Kinko's

["George F. Hayhoe" <george -at- GHAYHOE -dot- COM>]

Elna Tymes was surprised that Kinko's came in with the low bid
on a printing job.

Remember that paper and prorated equipment cost are the most
expensive components of any printing job. Since Kinko's is such
a large chain, they have the clout to buy paper comparatively
cheaply and resell it to their franchisees at very competitive
rates. Ditto with highspeed copying/collating/binding equipment.

I don't think that the assumed fact that Kinko's pays their
operators minimum wage is much of a factor here. If a print job
requires only 1 hour of operator labor (that sounds generous
based on Elna's description), the difference between minimum
wage and--say--$10/hour is only $0.06/copy of the book. (I'm not
justifying the practice of paying no more than minimum wage,
just saying it's not germane in this case.)

I've discovered in the past 18 months that I knew absolutely
nothing about the economics of printing and publishing in my
previous 20 years in this business. I still don't know much, but
I'm learning.   :)

--George Hayhoe

George Hayhoe Associates
Voice: +1 803-642-2156
Fax: +1 803-642-9325
Award-winning Web site: http://www.ghayhoe.com

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