Worked scenario
The estimate assumed artwork that would print cleanly
Pre-press correction is real labour on most jobs and is quoted for on almost none, because the quote is given before anyone has seen the file.
3 min read
A customer asks for a price on a job. The printer quotes on quantity, stock and process. The artwork arrives three days later and cannot be printed as supplied.
Where the hour goes
Someone in pre-press fixes it. That work is real, skilled, and invisible: it was not in the quote, it does not appear on the invoice, and it is not recorded against the job.
A stated standard changes the conversation
Published artwork requirements let the printer say a file does not meet them, which is a factual statement rather than a complaint. Most customers will either fix it or accept a charge; what they resist is being told after the fact.
The pattern is concentrated
A minority of customers supply most of the problem files, repeatedly. Without recording pre-press time against jobs, that pattern is invisible and the printer subsidises the same accounts indefinitely.
What changes
- Artwork checked against a stated standard before the quote is confirmed
- Pre-press time recorded against the job that consumed it
- Correction quoted as a line rather than absorbed
- Repeat customers whose files always need work identified
Questions about anything here, or a situation this does not cover? contact@anantatechhub.com