each person if they are the best price or not and give them a second chance to meet another competitors price. I'm starting to buy paper by the trailer load. Its getting crazy! You are welcome to stop in and say hi any time! :)
@@justaprinter Oh wow! That's a lot of paper! Unless things changed, I believe some manufacturers wanted 40 truckloads of product a month, like Navigator and Domtar to buy directly from the paper mills themselves and skipping the distributors. I'd say at a truckload or more a month consider trying some of the paper mills directly, if you can consistently use that much.
Have you considered buying by the roll and trimming down the papers? That may be overkill at this point and you did say you were running out of space.
I will definitely stop in one of these days!
@@PatrickDKing I have considered buying an old paper sheeter. That would be awesome to have on hand!
You gotta stop dealing with those jerks at Dunder Mifflin and give the Michael Scott Paper company a try. They're small, but they'll work hard for your business.
@@PatrickDKing I imagine that's going to be the other video. Storing all that paper properly.
I find I'm able to print in-house more often and it gives me more profit and control. But then the maintenance items come up later and I second guess myself if it was worth it.
Yes, I think about that too. Increased wear on machines.
I agree that the smaller sheets seem to be more readily available than the larger 12" x 18" or 13" x 19" size sheets. And parent size sheets, don't even bother right now. We've definitely tried to print more longer run jobs in house than outsource, but that's mostly due to be a little slow the last month and half or so. Trying to keep folks in house busy rather than outsource it.
I hear you on the no parent sheet sizes. I don't know how the bigger guys are surviving if they need some 25 x 38 right now.
@@justaprinter Well. Funny you would say that. My best friend owns a bindery, he was mentioning how he walked into a large local shops warehouse the other day. Large as in 75 + employees. And about what an incredible amount of paper they had. He guesstimated a couple of hundred pallets. So I bought it up to the counter guy at my local distributor. He said that the "big guys" get first pick. He stated that when you order $100,000 a month, You don't run out. They get what they need and we get whatever (if any) is left over. I believe it. They're in the business of making money so they better take care of the big customers first. Sucks for us tho....
@@chrisbarton1517 makes sense
There is something very satisfying about printing. I got a very used Kelsey Excelsior when I was in sixth grade. By seventh, I had a little sideline going printing school event tickets. The good old days, one impression at a time...
On the Ricoh equivalent to your Canon there is a way you can set the tandem 8.5x11 tray up for 11 x 17. I'm sure your Canon has the same capability.
Oh yes, I remember of something like that on my old Xerox Nuvera. Thats ok, I think these presses are just a temporary stepping stone for something better.
Great video. That little black box trick is genius! We do have to slip sheet some things. We actually got a creasing machine recently so now we print booklet covers first and score them, then run them back through the machine's inserter tray and that makes it so there's no more slipsheeting and hand collating the covers in. Paper prices definitely have gone up, we've been pretty steady but could always use more work. We do also have a two-color offset press in-house that we use to print our own books.
I agree, printing a black box is genius!
That is genius!
I have the same issue. It’s becoming cheaper to keep things in house. Also do you have any employees?
And lastly. I buy my printers used & buy toner, and pay when they break v’s click charges. Saves me a fortune!
Love the black box idea :)
Works great!
Do you know about Riso's Comcolor GL inkjet printers!? Since with their print volume, don't you think they make more sense for printing on uncoated paper than laser printers!?
both for the speed and also for the page cost?
Took me a while to get around to watch this video but it was worth the wait. I loved the twinkle in your eyes when you mentioned running 16 pallets of paper through the digital presses. That would be cool indeed!
Just curious about you click count spreadsheet. Do you mind sharing a bit more about it?
Thanks again for taking us along on this journey.
I just bought a factory house of 500sqm and I'm get the 3rd and 4th varioprint!
Wohoo! Thats so great. Those varioprints are nice!
I see the same thing in Denmark, where i have a printhouse.
Normally anything over 5-10.000 units, would be outsourced to offset printing. Now it makes sense to print it ourselves on our digital Xerox machines. Crazy times..!
Its strange, I just recently beat offset pricing of 15,000 units.
I also had to jump ship from the netgear NAS because their support was ending a few years ago. Synology is great, but we went with QNAP. Just a bit more robust for us. Plus the capacity was just right. Glad we made the switch. On another note, make sure you don’t expose your NAS to the internet.
Good tip on not exposing the NAS to the internet.
As an Architect, I distribute my drawings half-scale on 11x17 bond instead of the more common 24x36 engineering paper. In-part since the traditional repro houses in my area all went out of business. The 11x17 I can repro in-house with an Inkjet, or laser copy at Staples.
In 2022 and 2023 the 11x17 had become hard to find except on-line at Staples or Amazon. The Staples and Office Depot stores often don't stock 11x17 and legal on the shelves anymore. Other none-standard paper-sizes had neigh disappeared even on-line, even grip paper and tracing papers.
Now in 2024 it's even more limited. Digital and digital repro are displacing all non-standard papers and methods.
Question: would it be more profitable for you to outsource your book orders/large orders or is it that you prefer to do them in house yourself?
Yes, it is typically more profitable to outsource larger book orders. Offset printing is much cheaper when you are printing over 10,000 copies.
It’s changed for me because my suppliers don’t seem to be able to provide the quality I need at a competitive price anymore. It’s either expensive quality or cheap crap. On top of that new production boxes are coming down in both price and maintenance rate. So yeah I’m seeing the same thing too.
Interesting, thanks for commenting.
Neat look into the industry. Tossed around the idea of buying a print shop. I'm getting fed up with sheet metal manufacturing and machining might be just as bad. I need something I can do mostly myself without a boss squeezing me.
FWIW (and yes, late to the party) I noted 3 years or so ago that traditional press printing were accepting jobs they would have laughed at 5 years ago. At one time, if you were lucky, 1000 sheet runs on a press was a favor. 3 years ago I talked to shops that took 500 sheet runs. This was pretty much a break even point after paying materials and the cost to setup and ink a press. Digital prices continue to drop making press work harder and harder to be competitive. It seems inevitable that POD and short runs will run traditional printing out of the market. The skill and labor to ink up a 4+ color press isn't likely to change much. Some company, somewhere, made the last buggy whip and I've no doubt they were very good at it, and very efficient at it.
What are your thoughts abt the new Ricoh Pro. It has a big resolution and they say it has the least toner consumption
Up here in Canada I’ve been noticing the same thing. Quotes I’m getting back on large runs have been high enough we’ve started doing more of them ourselves.
My guess was there’s less and less companies running web or four colour process offset, and honestly less large run jobs which is hurting the big shops more than us little guys, so the market is just adjusting to digital print shop pricing.
By the way, for all the commenters here, how are those Canon machines? We currently use a Xerox V180 and it works great when it works great, but the customer service from our provider is horrible. Our leasing is coming up soon and we'd like to upgrade to a different machine that will autoduplex 130# cover. Would love to get feedback on how those Canons work.
I hope someone gets back to you. Many agree that xerox customer service is not good.
Paper is hard to get also logistics with courries. You have to also take into account printers breakdown, consumables, smaller size sheet is more clicks to run big jobs, should be added to your cost to produce job. My 2 cents.
All good points.
Hi, I've noticed that you use Konica Minolta machines more for your digital printing. I'd like to know whether Konica Minolta machines perform better than Xerox machines, especially the Versant Press. I am a fervent admirer of your content.
Have a job that usually print thinner paper like substance 20 and carbonized paper does this kind of printer works fine with that?
Hi Dan, what is the story behind printers naming as Develop and Konica Minolta? Are both of them same technology and same printers with 2 different logos for business and marketing purposes or else? Please advise.
Hi Dan, here in the UK paper supply is not too much trouble although you might not get the same brand or grade every time. Totally agree about the trade changing, someonre like yourself who is all over their costs is going to thrive, your core investment is sensible and you have pretty much everything you need. Trade printers who have massively invested are now charging fantasy prices to stay above water, any queries are met with Pandemic, Transport, Energy cost answers, it's sad but it is going to be survival of the fittest.
Yes, I agree with you. I'ts likely true for all industries. I keep printing menus for restaurants and they are raising their prices dramatically. I hope they can stay afloat!
I'm paying £3.79 a ream (pallet A4). Is that a lot? I used to pay £1.79 a ream!
Love the sign, makes me want to open my own shop and rule the world,..... The reason Amazon can offer cheaper stock is they probably buy in huge lots to get it cheaper. Printer for 37 years.....
Awesome. Amazon is a giant for sure
What would you say is a good quality not super expensive press to start a small shop, maybe home shop?
I have a morgana digifolder I bought 2 years ago and never used it - could you help me set it up?
As everyone else has been relaying, business is back up to normal pre-covid levels. Paper cost took some large leaps but the big thing everyone has been saying is that outsource companies have been increasing in cost. So much so, we have been also doing jobs that we would regulaarly outsource. Outsourcing also have been taking longer to process. Our city is in the middle of an election and we did everything in house.
It it so interesting that many of us are experiencing the same things. Hmm.
we have an indigo 5500, and looking for a 2nd, and a backup press. what would you recommend.
Seems it's going down. I am from India; People here already burdened with pricey androids and all don't seem to be caring about prints etc. I am not so sure though but my new shop in a new area is really on thin ice. Your work is always a tonic anyways. tq
I'm still struggling with a Xerox 7120😂. Practically Rebuilt that machine. That in combo with my phaser xerox 6700 are nice for my business of callcards, tickets, etc. Any other suggestions of ways to utilize and expand more jobs. I will appreciate
Keep making happy customers and they will tell their friends. Thats what I do.
Good stuff Dan, keep it coming. In So Cal we're definitely seeing more paper on the floor of my local distributors, not sure if it'll continue but the last month or two they've had a lot more on the floor.
Same here, more paper is available than before.
wb mason (office supply company) randomly puts copy paper (20lb) on sale at a great price. you have to look every day and order when you see it.
U.S. Packaging & Wrapping has supplies for shrink wrapping etc, when local supplier is out.
announcement converters for digital sheets, stocks all kinds of envelopes and has #9, #10 white wove with and without windows.
Awesome, I'll have to check them out. Thanks!!
Announcement converters is great!
I used to work on Xerox Docutech 135's. You had to put a million pages through that thing every month to make anything.
Oh man! Thats a lot!
Have you started the big furnace in the back yet this year?
Hello. What kind of folder is that next to the Canon digital printer and what type of fold is it running? It's at the 47 second mark in the video. Thanks
I own a photo store and enjoy your videos, business is good for us too
Great to hear!
Hello, I have 2 Konica Minolta c6100 and c7090 printers with km controller, I want both to print the same color, can it be done?
Paper prices here in the UK have been going up every month this year
Hoping the increases plateaus here soon.
I'd like to see a video on overruns and underruns. How do you handle them? Can you explain them to a customer? Say you get an order for 1,000 pieces, but only 990 of them get successfully printed. Do you give a rebate to the customer? What if you print 1,100. Do you give the extra pieces to the customer? Do you charge the customer for them? Or do you throw them away? What do you consider to be acceptable overruns and underruns?
Just from another POV, when I had my digital SRA3 shop setup (sold now) I'd always print a little more, and never be under -- if there were spoils, there were reprints. I never charged extra to give a few to the customer, but we never had to really go over by that much. When outsourcing, our trade partners are usually over by about 2 to 5%, depending on the run length, can be more on smaller runs. A job today (150,000 flyers) I had about 2% extra. We've probably had one outsourced job in 30 years be under that I can remember specifically. I consider them bonuses to my customer, but often keep a few more for samples.
In my case there is a standard clause for 5% over ordered quantity. Clients happily pay for that but if not, they go to samples, reprint.
How do you do your perforating or invoice books .. if you have a machine perforating or numbering you not using please send to me please 🙏
Question: Any tips on cutting books down without crushing or wrinkling the spines? I use a rubber magnet thing for NCR that sticks to the clamp on the cutter and doesn’t always stop the issue. Thanks!
Make sure the foam pads are not over the spine. So cut strips of the foam and leave space where the spine is so nothing will press the spine.
@@justaprinter Thank you sir!! :) Lord Bless!
By any chance are you going to the Print United show in Vegas in a couple weeks?
No I am not, sorry!
Definitely seeing prices up at the trade printers we use for outsourcing. Had to ask earlier this week if what I was seeing was correct on something where the price had doubled over the last 3 months.
Oh man! I can't help but think they will lose business if more people bring jobs in house.
Agreed, my production manager and I were just discussing this. Outside of envelope jobs being sent to converters, we have been bringing more and more 4c work in house. Customers are happy with turnaround, but it also forced us to upgrade our B&W and color machines as well as slitter and cutter. It's an odd thing since it was the exact opposite about 3-4 years ago, which is why we were sitting on older, slower equipment. Maybe the big trade houses are struggling to keep labor or like everyone else, having to pay more for it? Great channel by the way, just subscribed.
@@CRHK88 Big houses are definitely having to pay more for labor. The CEO of 4Over talked about that in a recent interview. They're spending more to retain and attract talent/labor.
I am looking for a printer to print my book in 100’s only 90 Pages
It is my first book so I am looking for the best price.
B&W page Front & back Pages in color.
Where can I find a printer for this?
Our PSI LM 3655 is on its last leg. Looking to get some sort of replacement. Any suggestions?
I don't know too much about those machines. Sorry!
What is the new printer brand and model are you using if I can ask?
ive mentioned the black box thing to my boss 3 years ago but he didn't want to do it. i got used to seperating them now though. sometimes static (or lack of), they seperate themselves in blocks
we've also been hoarding paper since we can only order once a month and prices still keep rising....
Yes, I like to hoard paper too! It calms my nerves... lol.
Love the videos. First watched your videos during COVID lock-down. I'm a printer in the mid-west (Ohio). Nice to see you're getting paper. Our suppliers are hit and miss on various stocks. 100# cover, coated or uncoated, is still hard to find. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for watching!
Nice to see you printing, Waiting for your video long time!
Sorry, to keep you waiting.
Things are changing indeed, roll with it!
You got that right.
You need a helper. Some work just doesn't fit our model which is long run. That mark on the title page was a great idea!
iv'e been saying to switch to those cannons. ever since my shop has we smoke jobs, 35k-50k pieces a day through just one and we have three. the only thing iv'e seen change is 80lb dull text is super hard to get. we have to cut dull text on a sheeter from the roll sometimes and it sucks.
I'm convinced you are correct. They are great little machines!
@@mikewilliams7019 never worked with a xerox. but i print thousands of color pages everyday using 80lb dull cover and text. it jams very infrequently and i really can just register the tray and set it and forget it.
As a former Konica Minolta dealer who now sells Canon and Ricoh production machines, you would be wise to continue your research in to the Canon units. Depending on the types of Jobs you run, they are a great fit for the printshops we sell to. Not as cheap as the RICOH, but more productive in many ways. Also, Xerox has lost their manufacturing agreement with Fuji Japan, so buyer beware on the Xerox production going forward. You can google for this fact, its readily available online.
Inflation related issue... I'm from Brazil, same is happening. Especially here due labour cost.
With no end in sight!
do you run a lease or service contract on any of you konicas? and if so what does konica charge for just a service contract with tones. say for like a 1100 black and white
Hi Im just a print shop in Vietnam, i love all your vids and i wish you could sell a printer too, i d to buy my first Konica from you 😊😊😊 . Thank You and wish you all the best.
Maybe one day! Thanks for watching!
I apologize, but this is a bit off topic. I'm hoping someone can help me. We are in USA, home publishers, and need to find reasonable POD vendors for USA as well as international.
I have a large international following of people who will want our books, and we need to find reputable POD sources for people in England, Canada, Australia, etc. Thanks for any help!
PS. I love this channel and wish so much I had a print shop like this!! Does the man in this channel do POD? I'm guessing maybe not. Any help is appreciated.
Interestingly, we have the content, the typesetting, artwork and even a large following.. now we just need printer help so that people can afford to purchase our books. Thanks again!
I can give you pricing if you are interested, just email your specs to justaprinterman@gmail.com
The high cap side paper deck on Canon machines is terrible. They jam constantly and the techs hate them. We usually have them removed.
Good to know. Thanks!
We have sold dozens of the Canon varioprint with the High Capacity Paper deck with no issues! You might need a new dealer or technician.
We run the same machine with the high capacity draws - it's never broken down.
Sounds like user error, you're probably an idiot.
You do say right , paper price is gone craze price and can do nothing,
And no end in sight.
Thanks for the great video!
I have a question and will be very glad if you can give me a quick recommendation:
Im the owner of a book publishing company. We are selling around 10'000 Booklets per year. Each one of them is printed as 11 x A3 sheets (= 44 pages A4), then sequentially stapled -> folded -> squareback folded -> and front trimmed to A4-Booklets (= 440'000 Pages A4). We are now planning to produce them by ourselves with an Epson c21000 Inkjet printer, followed by Morgana BM60 + SquareFold Trim for finishing. As I know, Inkjet printers are very easy to run/maintain and they produce less errors (therefore cost efficient).
What do you think about printing this much Books with an Inkjet Printer? Especially about the Epson Workforce c21000 (only for our own books)?
Thanks a lot!
what are the machines you''re using and where to buy?
Outsourcing is getting more expensive so we are being more of it back inside also. We are extremely busy but it’s hard to pay the increased costs.
Interesting to hear that this is the same for many print shops.
not just in printing always do everything in house or you will outsource yourself all the way to out of business (brokering in 2022 only gets you so far) . some jobs you cannot do but anything you can do, do it! It is a little more complicated than that I know but my rule of thumb.
I am very confused whether to take Konica Minolta 4070 or buy Konica Minolta 14000 machine. Which would be the best between service and cost of ink. In this, the investment matters a lot. All in all, which one will be better?
And I prefer the 6136 model for printing black color.
I am beginner this industry.
I am Bangladeshi.❤
I think you could buy two 4070 machines for the price of one 14000. That’s what I have done. Running multiple smalller machines has been good for me.
HI Dan!! This is my first question, but I've been a big fan and subscriber for a while. If the Rip Resolution limit is 1200dpi, you can't print higher than that, right? I'm asking because almost all manufacturers' print resolution face spec is higher than rip resolution
I'm not 100% sure how they figure all of that because some manufacturers have a way to print higher resolution. My rule has been to not care about that and just compare the actual printed product.
Hi Dan!! This is Danny Joseph, we are based in the Middle East in an island named Bahrain and been in the printing industry since 2005. What do you say about adding digital printing to offset printing, We added a Versant 280 press recently but for a fact regretting buying this as 400gsm papers not working through the tray.( Any comments on the Versant 280???) and What’s your call on adding few more machines for the printing of banners and all. Will that work???
I don't know much about the Versant machines. I'd recommend looking at Konica but texting the machines at Konica before buying
I'm loving these videos, great work. Have you had any experience with HP indigo presses ? Ive been running them for 26 years and in my opinion they're the leader for quality :)
I have not. I agree, they are top notch! Just out of my budget. Maybe some day....
Looks like you are running out of room and need a bigger shop just like me...btw I dropped the Patron because you hadn't added anything in months. Let me know if you start working on it more. As for the outsourcing, my job mix changed a lot when we lost a long time big client 10/2020 due to them being bought out. Add it the paper supply chain issues and yes we are printing everything we can in house for the same reasons.
I need to replace slow machines with faster ones.
Any info on printing trading cards like Pokémon on a large scale? I am looking into starting a small cardboard game printer. I want to learn how to do holographic cards. I just need a place to start. Any info will help thanks!!
I don't know anything about holographics, sorry.
It seems that your canon varioprint is doing a great job!
It is a great little machine. So glad I picked them up.
Do you know anything about error 11577 on the varioprint? I'm trying to install the second machine and I cannot clear this code.
@@justaprinter the printer controller has problem connecting to the nip board. There are a couple of reasons for that. I suggest you get service manual.
We’d be gold if the entire paper debacle was cleared up! We’re running around 125,000 to 150,000 LTR Sized sheets a week. Thank goodness we have pallets of parent on the floor. Just cutting it takes time/manpower we don’t have!
Seriously, but when paper is back to normal, no doubt something else will happen.
@@justaprinter we’re already having to skimp and save toner and liquid ink for our wide format inkjet. What used to take 3 days to get here now is 2 weeks.
Please how does the folding machine. Good day from here
Thanks for watching
Is it worth getting into this industry?
why is it hard to find info about the prices of these presses,
I agree their prices should simply be listed like a MSRP of a car!
true. it s like an innercircle type of thing, you need to get in and discover, not plan
In India we get paper cheap from local distributor than Amazon if DOUBLE A is Rs. 280 per team of 500 sheets A4 than on Amazon it will be 350+ same paper and that to not in good condition chances are there that paper from Amazon will be mositured and get jammed on the machine so we buy from local distributor
I was concerned about poor paper conditions from amazon. I bought a pallet of paper from amazon and it ran well. Hopefully they don;t raise their prices!
@@justaprinter actually Amazon is American based so good paper available in us but India all things of amzaon are good but some products like copier paper are bad may be due to the seller selling on behalf of Amazon
I kid you not: Amazon sells TOILET PAPER cheaper than my neighborhood Safeway, even with shipping factored in.
Hello Just a printer, I have a question. What you say about the Canon imagepress C1+ ? I am in the opportunity to get one for an offer of €700,- but the machine has an error. When starting it up it shows paper jam but there’s no paper jam at all. Can it be solved? Is it a good machine to buy with such a problem?
Than k so much for your advice.
Regards,
Guno
I don't know anything about the machine, sorry. The error can most likely be repaired.
@@justaprinter Okay, thank you for answering
I need to work!!!!!!
It’d be interesting to see you getting a colour Canon machine. We’ve had a Konica C3070 for a few years now and recently bought a used Xerox Versant 80. Had lots of issues with the Versant (changed the magenta drum about 4 times having only printed 2,000 or so pages). Luckily it’s on a service contract so Xerox are paying for the drums but it’s awful.
Not sure what press I’d get next though.
Unfortunately there is no perfect press, they all have faults currently.
As a former Konica Minolta dealer who now sells Canon and Ricoh, depending on your types of Job's you produce, I would recommend you look at the new Canon V1000. Its media handling is outstanding and the registration is some of the best we have seen on any machine from start to end of a job.
The issue with the Versants was(is) the toner. There is probably still some bad toner floating out there still. I've had it go away on mine except for on the magenta, I think I still had an older bottle of toner, or there was still some mixed in with the developer. For awhile, they were replacing the developer housings.
@@Alex-gh6xv yeh I’ve read about the toner issues. There’s a few other issues with the Versant (it appears that the fuser has a voltage issue now so won’t print more than a few pages before asking to be turned off), and it seems to eat toner like it’s going out of fashion.
Now, on the other hand, the Xerox is fantastic such as it’s automatic alignment adjustment.
@@hackatak and before as a Konica Minolta dealer you would have recommended.....??? lol jk just messin with ya
AOA Sir make vidio in working time (printing time)
In india in last 4 months paper prices got doubled
Its getting close to that here.....
Where are you, would like to visit your outfit
❤❤❤❤
Prices have gone up because they can. I think they will continue to rise because of the consolidation of our industry. Less completion.
Thats a good point. I agree that costs will continue to rise.
@@justaprinter the good news is that for the printers that survive, our opportunties will continue to increase. I just don't think it'll be easy for new printers to play the game. Long term I think it'll be harder and harder for small printers to compete because the tech will continue to focus on larger companies. There will be less innovation and less players for smaller format printers, while the quality and tech keeps on improving for B2 size printers. I have a feeling you'll bei n the B2 category soon if you keep it up. Awesome vids
Waiting to see you first hard cover book video
Yes, I do need to do that. My coworker has been doing pretty much all the hard cover books.
At one point in the early 2000’s recession it was cheaper to buy palates of 8.5x11 from Costco vs. Lindenmyer.
Regarding slip sheets, we put use a pitstop action to put a “bleed page” in at the end of a document the page is the size of the rest of the document and has black lines running edge to edge on the short side. It’s easy to see,
We also do something similar for pages that need to be replaced with a color inset.
Thats crazy about the paper. I did see Costco selling pallets. I'm liking the black mark to replace slip sheets!