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Copy Costs

I am in the process of analyzing the amount to charge our clients and staff for black & white and color copies.

We have charged our clients and staff $2.25 for a color copy and $.50 for a black & white copy.

I am curious as to the amount other agencies charge their clients and staff for copies.

In addition, I would also like to know if there are other methods that folks are using to charge for this cost, such as a "flat rate," instead of a "cost per copy" method.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Amy Norkus Director of Finance Hanon McKendry

We charge $2 for color laser copies and nothing for b & w. I've analyzed our costs on the color copies in the past and they are less then $1 so our markup is 100% +. The big chore is getting everyone to write down when they print copies!

Shannon Asquith Business Manager Tackett Barbaria Design Group

We have charged our clients and staff much lower amounts. B/W copies at .05¢; color copies at $.50¢. We found what the local "kinko's types" were charging and determined our rate (which we wanted to be lower than theirs, but still not cost us). However, I think we need to increase these rates; especially when I've seen what the current C&P information has been.

Jody Breiland McClenahan Bruer

We charge a project fee for misc. administrative costs that would cover small amounts of copying. For larger amounts of copying we use a scale: 1-25 - $15.00, 26-50 - $25.00, 51-75 - $35.00, 76-100 - $45.00, 101-125 - $55.00. Any copying more than 125 sheets we outsource to a copy shop.

For color copies on our Epson printer we charge per page as follows: inkjet letter - $3.00, inkjet super size - $5.00, glossy letter - $23.00, glossy super size - $45.00

Laura Pacino Billing Manager Drone & Mueller and Associates

Amy, We just revised our color copy pricing as of January 2003. Pricing is as follows:

Small quantities (fewer than 25 identical copies) Single sided 8.5"x11" $1.51 Singe sided 11"x17" $2.95 Double sided 8.5"x11" $2.95 Double sided 11"x17" $5.85

Large quantities (25 or more identical copies) Single sided 8.5"x11" $1.20 Single sided 11"x17" $2.35 Double sided 8.5"x11" $2.35 Double sided 11"x17" $4.65

Hope this helps.

lebben

Amy,

I know that for some of our clients we include a flat rate in their administration fees for copies which in turn are included in their retainer fee. With other clients that are not as demanding with that service we charge $2.25 for color copies and nothing for B&W copies unless the amount of copies needed is excessive.

Melissa Sztelle Accounting Manager Gilbert & Manjura Marketing

We charge our clients $15 for the first color copy and $2.50 for color copy thereafter. Black & white copies are covered in the 5% surcharge that we add to every estimate to cover adman & supply costs.

Brent Pauley

This question brings up a situation in our office regarding how to charge clients for copies. How does everyone keep track of the number of prints processed for each client? Our xerox machine has a coding system, but our color printers do not. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Kay kay Rangel

We charge $2.00 for an 8.5x11 and $4.00 for an 11x17 color print. We charge a flat $10/job for all black and white proofs. (This does not include regular b/w copies, which are billed at $.05 per copy.)

Alice Mathews The Tombras Group

Hi Amy... I recently analyzed our color copy cost and adjusted the rate we charge. After looking at what we spend on the copier lease (which includes insurance & taxes), the maintenance agreement, excess copies, paper, and toner, we added a mark-up and are charging clients $1.15 per copy for color copies ($0.75 per copy for large quantity jobs - over 500 pages). We are charging staff $0.50 per color copy. We don't charge for B&W copies.

Jenny Hartman Controller/Bus Mgr Roman/Peshoff, Inc.

We don't charge for copies. We build a charge into each job for Misc job costs to cover that.

Before we were in the agency business we were clients. We would hate getting invoices for small things like copies and phone calls and other small charges.

Tim Kubista Ten Cate Associates

We used to keep a manual log next to our color copier. Employees were responsible for writing down what client they were printing for and how many copies they made.

Lynnette Kokomoor Bandy Carroll Hellige

We don't charge for copies. We build a charge into each job for Misc job costs to cover that.

Before we were in the agency business we were clients. We would hate getting invoices for small things like copies and phone calls and other small charges.

Roxanne Cowan

I print out each Job Ticket on the front of an "In-house Materials Task List". A Job Ticket with this list on the back travels in the production folder with each job. As the artist is printing out copies, burning CDs, etc., he or she writes down the quantity of each item used. When the job is complete, we enter those quantities in C&P to charge the client.

Yvonne Van Wechel Creative Services Manager David & Associates

Kay- We have a RIP. The RIP enables us to print a log each morning that categorizes each print by job/print size.

WDG - Pam Pullen

Wow - we must really be over-charging! We charge $10 per print, regardless of size, for each billable print (practice prints don't count). We use a Ricoh color printer, and the user enters the job number in the print dialog box fromt the design program they are using. The color printer generates a color output log every 50 line items. The list is passed around to each user to verify whether the charges are billable or not. Then they are entered into the expenses at $10 per copy.

Thanks, Carolyn Lorence Core Creative, Inc.

Kay,

I forgot to mention in my previous email that we also charge each client, with some exceptions, a $25.00 supplies fee for each job which most of the time covers these job costs. When color copies are made the creative director or production assistant puts a note in the client diary. It seems to be working well for us.

Melissa Sztelle Accounting Manager Gilbert & Manjura Marketing

Kay- We keep a log sheet at the color copier. Everyone is supposed to record how many copies they make, what job, and the size- 8 1/2x11 or 11x17. We also record whether or not the copies are "discards"- we don't pass along those costs to the client, but we do mark up the good copies. Our cost is determined by an analysis of all copier related expenses- lease, maintenance, supplies, etc. We don't record or charge for B&W copies at all.

Annette Rubelmann CD Squared

If you're using Fiery equipment, there is a log built in which I pull weekly, dump into a spreadsheet, and fill a pivot table to get job summaries. The log doesn't keep the job #, people have to be trained to put it on the file being printed -- but I've found this much easier than trying to get them to write down the copies.

Brent A. Byrd Point Zero, Inc.

We use an internal purchase order. Each artist fills out a mock po with the job # and qty/size of copies, then it's entered as a job expense. Seems easy enough, however, there is always that rogue artist who never seems to fill one out. Oddly, they seem to be the same ones who fail to fill out timesheets as well... Coincidence? I think not!

Tammy Grimes

Amy, Our agency has done away with the idea of managing and tracking copier costs. In our case it was not cost effective and clients did not appreciate the separate line items on their bills. However, we do bill certain jobs a flat rate of $10 a copy for color copies. Clients don't seem to object to this because it is part of the approved job estimate.

Lorie Brewster Accounting Manager

We don't monitor copy cost or phone or fax charges for clients. We simply put an amount in each job (based on the size of the job) to cover incidental costs.

Tammy Lamb Controller maring, kanefield & weissman, inc.

We bill a flat rate of 1.00 per color copy. We have a print shop across the street so if an account manager wants more than a couple copies he goes there to get them. This works well for the client because the print shop is cheaper. It works well for us because then I know that the majority of large jobs are accounted for because the job is on a vendor invoice and is billed directly to the client.

Kathy Albers

$2.50 - color .10 - b/w We don't charge employees.

- David Tracht Full Circle Productions Integrated marketing, advertising & brand management exclusive to the real estate industry.

It would be really helpful when quoting $ on either project or personnel issues to identify your geographic region. I've found that costs vary widely throughout the country and it's hard to benchmark our NYC vicinity location with other areas. Thanks.

Madelyne Kirch

We have found that clients prefer a simplified billing structure. We have put in place a 2% service fee on all projects that covers copies, couriers, Fed Ex, etc. It seems to be a hit with our clients, and we haven't lost any money yet.

Noah Sarff, Ambient Communications