Some people print out their own business cards on Avery business card sheets, and there's some legitimate reasons to do so. You're running to a job fair, and just need 10-20 business cards, and you need them TODAY. I get that. Go for it!
However, I was genuinely curious in a very geeky way: what's the price breakdown of creating your own homebrew cards versus getting a set of the least expensive business cards (and not from VistaPrint -- I'll do that price breakdown later). I started running some numbers just to see. I didn't apply discounts, coupons, or specials on either end. I assumed that someone had their own design (or did something very simple on their own) when figuring out my prices.
So let's show 3 options: the 200-250 low quantity category of cards, the 1000-card mid-range, which is the most popular in my experience, and the 2500 card high-test for the most avid networkers and larger busier businesses.
When your needs are very modest, just a few networking events scattered around the year, and you don't have many client-facing appointments, you might only need 250 cards. Or if you don't have a logo design locked down, or any branding, and you're brand-new in business. You haven't figured out your target client yet, and you "just need a card" to hand out while you're figuring things out -- the 200-250 range card set MIGHT be for you. (Or a business brainstorming session, but I digress...)
Avery
Staples price: $17.99 for 200 cards (based on Avery #5871 laser 200 clean edge cards)
Avery price per individual card: $.08995
Note: I picked their most expensive 200-250 pack on purpose. I cede the 250 card category: I lose on price alone, unless it costs you a good client because of poor quality. I win hands-down in the 200-250 card category on quality.
Eclectic Tech
$32 for 250
Price per card: $.128 (your own design, shipping included)
I never claimed to have the absolute best price on 250 cards. Usually I discourage customers from printing just 250 cards.
The most popular product category for the average business or sales person. It's usually a card for an individual who is exercising their networking muscles and getting out into the field.
Avery
$59.99 for 1000 (based on Avery #8471 Ink Jet 1000 cards, Staples price)
Price per card: $.0599
These are inkjet compatible cards, so don't get them wet. And don't feed them after midnight.
Eclectic Tech
$37.99 for 1000
Price per card: $.03799
At this point, let Eclectic Tech spend 1/2 hour ($35) making your design pretty and professional, you get $10 off the card order, and save time, frustration, ink, and embarassment. Well worth $3 bucks extra ($35 design, 27.99 cards = $62.99).
Avery
$113.09 for 2500 (based on Avery #5911 Laser cards, Staples price)
Price per card: $.045236
These are laser cards again. I didn't see inkjet-compatible packs of 2500 cards.
Eclectic Tech
$51.99 for 2500
Price per card: $.020796
I rest my case.
The answer is "maybe" depending entirely on the quantity of print, which paper pack you buy, and the cost of time & ink, much of which I couldn't account for. I didn't take into account any wasted Avery cards from faulty set-up. Let's assume you are perfect in lining up the cards in the template, send it through the printer correctly, and everything goes well so that the entire pack of cards you make on your own is usable. Then the 200-card Avery pack comes in cheaper by about 4¢ per card when compared with 250 digitally printed cards. So the inkjet pack of 250 would be even less expensive than digital printing of 250 cards.
When you move up to 1000 cards, the magic of digital printing shows. I chose the most economical pack of 1000 avery cards that I saw on Staples.com. When buying 1000 cards, going to digital printing wins both on price and on quality.
I'm not very surprised by the outcome here. But I want to summarize my professional opinion for the layperson.
Everything has a place, and that goes for the Avery business card sheets. I own some laser-compatible business cards! I've used them, I'd suggest you use them if you really need them. Obviously, people find them useful!
If you want to put your best foot -- or image -- forward for your business, I strongly suggest you leave printing to the professionals. You may think you're saving time and money by doing it on your own, but the risk of ruining the cardstock, having it print lopsided or be of lesser quality than perfect, or the poor quality of the cards themselves may end up costing you more in the long run than the few dollars it would take to make sure it's done professionally.
Good luck with your print project! If you need a similar comparison for postcards or other printable products let me know.
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As gas prices fluctuate up and down (but mostly up), the cost of milk rises, and the general increase in prices every where you turn, people are trying to find ways to save money. From extreme couponing to growing your own vegetables, there are plenty of ways you can try to save money. Another way people have started saving has been to print their own cards.
Printing your own cards (such as Christmas cards, New Years cards, Birthday cards, etc.) is an easy and fun way to save a bit of cash.
You may be wondering just how you’re going to save money when you start printing your own cards. Well, let’s take a look at the cost difference between buying a pre-printed card and printing your own card.
Most cards in the store will cost you about $5 a piece which doesn’t seem like a lot at first, but let’s look at how many people you send cards to on a yearly basis:
Above we’ve listed just 13 people you send cards to on a yearly basis. Just that list is $65 dollars if you buy each of them a pre-printed card! Now think about Christmas, Valentine’s day, Teacher Appreciation Day, the list could go on.
Don’t forget about the gas and time it takes you to go to the store to pick out a different card for each occasion. You can see how all of those cards can really add up!
Now look at the Print Your Own option. You buy some blank cards in bulk then print your own right from your home printer. How much are blank cards in bulk?
You can buy 250 blank greeting cards for $42.00 (before shipping). Already you have way more for less. But what about the ink/toner you’ll use for printing the cards? Believe it or not, it only costs about $0.05-$0.20 to print a single card, depending on your particular printer.
Let’s take a closer look at how you can figure out how much it will cost you to print your card. For this example we’ll use a Cyan ink cartridge for the HP Officejet 6500. In the description it states that the cartridge will yield 300 pages. If we divide 13.95 by 300 we get $0.0465, which we’ll round up to $0.05. Now that’s just Cyan, so let’s multiply what we have by four to get an estimated cost for all four inks: $0.20.
Some printers have more expensive ink than others and if you’re printing several full color photos on your card, add a few cents to your total. Let’s just estimate $0.25 total for a colorful card.
Now, how much are you paying for the paper? Well at 250 sheets for $42.00 (before shipping and handling) you’re only paying $0.17 per sheet (it’s actually $0.168, but we rounded up).
Combining your paper cost and ink costs, it’ll cost you a whopping $0.42 to print your own card.
Fun Note: $0.42 was the price of gas in 1973.
We mentioned several occasions and people you would send cards to on a yearly basis. What other occasions or people would you send cards to?
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