The first step in pricing is to determine how the product can be laid out on the sheets used by the printer – that is, how many copies fit on one sheet (this is what we call digital imposition), and whether only one or both sides of the paper need to be printed, and in what way: in color or black and white, or perhaps with gold, silver, white or clear varnish spot colors (clicks). Depending on the product's size and extent (e.g. a 4-page publication), more or fewer copies can be placed on one sheet.
The total production cost is based on the following:
- total amount of paper,
- number and color mode of the clicks (that is, how many sheet sides the machine prints),
- bindery operations (cutting, folding, spiral binding, binding, etc.).
The role of paper in pricing
The type of paper you choose – just like the paper weight – has a big effect on the price. Paper is typically priced by weight.
A simple but good-quality offset (uncoated) paper costs a few forints per sheet, while special, textured or tinted creative papers can be considerably more expensive, costing as much as several hundred forints per sheet.
About clicks
In digital printing, a "click" (in Hungarian: "klikk") is a billing unit; it means printing one side, regardless of content (it can be black and white or color).
The click charge is the cost charged for printing one side. This is because operators of digital presses often use click-based billing to cover the costs of printing services, consumables (e.g. toner) and maintenance.
Color vs. black-and-white click:
- color click: comes at a higher cost, since it requires more toner use and maintenance.
- black-and-white click: cheaper, since it uses fewer resources.
Bindery operations
Next come the bindery operations, such as cutting, since the finished product still has to be cut to size from the sheets. The cutting cost per copy gets proportionally smaller the larger the quantity, since we can cut the paper all at once, arranged in stacks – this makes the work faster and more efficient.
So pricing is determined not only by the clicks and the cost of paper. Further factors:
- finishing work: folding, stitching, spiral binding, corner rounding, etc.,
- special surface treatments: film lamination, pouch lamination.
Quantity discounts
The more copies are made, the more the costs of the bindery operations are spread out, especially if they can be done in stacks – and as a result the unit price goes down.
The printing discount is tiered, and is credited as a percentage.
