Printing and fulfillment for poster w/ booklet

#1

Hi, folks…

Looking for a good print-and-fulfill house for a poster that comes with a small booklet of annotations and background. The booklet could be placed into a tube with the poster, but would require that extra step for completion.

Considering both POD and offset pre-print/warehousing; could be a printer that provides an online store, or accepts orders through something like a WooCommerce WP site.

I’d like to keep costs down somewhat in order to give educators a decent price… or, alternately, I could go premium and offer an educators’ discount.

I’m flexible on all of this, although I’m definitely not going to be stuffing tubes myself. :grinning:

Any services come to mind?

Thanks!

…Bob
Bob West
Based in Los Angeles

#2

Have a search around for a print and warehouse logistics in your area. Typically you’d want them to provide a Kitting service.

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#3

Kitting service! That’s the search term I was looking for. Thanks for that.

I’m starting to get the feeling that this type of logistics would end up pricing the item out of reach of many K-12 teachers… So I’m considering doing POD for the poster, and simply linking to a downloadable PDF for the booklet.

Thanks again, and I’ll report back with whatever I find.

#4

Worth checking out. There are POD who will do this too. Depends on how they operate.

A smaller copy shop might be cheaper if that’s the case.

But bulk buying is cost saving.

Depends what your print run is like and your deliverables.

A lot of places will have rate cards. Well worth the inquiry.

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#5

Reporting back on my decision… After a bit of looking around, I’ve decided to go POD and to make the booklet available as a downloadable PDF.

I’m adding a store section to my website, and connecting it through a catalog sync plugin with a Shopify store, which is in turn connected with Fuel (aka Scalable Press) for printing and fulfillment.

I’m seeing some horrible recent reviews for Fuel on the Shopify app page, but they’re almost all within the last 3-4 months, and are all written by folks with a similar English-as-a-second-language pattern. Competitors trolling?

Their price is impossible to beat for POD, though: $7 for a 36x24 poster. I got a test print back today and it’s pretty decent – although “gloss” is not exactly how I’d describe the finish.

I want to keep the price down so teachers can more easily afford it; I’m investigating the SheerID platform and RedCase WP plugin to vet teachers for discounts, so I can raise the price for others a bit.

So, we’ll see how it goes. Thanks for the feedback!

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