Note to Printer: Every printer has at one time or another been asked to print on a customer's own paper. Sometimes this presents no problems, but sometimes it is devastating to production. We came up with Customer Information Sheet after having gotten burned bad on an envelope job for a church. Someone had donated them a large number of envelopes and they wanted us to print them. We tried and only about 15% of the job was commercially acceptable. The envelopes were stuck together, not flat, etc. The customer, of course, wanted us to replace them and was upset even after we explained the situation. To make certain it never happened again and to make certain that there was no question but what the customer knew what our policy was, rather than have a Customer Service Person explain it to the customer, only to have them tells that no one said anything to them if the job causes problems, we came up with this. You can import this into your word processor and edit it for your own use. The filename is CFPAPER.TXT. CUSTOMER FURNISHED PAPER Printing on customer furnished paper stock presents a number of serious problems to the printer. What happens if the paper supplied is in such a condition that it will not feed through the press? What if it will not print to the desired quality? What if the customer failed to supply the quantity needed? What is done with any excess paper? As a result, many printers do not offer this service. It is generally far more expensive to have the printer print on your stock than it is to have him provide the stock. Some reasons for this are noted below: 1. The stock must sit in the printer's shop for a long enough period of time for the moisture content and temperature to reach the level of his shop. 2. Every printing job has a spoilage factor due to make-ready, ink run-up, print run and bindery. Spoilage will normally be higher than normal since the printer may have to determine proper ink and water balance by trial and error in order to do an acceptable job of printing, especially if the stock is not one the printer normally uses. Customers are generally astounded when they learn the amount of paper it takes to set-up and run their job. 3. If for some reason the job is spoiled, the printer may not have a source to replace the particular stock the customer provided or must spend a great deal of time tracking it down. Even if he were able to find the stock, the customer would be billed for any additional stock required. 4. If the stock has been subjected to high heat or moisture (such as sitting in an auto's trunk or back seat), or has bent corners, etc., running the stock may take significantly longer to run - if it will run at all. You will be paying for all of the make-ready and wasted presstime with the possibility that your stock simply won't run. All you will get is what remains of your unimprinted stock, plus a bill for the presstime wasted. 5. When a printer estimates the selling price of a job, his paper stock price includes a make-ready and spoilage factor and the paper's share of overhead and profit. That factor must be added when stock is furnished by the customer. In keeping in mind these factors, your printer will normally print on customer provided stock under the following conditions: Offset Printing: 1. Paper stock or supplies furnished by the customer shall be properly packed in original mill package, free from dirt, grit, torn sheets, cut square and generally in good running condition. 2. Paper furnished must be in quantity specified by the printer. 3. Paper must be provided with the grain direction specified by the printer. 4. The printer will not assume responsibility for the accuracy of the quantity, quality or production ability of material delivered to him. 5. No credit will be given for furnished stock. Price estimate will be based as if the printer were providing the least expensive stock of similar size, weight, and quality. 6. Any delays in production caused by customer supplied paper or materials shall be charged to the customer. 7. The printer will take the utmost care to produce the job to the customer's satisfaction, however in the event of any error or quality or quantity situation that may develop which requires the printer to re-print the order, customer agrees to supply, at customer's expense, paper in sufficient quantity to make up any shortage. The printer will assume no liability for replacing spoiled customer stock regardless of the reason for the spoilage. 8. Quoted price for printing must be paid in advance. Any additional charges for production delays caused by customer supplied paper or materials must be paid at time of delivery. 9. Customer furnished envelopes will not be accepted unless fresh, direct from paper house and in unopened original cartons. Letterpress/Personal Imprints: 1. Customer must provide enough stock for make-ready and spoilage, or accept shortage, if any, as complete delivery. 2. For customer provided stock there will be a $5.00 charge per order over and above the typesetting and impression charge. 3. The Printer is specifically absolved from any liability of work running on customer furnished paper. The Printer assumes no liability for spoilage on customer furnished stock! I understand the conditions under which the printer will print customer furnished stock and accept these conditions without qualification. Company Name:________________________________________________________ Signed: _____________________________ Date:_________________________ MAKEREADY AND SPOILAGE REQUIREMENTS The printer uses the Makeready/Spoilage Schedule studies provided by Printing Industry Association of California, a copy of which is printed below courtesy of that Association. Please use those factors in figuring the additional amount of paper required for your press run if you are providing your own paper. The makeready sheets are required regardless of the length of the run. i.e. if you have a simple run of 500 2-color letterheads, it would require 75 makeready sheets for the first color, 50 for the second color and 2.8% for the run, or a total of 639 sheets. If you provided only 500 sheets, after printing you will probably end up with only about 360 letterheads rather than the 500 you require. Professional printing buyers or brokers without pressrooms are familiar with these requirements and generally have their paper supplier ship the proper quantities direct to their printer. The information in this section is for that individual or company who, for one reason or another, would like to provide their own paper stock. On short run jobs (generally 20,000 impressions or less) there is no savings in providing your own paper. However, on larger quantities a savings can be realized if the individual has a favorable contract with a paper mill or local paper house. See our Trade Printing information sheet for further details on this. M/R Sheets Required 1-Side W&T* S/Wise** SIMPLE - 1st Color 75 100 125 Each Addl. Color 50 50 75 AVERAGE - 1st Color 100 125 150 Each Addl. Color 75 100 125 DIFFICULT - 1st Color 125 150 175 Each Addl. Color 100 125 150 ADD SPOILAGE PERCENTAGE EACH PRESS RUN One Color 2.2 4.4 4.4 Two Color 2.8 5.6 5.6 Each Additional Color 1.0 2.0 2.0 NOTE: Above spoilage percentage is for average job. Increase above percentages by 25% for difficult work. *W&T - Work and turn end-to-end - 2 sides **S/Wise - Work and turn side wise - 2 sides LETTERPRESS SPOILAGE SCHEDULE Letterpress spoilage at The Printer is much less than normal because we only do simple personal imprints on a handfed press. Makeready requirements are 10 set-up sheets plus 5% of the total run. FINISHING MAKEREADY AND SPOILAGE Be sure to allow for makeready and spoilage on any finishing that might be required such as cutting, folding, numbering or trimming. Approximately 25 set-up sheets plus 2% of the run for each process. Copyright 1990, Cy Stapleton, Lufkin, Texas MAKEREADY/SPOILAGE SCHEDULE COURTESY OF PRINTING INDUSTRY ASSN. OF SO. CALIF.