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NPRC Launches New Pricing Survey

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You’re invited to participate in new NPRC survey…
Complete Our Digital Pricing Survey & Receive
A Study Worth $225+ Absolutely FREE!

 

 

Dear Fellow Printer – NPRC is once again launching its most popular and long-standing biennial survey – the 2023-24 Digital Color Pricing Survey.  

We’ve been producing top-notch, highly accurate pricing surveys such as this for more than 25 years, but we can’t do it without your help. We ask you to participate and complete our survey and in return we will work 24-7 in late January and February to deliver a top-notch product that will provide you with accurate pricing info for dozens and dozens of products and services.
We need the support and participation of owners such as yourself to produce these top-notch studies. As always, participants will receive a FREE PDF copy of the final study – a 100-page report that will retails for $240 or more when it is released in early March 2023.
The final study will report both average and median prices for dozens and dozens of products and services – items such as carbonless forms, digital long sheets, rack cards, postcards, 6 X 9″ and 8.5 X 11″ booklets and directories, flyers, catalog sheets, as well as click charges and stock mark-up practices just to name a few. 
#1 Worksheet to Survey – This method is the most efficient. You download and print out a survey worksheet, complete it at your leisure over a 2-3 day period. When the worksheet is completed, you will then be directed to our official on-line survey site where you will transfer your answers to the online survey. We estimate that this method entails an additional 10-15 minutes, but you have more time to complete the process. CLICK HERE  or the GREEN button below to download and print the PDF Worksheet.
#2 Direct Submission of Survey – This approach is slightly faster, but is also fraught with potential problems as well, including the chance of losing all of your answers in the event you cannot complete the survey in one sitting. If you’ve participated in the past, are super fast and preparing dozens of estimates in a timely fashion then go for it, BUT it is not what we would recommend. Ideally, the on-line survey needs to be completed in one sitting.* CLICK HERE  or the RED button below to go directly to the on-line survey. *(It is possible to pause and then return to an incomplete survey and continue entering data, but we don’t guarantee that.)

NPRC Launches New “Classifieds”

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NPRC is proud to announce the launching of a brand new feature – a free Classified Section where folks can list equipment for sale, equipment they are looking for as well as other services normally found in a classified department.

The NPRC Classifieds can also be used to post job vacancies as well as by individuals seeking new employment in the industry. So if you’ve got a digital or offset press for sale, or a paper drill or creaser you’d like to move, or you are seeking a management level job in some other section of the country then visit the classifieds today.  Simply click on the “CLASSIFIEDS”  tab at the top of this page or go to: https://printingresearch.org/classifieds-2/ Please NO Dealer Ads. 

Pricing Digital Envelopes – NPRC’s Newest Report

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Download NPRC’s newest survey results – NPRC’s Mini-Survey #4 is now available for immediate download. This new report tackles pricing for #10/24 envelopes. The survey was conducted Jan. 24-26 with the results released exclusively to participants via email on Jan. 28 & 31. The survey attracted 114 participants.

NPRC’s latest survey tackles pricing for both regular and window envelopes, black and 4C. Although the survey was not intended to exclusively survey digital printing, 74% of those responding indicated they would use a digital printer to produce envelopes in these quantities. In fact, approximately 31% of respondents said they no longer utilize offset presses to produce envelopes in the 500 – 2,500 quantity range.

A special announcement about future surveys – The results of future surveys will be provided only to participants. Firms desiring to obtain one of surveys in the future will either have to participate in the survey itself, or pay a modest fee to purchase the reports when published, explains John Stewart, NPRC’s Executive Director.

In the past, many printers chose not to participate because they knew they would still get the results free without their participation, thus placing the burden on other printers who they trusted would complete the survey. Now the association is basically switching to a “Play or pay” approach, explains Stewart.

To download the results of our latest mini-survey, click here.

NPRC Publishes 2022 Profit Leader Ratio Sheet

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NPRC has just released a brand-new, one-page sheet outlining five key ratios for industry “Profit leaders.”

The 2022 Financial Model & Goals Sheet is a one-page summary for owners who aspire to achieve or maintain “profit leader” status in the printing industry. The data is based upon statistics drawn from various statistical studies published in the past 18-24 months.

Ratios covered include Cost of Sales, Payroll Expenses, Operating Expenses, Owner’s Compensation and Sales Per Employee.

We encourage you to print-out this goal sheet and post it conspicuously in your office where you can monitor through the year.

To download your copy, click here.

2021 Wage & Benefits Study

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The 2021 NPRC Printing Industry Wage & Benefits Study is one of the most popular reports published by NPRC. It contains 150+ pages of the very latest wage and salary data for 24 key positions in the printing industry. This brand new report also covers sales and compensation practices for outside sales representatives.

Specific positions covered include general managers, production managers, Sr. and Jr. customer service representatives, Digital and Offset press operators, graphic designers as well as bindery operators and mailing specialists, just to name a few. This year’s survey also included employees assigned to producing signs and large format.

 

Wages & salaries are broken down based upon population density, geographic location, sales and profitability.  Discover what firms your size in similar markets are paying for specific positions such as press operators, bindery assistants and delivery technicians. Click here or the artwork to the left to download and view the Table of Contents for the 2021 Wage & Benefits Study.

Complimentary Copies Distributed – If you’re one of the 200+ firms that participated in this popular industry recent survey you should expect to receive your FREE, complimentary copy of the study between Nov. 4-6th. If you did not receive your copy please drop us an email at: [email protected].

 

2021 Wage & Benefits Study PDF
Price… $179.00
To order your copy, visit the NPRC Bookstore.

 

 

Paper Shortage Creates Marketing Opportunity

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Current Supply Chain Interruptions
Create PR Opportunities for Printers

Not sure if interruptions and delays in acquiring various papers has impacted your operations, but if it has we have a suggestion or two to offer.

We recently experienced three or four specific incidents where we found ourselves madly hunting around for paper that we normally would be able to order and receive within a couple of days. Even fairly common stocks such as coated stocks and specialty window envelopes are increasingly more difficult to find.

Well, at the very least we thought we would kill two birds with one stone by alerting our customers that the shortage is real and also encourage orders that if not placed early might not be processed at all.

Below is a simple draft of a news release (actually my wife’s printing firm) that we sent out to 1,800+ customers using Mailchimp. Mailchimp is not my favorite program but it serves Paragon’s purpose.

Anyway, feel free to copy and or modify the text below in whatever way you want. I would advise using something like, “XYZ Printing Issues Urgent Warning” as a subject line for whatever news release you choose to send out. It is eye-catching, dramatic, and should result in a fairly good open rate of 18-25% or more.

Please let us know if you follow up on this suggestion and how it worked.

John Stewart, Executive Director
National Printing Research Council (NPRC)
[email protected]

Please be sure to let us know if you find this article useful. Email us at: [email protected]

Sample News Release – Feel free to modify

Expect Significant Delays in Printing Orders
Advises Owner of Paragon Printing & Graphics

There is currently a serious shortage in both domestic and internationally manufactured papers, and the shortage is not expected to end anytime soon, warns Paragon Printing & Graphics.

The causes of the shortages are numerous, ranging from serious disruptions in the supply chain to the inability of the paper industry, both nationally and globally, to respond to an increasing demand for goods and services.

“When the pandemic first began, many paper mills either shut down their machines, or converted machines to produce other paper materials like board stock, or dramatically limited the types and weights of papers being produced,” explains Paragon Printing & Graphics owner Mary Stewart.

“With paper products of almost all types becoming progressively more difficult to acquire, it is critical that business owners try to anticipate future needs and place orders well in advance,” Stewart adds.

“The shortage in paper is very real and it is affecting both specialty papers as well as what we used to consider commodity house stocks such as offset and coated stocks,” notes Stewart. “Last week a customer attempted to place a re-order for a popular window envelope.

“Normally, we would process that order in less than four days. As it turned out, the paper mill that would normally produce this product was weeks behind, and no one could tell us when this product would be available. Fortunately, our customer was willing to accept an alternate choice,” Stewart relates.

The lesson to be learned? Printing orders that used to be completed in 2-3 days may take as long as 2-3 weeks depending upon shortages and delays in the supply chain, and customers need to place orders as far in advance as possible, advises Stewart.

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NPRC Releases 2021-22 Sign Study

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Yes, it’s now available! The NPRC 2021-2022 Signs & Wide Format Pricing Study is now ready for purchase.

Survey participants, entitled to a complimentary copy of the study, received personalized emails on Sept. 9, 10 and 13th. The emails incorporated “URGENT” in the subject line and provided detailed instructions for downloading.

SPECIAL NOTICE: Please carefully check your email client and confirm that www.printingresearch.org is whitelisted. Doing so will insure that you will be among the first to receive announcements from NPRC regarding this study’s content and availability.

This new study provides average, median and per piece pricing for dozens of products and services provided in the signs and wide format industry. Included in this study is pricing data for banners (horizontal and vertical), feather flags, foam core and coroplast signs, aluminum signs, contour cut decals, vehicle decals, flat surface vehicle wraps and vinyl signs, just to name a few.

The 2021-22 Signs & Wide Format Pricing Study also explores general industry pricing across a broad spectrum of firms, plus it also details pricing by firms based upon their overall sign sales. View the Table of Contents here.

The 110-page study (PDF Version) will retail for $186.00 for non-members and $93.00 for NPRC members. Orders are normally processed within two hours of receipt. Visit the NPRC Bookstore to place your order.

Sign Survey Accommodates Firms of All Sizes!

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DON’T BE SHY – EVERY SIZE FIRM IS ELIGILE!

  • “Heck, most of the firms that participate in these surveys are way bigger than my company and my prices won’t relate.”
  • “Hey, most of the participants are little firms that don’t really know how to price their products.”
  • “I sometimes doubt that companies that complete these surveys are really typical of the industry?”

If you’ve considered participating in an industry survey BUT found yourself expressing some of the same thoughts as noted above we ask you to reconsider. Our surveys truly represent a good cross-section of our industry. To prove our point we’ve listed below some basic early findings from some of our first survey participants. As a general rule, we tend to attract participants with annuals sales in the $400,000 range upwards to a few firms with sales in the $4-6 million.

The same is true for levels of productivity as measured by Sales Per Employee or SPE. Regardless of the survey, we tend to attract firms with very high levels of productivity as well as those at the opposite end of the spectrum.

PROFILE OF EARLY 2021 SIGN SURVEY PARTICIPANTS
• Average total 2020 sales…. $1,347,995
• Median total 2020 sales… $540,936

• Aver. # of Employees… 10.95
• Median # of Employees… 5.5

• Average SPE… $123,104
• Median SPE… $98,352

• Sign sales vs. total sales (Average)… 34%
• Sign sales vs. total sales (Median)… 20%

Average Pricing for Brokered Business Cards

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Curious about what fellow printers charge for 4/0 and 4/4 brokered  business cards? You’ve come to the right place. Brokered Business Cards as well as regular business cards are just two of more than 90+ products and services featured in the 2021-2022 Digital Color Pricing Study published by the National Printing Research Council (NPRC)

CLICK HERE OR IMAGE ABOVE to download above page.

Other products included in this just released pricing study include carbonless forms, rack cards, postcards, flyers, catalog sheets as well as newsletters and stationery. Click here to download and view the complete table of contents from this popular study.

Retail Price (PDF)… $225
Retail Price (Hard Copy)… $245

Remember, all NPRC publications are sold on a 100% money-back guarantee basis if you are not totally satisfied that it is everything we promised!

* Most orders are processed almost immediately. HOWEVER, orders placed on Friday’s, or prior to holidays will likely be delayed and not processed or shipped until the following Monday. IMPORTANT: If you place an order with NPRC you should typically receive it within two hours or less. Be sure and check your spam and trash folders and make sure that our domain [email protected] is “whitelisted”