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From: ubc-vision!calgary!vuwcomp!alex@seismo.CSS.GOV (Alex Heatley)
Date: 13 May 87 23:16:03 GMT
Organization: Comp Sci, Victoria Univ, Wellington, New Zealand

Here in New Zealand I produce a quarterly fanzine that averages around 100 
copies at around 20 pages per issue. I won't bother giving costs because of
problems with exchange rates, however a rough calculation shows that by my 
standards you are being ripped off.

The print shops in the city I live in generally are either all offset or 
xerox/offset. The offset places are always a lot more expensive to use than 
the xerox/offset places as their cilents typically are sucked in by the 
offset is better mentality. 

The particular print shop that I get my stuff done through will do either
xerox or offset depending on the size of the print run. Above 200 copies they
prefer to do offset. 

I'll cover my experinces with Xerox first.

  1) doing it yourself is a real pain, to get good results you have to keep
     your copier *clean* e.g you have to vacuum the thing after every run. 
     Typically print shops have constant maintenace on their copiers to make 
     sure they can get good results all the time. Can you afford to throw out
     a drum because a paper jam put a scratch on it? Generally there are much
     higher overheads than you might think involved in owning a copier. 

     As for buying one, just walk into your local Rank Xerox office and give
     them lots of money (or Cannon or ...) 

     Good xerox is almost as good as offset with the exception of doing
     photographs (which costs lots!) and you can run up to 120gm card 
     through a copier without any problems (the print shop I use does it
     all the time).

  2) Offset. Offset is only worthwhile if you have to have photos in your
     document. Usually the cost per page is around the same as the cost for
     xerox (sometimes even a little cheaper). What costs is making up the 
     plates (plastic for cheap copy shops and newspapers, metal for books)
     from your masters, and creating the bromides from your photos. 

     That is a high initial cost and it depends on your print run as to whether
     you are justified. For example consider that plates cost $2 to make 
     per page, that xeroxing costs $0.08 per page (both sides) and that 
     printing is roughly the same price. 

     200 copies @ 70 pages offset = 70 x $2 + 200 * 70 / 2 * $0.08
                                  = $700  
 
     200 copies @ 70 pages xerox  = 200 * 70 / 2 * $0.08
                                  = $560

     It's the plate cost that gets you everytime.

     The other problem with offset is that while the costs are about the 
     same *per page* once the plates have been done. Typically there is 
     a much higher profit margin. This is because most print shops that
     do offset do it for companies that are using offset as a sort of 
     status thing. They actually prefer to pay a bit more for the ability
     to say that their documents are offset. 

Back to the print shop I use, they'll do both xerox and offset. They'll charge
you around the same price for collation and heavy card cover for both 
processes and the only real difference is the extra cost for plates in the 
offset process. 

If you can't find a shop in your area that's prepared to do both. Start one
up, you'll make a mint. The key advantage is that they have to worry about
meeting your standards. and they have all the headaches of daily maintence
and so on.

My feeling is that you should shop around the print shops in your area and
find the one with the best prices. You may have to stick with xerox. But don't
buy a copier yourself not unless you want a lot of grief.

On the offset side, a person I knew brought a offset printer and plate maker
for around $NZ 1500 (about $US 750). He did really well until he discovered 
that he had to spend an hour cleaning the printer after each job. That you
have to hold your tongue just right to make plates and that people don't like
poor results even if you are chaging them cost. 

But it's a thought, check up on how much a offset printer will cost you. It
may well be a lot cheaper than the kind of xerox you're thinking of sinking
your bucks into (and a damned sight more reliable).

Hope this has been of help.

Regards
-- 
Alex Heatley : CSC, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
uucp :    alberta!calgary!vuwcomp!alex      ACSnet :  alex@vuwcomp.nz

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