People who aren’t sure whether or not to use professional printing services often ask us: What’s the difference? After all, today’s at-home printer can accomplish many things. With modest investment of less than $100, you get a device that can print everything from black and white pages of text to vivid photographs of family vacations. The device will also scan and copy documents – and you no longer have to worry about cords between your digital devices and the printing device. Everything is connected via Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth.
But the fact remains that businesses (and even households, in many cases) regularly use professional printing instead of trying to fulfill their printing needs on a DIY basis.
The question is, why? If people can achieve similar results using commonly available DIY printers, and avoid having to go through the process of hiring and paying a dedicated professional, why wouldn’t they do so? In some cases, DIY printing is totally adequate for the project at hand – and it’s true that today’s home printers are more sophisticated and more affordable than ever. Understanding the different between professional printing and DIY printing, however, isn’t all that difficult when you break it down into three simple categories.
1. Quality
The machines used by big printing houses are bigger, faster, better calibrated, and more sophisticated overall. They’re designed for both precision and volume. They also have the machines necessary to print large banners, and to print professional message on promotional merchandise like pens, mugs, hard disks, flashlights, and so forth.
2. Efficiency
We already mentioned efficiency – but it’s a big factor and needs to be stressed. If you take a big important color printing project, for example, and use one of those off-the-shelf printers to do it yourself, you’ll see just how inefficient it can be. Aside from blowing through a number of expensive cartridges, you’ll come away with a result that doesn’t have the consistent quality that you would get from a professional printing house.
3. Cost
This goes hand-in-hand with efficiency, but when you tally up the total costs of your printing project, you’ll often find that professional outsourced solutions are not only of a higher quality – they’re also cheaper over all. The bigger your printing project, and the more sophisticated your needs, the more money you’ll save by hiring a professional. There are also projects that simply wouldn’t make sense to do on a DIY basis, such as glossy tri-fold brochures in large volume. Hiring a professional printer isn’t always about investing more in better results – sometimes it actually is about saving money.
Professional results for less
Professional printing really isn’t about quality over quantity – it’s about achieving both at the same time. Individuals and businesses hire professional printers because they need results quickly, efficiently, and completed to the highest level of professionalism. However, there are professional printers out there who consistently exceed expectations and others who do not. For this reason, it’s to your advantage to choose carefully amongst the printers in your area, and find one that can work within your budget without compromising quality or service in any way.