I need to explain why I raised the prices in my print shop, because I feel like such a jerk for just doing it. And giving no explanation whatsoever has been eating away at me for over a month now.
I used to have a pretty good thing going when it came to making prints in house. I used my father’s professional Epson printer, and his stock of ink. All I had to pay for out of pocket were the protective bags/board backings, shipping envelopes and photo paper, since I preferred printing on matte and dad used glossy for his photography. And because that’s all I had to pay for I went for the top of the line. So when you factor in the time/labor and quality of the materials used, I wasn’t charging all that much. Living at home with my parents, rent-free, having all my meal provided for me and my dad’s help with the ink and printer allowed me to keep my prices low for years.
After dad passed away, his printer and all the boxes of ink/paper went into a storage unit. I had moved out of the house into my own place, so it was over a year before I was able to recover them. I was under the impression that I could resume printing again with all of the leftover materials for a good while. Unfortunately I found that a great deal of the paper from storage was Glossy, the ink was for a different printer… and the ink I could have used, had expired.
The printer is an old model as well and office supply stores no longer carry the ink. So unless I want to buy a new printer I must order the ink from the Epson website. On the bright side, buying one of each color for this beast qualifies me for free shipping. XD On the down side, no more free ride.
If I want to maintain high quality archival, color encapsulated, museum quality printing, I have to raise my prices a bit to compensate. Keep in mind, my prices were set back when I lived with my parents and they haven't been raised for almost 10 years. Since then, I've moved out, the economy crashed, and prices of everything have gone up. So while I'd like to keep things where they are, I'm forced to change with the circumstances. Thank you for your understanding.
I used to have a pretty good thing going when it came to making prints in house. I used my father’s professional Epson printer, and his stock of ink. All I had to pay for out of pocket were the protective bags/board backings, shipping envelopes and photo paper, since I preferred printing on matte and dad used glossy for his photography. And because that’s all I had to pay for I went for the top of the line. So when you factor in the time/labor and quality of the materials used, I wasn’t charging all that much. Living at home with my parents, rent-free, having all my meal provided for me and my dad’s help with the ink and printer allowed me to keep my prices low for years.
After dad passed away, his printer and all the boxes of ink/paper went into a storage unit. I had moved out of the house into my own place, so it was over a year before I was able to recover them. I was under the impression that I could resume printing again with all of the leftover materials for a good while. Unfortunately I found that a great deal of the paper from storage was Glossy, the ink was for a different printer… and the ink I could have used, had expired.
The printer is an old model as well and office supply stores no longer carry the ink. So unless I want to buy a new printer I must order the ink from the Epson website. On the bright side, buying one of each color for this beast qualifies me for free shipping. XD On the down side, no more free ride.
If I want to maintain high quality archival, color encapsulated, museum quality printing, I have to raise my prices a bit to compensate. Keep in mind, my prices were set back when I lived with my parents and they haven't been raised for almost 10 years. Since then, I've moved out, the economy crashed, and prices of everything have gone up. So while I'd like to keep things where they are, I'm forced to change with the circumstances. Thank you for your understanding.
