Print flash cards on demand

[bgbg]

I'm looking for a print-on-demand manufacturer that can print and ship to my customers flashcard kits.

Any suggestions and recommendations?

[kamakiri]

How much volume are you doing that you need to outsource it? I stopped doing my own printing after it made more economic sense to outsource it. Right around 4,000 post card printouts a month is where it became more cost efficient to have a retail printer do the work, and at about 30,000 pages to have a professional do the work.

If you aren't approaching 4000 pages (cards) a month, then a laser printer will quickly pay for itself. FedEx and DHL will aggressively fight for your business and pick up your shipments at the front door.

Once you hit the 30k page mark, you can get creative because you bring some bargaining muscle to the table. My last few jobs were direct marketing pieces. I sent the data and an address list to a printing house in China, and they printed and mailed the whole thing for about half the price it would have taken to do locally. The international postage costs less from China than local postage. Go figure.

One option that a few of my buddies in the pizza industry took advantage of is a deal for a free laser printer. Googling it, I found this (http://www.freeprinters.com/). Not sure about the application process, but the gist of it is that you get a free printer and free black toner, but have to pay for the colored toner.

[bgbg]

Thank you, kamakiri for the response.
In principle you are right. The problem is that I live neither in the US nor in Europe, where my target audience is. FedEx'ing packages from my home to US will cost more than the product itself, and surfacemail (and even air-mail) is totally uncool.

[kamakiri]

How much volume are you doing now?

[bgbg]

Well, each set is about 100 double sided B/W cards. How much will I sell? I'll be happy with a sell per day (~30 sets == 300 cards per month). Hope to grow slowly later on

[kamakiri]

bg - Do you want to join the NR or not? There isn't any leapfrogging here. From your last post it looks like you are pre-phase I (0-50 sales). Tim tells you himself, and I quote, "Do it all yourself" (p. 199).

Automation is the cornerstone of the 4HWW, but done wrong it will derail our progress faster than anything. Think of it as a poker game. With no sales, you bring nothing to the table. Do you think the established players (companies) are going to take a chance on you and let you sit down? Heck no, because you bring nothing to the table. In fact 300 a month is only $30.00 at 10 cents each. Put yourself in their shoes, at those sales volumes, would you want you as a client?

Also, toss out the idea of FedEx. There is no reason why you shouldn't use your local mail service. Outside of the US/Europe it is extremely cost efficient. Like I mentioned, I outsource to China because the international rates are cheaper than the local rates here in Japan. Many companies do. No one is going to ask you if you live in the country your mail came from, and it really does not matter.

Work on your sales copy, web site, and marketing. Problems of shipping volume, and out sourcing will come once you have the sales volume to support them, and they are the kinds of problems that you want to have. Don't throw yourself off course by putting the horse before the carriage.