Print pricing looks arbitrary from the outside because the biggest cost is invisible: most of the work happens before the first good sheet comes off the press. Understanding where the money goes is the whole trick to spending less of it.
1. Setup — the cost that does not scale
Preparing a job, imposing it, setting up the press and matching colour costs roughly the same whether you are printing 100 copies or 5,000. That fixed cost is then divided across however many copies you order.
This is why the per-unit price falls so steeply at the low end and barely moves at the high end, and why two jobs printed separately cost meaningfully more than the same two printed together. It is also why minimum quantities exist at all.
2. Stock — the one you choose
Paper is priced by weight, so heavier costs more, and coated stocks cost more than uncoated. The size of the piece matters more than it appears: an A4 flyer uses four times the paper of an A6, so a decision made early about format sets the floor on everything else.
3. Ink coverage
A page with a full-bleed dark background uses dramatically more ink than one that is mostly white. It also takes longer to dry, which can affect finishing. This is rarely the largest factor, but it is a real one on long runs.
4. Finishing
Every operation after printing — laminating, folding, scoring, trimming to shape, binding — is a separate pass with its own setup. Finishing is often the single biggest line on a job that looked cheap to print.
5. Freight — the one you cannot design around
Paper is heavy. Freight is charged on the actual weight of the order and the delivery postcode, so 5,000 A4 flyers to a regional address is a genuine cost, not a rounding error. Our shipping is quoted on real weight and your postcode at checkout, not estimated — and local pickup from our Victorian premises is free when enabled.
What this means in practice
- Order in one run rather than three. You pay setup once.
- Check the price at the next quantity up before you commit — it is often much closer than you expect.
- Choose the size before anything else. It sets paper cost and freight together.
- Question every finishing option. Each is a separate pass.
How to reduce your printing costs works through each of those with specifics.