Printing greeting cards

[w1bbles]

If I wanted to print greeting cards (my design) on demand, does anyone know what kind of printer I’d require? For example, what kind of machines do you think Funky Pigeon and Moonpig use? Does anyone know if they print each card on demand (likely), or customise pre-printed cards on demand? (Less likely).

Any ideas of the capital and consumable costs too? It would be good to work out cost per card self-print based on assumed volumes vs cost of getting someone else to do it.

Thanks.

[anonymous-user]

HP indigo machines feature prominently in such operations that I’ve seen

Rollem were (is?) the go to for print finishing gear

Not sure what the min vol would be to justify such stuff, but I’ve seen used indigo printers for sale at £35k (there is one on eBay now at £60k+vat)

[Broccers]

I would say the answer is outsource until you have the volume to do it yourself, even then it is better to use other folks kit as you have little overheads.

[StevieBee]

JPJPJP said:

print finishing gear

Worth remembering this point - it's not just putting the ink on the paper. The card will need to be creased, folded and inserted into an envelope. Plus any fancy finishing that you might need (gloss lamination). This can all be done 'in-line' but requires the connection of various other bits of kit beyond the printer.

Moonpig an others will be printing many cards on the same sheet at the same time using an A1 size machine. Volume is thus everything. As Broccers says; outsource until you build up the steam needed to commit to your own equipment.

[Mrkevuk]

Both moonpig and funky pigeon do use Hp indigo presses. They print them on demand. The finishing equipment will be Duplo or Morgana . Printing and finishing is the easy bit. It’s the software that drives the personalised cards and making sure the correct card goes to the correct address is the cleaver bit . They will print 2 cards on one sheet of paper and cost approximately 6.5 p per double sided sheet for the printed consumables. plus paper which is about £50-£100 per 1000 sheets. I lurk on Pistonheads all the time but never post but if you want a chat send me a pm if you want and we can have a chat as I know a lot about it, and could possibly offer you a solution or at least some advice.

[w1bbles]

Thanks all - really helpful posts. Mrkevuk - I may well give you a shout... kind offer. Thank you. I think what I need to do is work out whether there’s a decent market for what I’d like to do and get a third party to produce in the first instance.

[anonymous-user]

Talk to The Imaging Centre near Tonbridge (I used to deal with Bob), they specialise in short run digital greetings cards.

As others have said, pretty much everyone uses HP Indigo, but makes much more sense to outsource unless you get very large. I used to run a greetings card publishing co and very few do any production in house, particularly given the seasonal nature of the business.

[Stephanie Plum]

An Indigo would not be an ideal first machine to buy. High maintenance costs and needs a skilled operator. If you really wanted to do it yourself I would suggest a smaller production print machine from one of the bigger players such as Canon, Konica Minolta or Ricoh would be better. But as people say the finishing is key. Outsource it until you know whether there is any sustainable demand.