Printing marketing items - trying to support local business's

socalkol

New member
So this week I called all over the local area trying to find a commercial print shop that could get "somewhere in the ballpark" of an online like gotprint. I was willing to pay a bit more to support local, but what i find was even worse then expected. The closest priced local shop for my 4.25x11 doorhangers for 500 of them was just under double then gotprint yet still had the same turn around time. The others ranged all the way 3.5x gotprints price. I understand internet businesses benefit from bulk, but does anyone pay this extreme of a premium to try to support local?

The price premium is ontop of paying shipping for gotprint.. I included that in my comparison.
 
GotPrint is a nationwide printer, I figure you already know this, but their advantage is being able to print hundreds of jobs at the same time at multiple locations around the country. They are highly automated, where a local print shop probably has to load most jobs by hand and are doing 5-10 jobs a day (if they're lucky).

It's hard to beat mass production lines.
 
GotPrint is a nationwide printer, I figure you already know this, but their advantage is being able to print hundreds of jobs at the same time at multiple locations around the country. They are highly automated, where a local print shop probably has to load most jobs by hand and are doing 5-10 jobs a day (if they're lucky).

It's hard to beat mass production lines.

I was aware of part of this... it just somewhat pains me to not be able to pay a slight premium to support local...going from $400 to$ 500-550 per say instead of 400 to 700+.

Thanks for the insight though it is appreciated. I was not quite aware of just how big gotprint was
 
I think the same way, I prefer to support the locals, but my experience has been the same ... huge gap in pricing even without the shipping.
 
If a printer wants some of my business its not about price. I want to network and get referrals from him. If I get referrals and I can make a profit vs. a higher print cost and buying local, its a no brainer. Join a networking group and share business in your community.
 
If a printer wants some of my business its not about price. I want to network and get referrals from him. If I get referrals and I can make a profit vs. a higher print cost and buying local, its a no brainer. Join a networking group and share business in your community.
Same here I agree with this I printed out some buisness cards from my local printer in exchange for referrals. I was able to clean so far 2 houses and a building which paid for all my ad materials from him! So I don't mind paying the extra
 
Local print shops have been desimated by both the Internet and desktop publishing. I have a friend who had two very successful/profitable shops in downtown Portland - used to make a Lot of money. Worked hard and didn't make a wrong move, but he's done - out of biz and broke.
 
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