The Hidden Costs of Cheap Printers and How They Ruin Brands
The cheapest quote is always the most expensive mistake you will ever make.
2 minute read · Grosvenor & Guild Print, London
A low quote is not a saving. It is a transfer of risk from the printer to you. Here are the failures we see most often in work brought to us for rescue, and what they really cost.
Where the saving comes from
A printer who quotes 40 percent below the market has not discovered a secret. They have removed something: the proof, the press check, the grain direction check, the sewing, the quality inspection or the experienced operator. You will find out which one when the boxes arrive.
The five failures we see most
Almost every rescue job that reaches Albemarle Street shows one or more of the following.
- Spine cracking: hot melt glue on a thick block, splits on first opening
- Glue bleeding: adhesive squeezed into the gutter, pages stuck together
- Off centre trimming: text drifting toward one edge, borders uneven
- Colour shift: pages printed on different days without a reference sheet
- Late delivery: a launch date missed because the run was pushed behind larger jobs
What a failed run actually costs
The reprint is the smallest cost. Add the launch event that went ahead without books, the reviews that never came, the retailer who will not reorder and the client who now associates your brand with a cracked spine. For a corporate client the reputational cost of handing a poorly made book to a prospect can exceed the entire print budget many times over.
How to protect yourself
A few questions separate serious printers from the rest.
- Will you supply a printed and bound dummy before the run?
- Is the hardback sewn, and may I see the sewing?
- Can I attend a press check?
- What is your delivery guarantee and what happens if it is missed?
- May I speak to a client who printed something similar?
Compare the quality before you compare the price
Request the Grosvenor and Guild sample pack and put it next to whatever the cheapest quote produced last time. The decision usually makes itself.
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