Print Shops Not Big On Desktop Color Printers

Print businesses have never been too sweet on desktop color printers, and one could hardly blame them: look at the heavy metal they get to print with and it hardly seems likely that they would want some puny little printer around.

This is the case because they're running the job at the end of the workflow. All of the experimenting and creative processes employ desktop printers as essential elements directed toward final output on the big, burly printing equipment in commercial shops. Thus, as indicated in the Fall 2000 TrendWatch Printing Survey, only 11% of print businesses planned to buy a color printer/proofer. Historically, this percentage has never risen above 13%, although this investment has traditionally been higher among book printers, and, indeed, in the survey 27% of book printers said that they planned to invest in color printers/proofers. (Of course, some print shops do have creative capabilities and handle prepress functions as well, which explains why some of these shops are investing in such devices.)

In terms of desktop printer expense, for printing companies, size matters. The order of preference starts with "more than $25,000" and descends somewhat consecutively through the price ranges (book printers prefer the $2,501 to $5,000 range). This makes sense, as printers want real, hard-core proofing systems that they can use for critical-color customers. This does not include their investments in halftone dot-based proofing systems, like the Kodak Approval, nor does it include color copiers. Unfortunately for commercial printing businesses, designers are sapping color copier business and other very short-run work from these shops, especially the smallest ones.