-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Large format printer printing cost
Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:01:52 -0300
From: James Boxall <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
We continue to have the same experience as the UGL in terms of price
breaks compared to other (and being nicer :-)
We are raising prices to $7,8 and 9 per linear foot depending upon print
and paper quality.
We are half the cost of the local Kinkos and other print shops, and
pretty close to others on campus.
Our turn around time is very fast so people migrate to us because the
waiting times at other locations
tends to be long. We have basically hired one student to take care of
all "graphics" and the printing revenue
covers most of that, and their "downtime" goes towards other duties in
maps and GIS.
Our administration has agreed with my view that this is a good service
even though it does "cost" us a little more
than supplies. The flow through traffic for GIS and the map collection
has increased (not that we really needed more work)
which has meant more people know who we are, where we are located, and
what we can do. It is a loss leader and a
means to advertise, and a heck of a good service for students cash
strapped and faculty who really need top notch graphic
work along with plotting. Once they get in the door, people ask what we
are about and we then have a captive audience
to explain the wonders and power of maps and GIS, how great our staff
are, the role we can play in the educational process
and the current research and teaching we do. Combined with other
marketing efforts.......we become a cool place...and cool
is good, safe and attractive for further funding/projects/grants. At
least that's the theory...but one takes a risk no matter what...
As a side note....
Our local radio morning show with the CBC (our better version of NPR :-)
had a big birthday party.....most of this region listens
to the show each day.....we found out they had a photo of the first
birthday they would display...a small photo of limited quality..
we got them to send the photo and had it blown up and touched it up and
plotted it...then the host came by to pick it up and
have a chat.....and then they displayed it...and thanked us on air for
the help......
how much would that level of advertising have cost us? as well as the
contacts with the show for future stories???
long live the plotters! :-) :-)
Maps-L Moderator wrote:
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: Large format printer printing cost
> Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2008 10:19:22 -0400 (EDT)
> From: Hallie Pritchett <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
>
> We have a large format scanner/printer combination & charge $.01 (1
> cent) per square inch, print or digital output - at this rate most
> maps cost less than $15 to print. Large format scanning & printing is
> not self-serve, mainly because we don't want to turn the public loose
> on our rather expensive hardware.
>
> One other thing to consider when setting large format printing costs
> is how busy you expect or want to be. At my previous position we had
> to raise our prices because we were swamped with non-library related
> poster printing requests. Our original prices undercut the
> campus-wide copy service prices by almost half & people thought our
> staff was "nicer" to deal with than their was. Not that there's
> anything wrong with being nice, of course, but we were rapidly
> becoming a print shop rather than a map library with a large format
> printer on the side & the administration prefered we remain a map
> library.
>
> Hallie Pritchett
> Map and Federal Regional Depository Librarian
> University of Georgia Libraries
> Athens, GA 30602
> [log in to unmask]
> 706-542-0690 FAX: 706-583-0631
> http://www.libs.uga.edu/maproom/
> http://www.libs.uga.edu/govdocs/
>
--
James C. Boxall, FRGS
GIS Centre and Map Collection
Killam Memorial Library
6225 University Avenue,
Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia,
B3H 4H8 Canada
http://www.dal.ca
[log in to unmask]
902.494.6126/6719 (o)
902.494.2062 (f)
President, Geomatics Association of Nova Scotia
Past President, Canadian Cartographic Association
Lecturer and Adjunct Professor in Geography, Planning,
Environmental Sciences and Geospatial Information Management
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