Prepress Billing

DigitalCrapShoveler · September 18, 2012, 01:00:38 PM

I recently discovered what my company actually charges for Prepress costs. I was floored to learn it was quite a bit lower than what I had been told. My questions for all of you are:

How much do you charge for Prepress time?
How much do you charge for plates? (Being specific on this one... we run 40" plates)
How much do you charge for imposition proofs? Do you charge for whole sheets, or by square foot, and how much per?

I have to totally redo our billing and I would like a general consensus to adjust accordingly.

I'm tired of giving this shit away and hearing how a raise is out of the question.

Thanks in advance.

DigitalCrapShoveler · September 18, 2012, 01:37:19 PM

If you are uncomfortable posting this information in public, please, please PM me. I can see why some of you would be apprehensive.

Ear · September 18, 2012, 01:41:40 PM

I will say, it is quite common to undercut prepress cost to win a bid. Not sure why, maybe they view the department as less overhead. I don't agree with doing this but I see it happen often.

DigitalCrapShoveler · September 18, 2012, 01:48:12 PM

I know for a fact it happens a lot more than I previously thought. Giving shit away however, is absurd.

t-pat · September 18, 2012, 01:55:59 PM

absurd R us.

andyfest · September 18, 2012, 02:00:07 PM

Quote from: DigitalCrapShoveler on September 18, 2012, 01:48:12 PMI know for a fact it happens a lot more than I previously thought. Giving shit away however, is absurd.

It happens more often than you think. Sales pukes will ditch prepress charges first if it is a dealmaker, especially if a new client is involved.

Lammy · September 18, 2012, 02:15:09 PM

They're not giving it away, it's just worked into the print price

DigitalCrapShoveler · September 18, 2012, 02:16:26 PM

Quote from: Lammy on September 18, 2012, 02:15:09 PMThey're not giving it away, it's just worked into the print price

I hear that a lot.

Lammy · September 18, 2012, 02:21:34 PM

yup, usually after they had to cut the cost on a job too.

Joe · September 18, 2012, 02:29:26 PM

The biggest problem I see is that almost are jobs are quoted for, and excuse the term I thoroughly hate, camera-ready jobs. Meaning jobs that require no prepress intervention because salesmen all know customers create perfect files and are flabbergasted when they learn the files are just a bunch of big brown turds.

DigitalCrapShoveler · September 18, 2012, 02:43:35 PM

From what I can gather, our estimator automatically figures in an hour of prep time for each job. According to my PM, any other time we add, is above this cost. Of course materials are given away at a cost to us, so why not throw a few dollars on the bill.

Joe · September 18, 2012, 02:46:13 PM

Back in my service bureau days we charged $245 per hour for computer prepress work and we sure as hell didn't give away the material at our cost. This was in the early 1990's. Which could also explain the demise of the service bureau. :laugh:

DigitalCrapShoveler · September 18, 2012, 02:49:42 PM

Quote from: Joe on September 18, 2012, 02:46:13 PMBack in my service bureau days we charged $245 per hour for computer prepress work and we sure as hell didn't give away the material at our cost. This was in the early 1990's. Which could also explain the demise of the service bureau. :laugh:

Yes, I know. I made AWESOME money back then.

Joe · September 18, 2012, 03:01:37 PM

Yes, I refer to them as The Glory Days. Queue up Springsteen.

andyfest · September 18, 2012, 04:29:09 PM

Yup, $200 plus per hour was normal back then. It's all pretty much flat rate now.

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Prepress Billing