Apologies for amateur question... Purchasing a laser printer

Hi forum. First let me apologize, as printing is very new to me, and I am a little out of place. I would like to print 6x11 postcards, and wanted to know about doing it myself with a color laser printer. I have a $750 Costco giftcard, and was hoping to put it towards a color laser printer. I need the printing to be good to great quality.

I would greatly appreciate anyone's input on whether a costco laser printer would be an option. Here is a link to their selection of printers.

http://www.costco.com/Common/Catego...&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&topnav=

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer this question... it is greatly appreciated!

 

What volume are you going to be printing?

You can certainly do this.

The first concern is the cost per print. The price per print may vary from $.05 (5 cents) to $0.30 (30 cents) per print depending on the printer you choose. Smaller printers usually have more expensive toner. Other durables also can be noticably more expensive per print on smaller printers, unless you are printing low volume so you replace the whole machine before it comes time to replace other durables.

A second possible concern, or something to consider at least, is that color laser printers don't print full bleed. So if you want a postcard that has a finished size of 6 x 11 with the image going right to the edge, you'll need to print on a stock that is 1/2" larger and then trim to size.

A third concern is that laser toner can be scuffed off easier than offset ink when going through the rough USPS machines (the torture rollers they use to sort in some postal service plants ). Offset postcards are also commonly further protected by applying a clear uv coating on top of the ink. Most will probably go through fine, but don't be surprised if 1 in 10 has a scuff of toner once it goes through the postal service. The stock can make a difference in terms of scuffability too.

 

Xfactor Printing,

Thank you so much for your informative reply. If I could followup, where do you recommend I get my paper supplies and toner? For a first time printer do you have any recommendations among these printers? http://goo.gl/rt0dS

Is applying a UV Coating something an amateur can do?

I was also wondering if there are any printing centers where you can rent out high end printers by the hour.

Thanks so much!

 

An offline UV coater is between $15,000 and $20,000

 

wow... ya i think i will have to be resigned to having a ten percent damage rate... any chance you could give me some guidance on the costco printer selection?

 

An Okidata c330 most likely the best choice out of Costco but you need to verify a running cost. Please keep in mind that toner yield is given in consideration that documents will have only 5% coverage and non of them are - realistically you need to calculate at least 50% coverage i.e. if they say toner lasts 10,000 pages with 5% coverage, in reality you'd be lucky to get 3000-4000 so do the math carefully. Also if I may, i'd like to say that it is totally wrong to aim for Costco printer because you have their giftcard, it is a terrible way to choose the tool for the job - you're really should be driven by your job specifics rather than giftcards. Any printer from their selection can't print bigger that 8.5x14 - this is one card per page the rest of the paper will go to waist, the one I have pointed has a straight paper path (load cardstock on to by-pass tray, exit straight out of back tray, no U-turn) which will benefit you tremendously. Paper / cardstock should be purchased from paper supplier (Staples, Costco, Officemax, etc are not considered to be so) I would not buy from scam runners anything even if it would be the same price. You should research someone local and establish a relationship. I will explain why Staples are scammers, it's simple - 1 box of 5000 sheets of letter paper is how much? $40? same box of 2500 sheets of 11x17 how much? 70? it is the same amount of paper - just not cut in half, less cutting work, more money, try ask them why and listen for BS
Also - you'll need a paper cutter and unless you plan to produce 10-20 cards, an electric or hydraulic.
There are no "all you can eat per hr" printer rentals, all printing is done on per click basis, if you want to outsource your jobs, you will wind up paying "per page" or "per piece", I say "per page" because there are commercial machines that can take 2-3 cards of your size on one large sheet. I could print these for you easy if you're near by Brooklyn, NY but think this not a case.