Quick Consultant: New Pricing Survey Launched

I'm worried! I just realized that if and when (doubtful) the Treasury Department or the Commerce Department calls me, asking for advice on solving the myriad of financial challenges facing this country, I am going to decline the offer.

As much as I would like to help, my calculator from Office Depot simply doesn't go up that high. You know, it's bad enough when you're trying to stay on top of the printing industry in terms of profits, pricing strategy, and sales, but trying to resolve the best way to handle $700 billion dollar bailout packages and $50 billion dollar loans for the "big three" automakers is too much for my calculator to handle.

Seriously, how many of you can quickly write out $700 billion without starting from the right and counting zeros as you move your way over to the left. Let's see now, "thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, billions!" Well, my calculator can only handle 10 digits. After that, I just get an "E" for error. Ten digits can only display a measly $1 billion, which to paraphrase the late Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-IL) is hardly worth counting, so I guess that means I cannot play with the big boys.

Can you imagine showing up for your first day at the Treasury Department, where you've been hired to work on budget projections, only to discover that your rinky-dink calculator can't even handle all the zeros the budget calculations will throw at you? How embarrassing! Do you suppose that government employees at Treasury and Commerce automatically get special calculators with extra large display windows for calculating the national debt and budget?

Well, let's face it. By now, most of us have done all we can on behalf of the economy at the present time. We voted this past November and now the country's economic future is in the hands of President elect Barack Obama and the new Congress. Like most Americans, I wish them the best of luck and I say a small prayer as well that they will be guided in the best direction.

We Don't Need Luck

Okay, assuming that neither the Treasury nor the Commerce Departments will be asking for my help, I am going to return to my roots and offer a couple of suggestions for coping with some of the problems and challenges facing our industry.

First and foremost, I don't know of a single printer with blood in his veins who doesn't have at least some concern about the outlook for his or her future sales, profits, and general financial stability, especially in light of the current recession.

Assuming you are one of those concerned owners, let me offer you the best piece of free advice I can and that is that you should visit this website today and download and complete NAQP's 2009 Industry Pricing Survey: www.surveyadvantage.com/naqp09pricing. All I can promise is that you will be glad you did.

Conducted on a biennial basis, the Industry Pricing Survey is by far the single most popular study conducted in the printing industry. Typically attracting more than 350 participants, and with hundreds of studies sold afterwards, this study covers a broad range of products and services in our industry. Year after year, printers from around the country praise this study as an ideal tool for fine-tuning computerized systems as well as letting a printer know where he or she stands in comparison to their peers.

Below are just a few of the pricing topics covered in this survey:

• DTP hourly typesetting and design rates
• Preflight fees
• Scanning charges
• Charges for CTP plates
• Regular and aggressive digital color pricing
• Color copier ratings
• Regular and aggressive black-and-white pricing
• Offset pricing for one- and two-color products
• Basic bindery charges (folding, padding, cutting)
• Standard paper markup rates
• Standard markups for brokered work

Best of all, by completing this survey, you will receive a copy of the entire study absolutely free. Remember, what you will receive is not an abbreviated or condensed version, but the complete study, which typically averages 75+ pages.

How to Participate in Pricing Survey