One of my clients wants me to print and send welcome packets for her. It looks like each will be about 6 pages and, initially, there will quite a lot of them (25+). After that, there will probably only be about 5 per month.

Since they will be personalized, I will have to print them from my computer. So I'm not sure how or if I should charge her for ink. Any suggestions?

I don't charge for incidentals like ink and paper, etc. usually (unless it's a huge print run and then I'd likely use a professional printing service) as these things are wrapped into the hourly rate. Not sure what everyone else does but am curious to find out.

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Hi.

There's a couple of ways you could go about this.

If you have a really good laster printer that makes good quality prints, you might want to look up a per page print job at Staples, Kinkos, etc, and quote a similar price.

Or You could buy or have her buy for you a toner cartridge and a ream of paper to use only for her print jobs. This would ensure the quality of paper is in line with her business standards.

Or, you could prepare the document and ship it off to Staples, Kinkos, etc (if there is one nearby) and have them do the printing, and charge the print cost back to the client.

Since I have a brand new color laser printer, I'd probably go with # 1 or #2, calculating out the cost of the print job per page and quote that to the client with the contracted markup for cost.

I know color copies at Staples cost .99 per page, + the file opening charge of $2.49 (make the all the packets into one .pdf file to save on this charge). Black and white copies cost .10 per page + sales tax. The killer there for me is that the nearest Staples is a 1 1/2 hr round trip, so that's more time and mileage. Binding, stapling, collating, etc are extra.

Be sure to get specifics on the type or weight of paper to be used, and add in any other costs, folder, binder, envelopes, postage, etc. plus your time.

Does this help?

Great answer, kathyscache. I can't believe you wouldn't charge for this, Tess. That's a lot of toner. Maybe if I had a more upscale printer, the toner would stretch further, but it sure doesn't last long in general, and costs a bundle. I'm flabbergasted that color copies are close to $1 each, but it's true. No way I'd wrap this into my hourly rate.

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Mary H. Ruth/Virtual Writing & Communications
http://www.writingVA.com

I might normally wrap it into the hourly rate. But this was my first client, so I gave her a "special introductory rate", as I wasn't even fully up and running at the time.

I like the idea of charging her for a toner cartridge, which I would only use for her printing. I think I may go with that.

I wouldn't charge a client for printing reports, that is included in my fee, but if I was doing a mailing or something for them I would charge for the additional cost. If I use a printer I charge the printing fees, If I do it myself (it depends on volume) then I charge them actual cost.

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Rebecka Melson ~ Virtual Business Services

Originally Posted by Donovanassist

I might normally wrap it into the hourly rate. But this was my first client, so I gave her a "special introductory rate", as I wasn't even fully up and running at the time. I like the idea of charging her for a toner cartridge, which I would only use for her printing. I think I may go with that.

I would just come up with a per sheet cost based on the cost of the cartridge/paper, etc. You can check the cartridge specs to find out how much a cartridge yields.

For instance:

Cartridge yields 1,500 sheets at 5% coverage @ $48.76 / 1,500 = $.03
Paper yields 5,000 sheets per box @ $37.92 / 5,000 = $.01

Cost per page would be $.04 per sheet.

If your page is more than 5% coverage you could increase the $.03 appropriately. It is also standard to add an up-charge for wear and tear on equipment. Make sure to include sales tax in your figures.

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Rebecka Melson ~ Virtual Business Services

I offer one copy free and then charge $1.00 per page for colour printing. I did printing in colour for one client because she was stuck for time and didn't charge for the toner but going forward that is going to change. I have a HP3600N colour printer and the toner is expensive - I bought this printer a year and a half ago and now it costs more to fill the printer with toner than it costs to replace the printer (which comes with full toner cartridges) The printer now retails for $349 and each of the four colour toner cartridges cost $162 - Go figure It's bad for the environment when printers are pretty much disposable.

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Julia

I would charge for printing simply because I don't own a printer right now. I go to Kinko's myself when I need to print. That's going to change in the future. I think I would still charge for printing if it was a big job (more than 10 pages).

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DeAnna Troupe's VA Service
http://www.deannatroupe.com

I agree with Rebecka. When I print for my one client (large print job) I charge the actual cost for ink and paper and add for wear and tear on my printer. I can actually purchase a cartridge for my printer that printers more pages per cartidge so I get more printing out of a single cartridge. I do not charge an upcharges on the costs of this since I am billing for time on the project as well.

If it is normal printing of reports or occasional correspondence then I include it in the scope of the quote.

Don't forget about postage charges too!

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Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

I just went to a finance and billing training for my "day job" and they were talking about how they bill their clients -- its a consulting firm. All these years I didn't realize that they charge a "communication fee" of from 1% to 1.6% to cover printing and phone usage. I thought it was an interesting concept. Not sure what I'm going to do with that information yet, but I thought it was interesting.

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Tamika R. Johnson, MBA, Principal
administrative partners, llc
www.administrativepartners.net | http://adminpartners.blogspot.com

I have to disagree somewhat with your answers.

You should charge a flat rate per packet or you should break it down per piece. The best solution is to charge a flat rate per packet.

When it comes to printing the job. The rule of thumb is purchase a color laser printer (recommend HP avg $500) and do the job in house. If the project is run is 500 or less per month, you do it inhouse (at home). This includes B&W white copies.

Now if you do decided to go to Kinkos, Staples or extra and you are going to run them in bulk. Go to stapes or office depot and sign up for staples reward program. Your pricing will be better and you will get a rewards check to use at staples quarterly. My average is $50 dollars a month.

Kinkos is suppose to charge a set up fee average $25 per project if there is any collating or etc. Lot of times the collating is done by the machine and they will charge you manual labor.

I used to be manager for Kinkos for 6 years and I have manage facilities sites for law firms, gov't and private offices.

Not at my personal computer, but let me see if I still have some of the links to use to help with the cost.


Julian

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Julian Johns
Administrative Data Services

I recently had to do this with a new client. I'm printing their monthly letter on my home printer and mailing it out for them. They sent me envelopes and stamps; I charge them $0.10 per page for printing. I figured out the cost per page (cost of paper and ink) and then rounded up to $0.10. I have a small printer and the ink carts don't last very long. It works for me, though, as I don't do a lot of it.

I have done it both ways. Charged for number of copies and paper with the added charge of toner, plus my labor costs. Also, if I actually designed the product as well, I would have a fee for creating the design of the project for the business. But after the initial costs, if they come back for reprinting of same documents, then I would just do a basic hourly fee.

Wow, thanks for posting this thread. As a newbie I found it interesting, I guess because I hadn't considered a large print job. I will definately be charging clients for printing in these circumstances.