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Five Tools Print Shops Can Use to Improve Profitability
You can run a print shop with an off-set press or a digital printer, but you can’t run a profitable shop unless you bring in-house the tools that will help you take projects to completion. It’s one thing to print pages, but what if your customer wants you to bind them? You printed 5,000 sales letters, but now the customer wants to take them somewhere else for mailing? You’re losing out on some valuable revenue by not having a couple extra machines around your office. Add extra profitability to your shop by offering each of these services.
- UV Coaters. Adding a UV Coater will give you the capability to apply hi-gloss, satin or matte coating almost on any printed sheet. There are many configurations to the available coaters on the market. Sizes range from 18” to 30” with a modular design to allow for added components like automatic feeders. This is also an environmentally friendly way to apply a finish to your printing. There’s even one line of UV coating that is 99.9% VOC free – exceeding all environmental air quality regulations. Add that to your marketing and get some new green-minded customers.
- Binding Machinery. Whether it’s low volume presentation binding or high volume commercial applications, binding machinery is a low-cost, yet crucial component to a successful shop. Prepare a presentations or proposals, books or newsletters with the look and feel your customers desire by having available comb, coil, wire or perfect binding. If you bind it, they will come.
- Letter Folders. Add fulfillment services to your shop. Every office needs to send mailed statements, invoices and other marketing material. If it’s going out in a traditional envelope style, there’s a folder to automate the process. These machines fold thousands of sheets per hour. There are tabletop models for low volume or floor models for high volume, but they’re all easy to setup and operate.
- Document Mailing Equipment. While you’re folding some projects, you might as well run an inserter for others. Save time and money by speeding up your mail processing. Inserters and pressure sealers keep your jobs in a neat sequential order so they’re ready for outgoing mail bins. Some inserters can fold and stuff up to five different sheets and BRE’s at 4,000 sheets per hour. Plus, a pressure sealer adds a whole new product type to your offerings.
- Laminators. Laminating adds durability and professionalism to any printing project. Toner, ink jet and UV inks alone are not very durable, but by adding even a thin laminate coating you can prevent ink cracking and insures a long handling life to a piece. Lamination also adds to the look and feel of your work You can impress customers and upsell projects like printing for photos, charts, posters and signage.
Improve your profits by adding to your catalog of finishing services. Lloyds of Indiana has competitive prices and a variety of models in each of these categories.
Business Card Laminating Pouches
Whether you’re laminating business cards, customer loyalty cards or wallet cards, these business card sized laminating pouches (2 1/4″ x 3 3/4″) are perfect for the job.
How are they Used?
Just like any other laminating pouch, simply slip the business card or wallet card into the pouch, add a carrier cover if it’s needed and run it through the laminating machine. These pouches can be used with any brand of laminator and come in three different laminate thickness sizes (5 mil, 7 mil and 10 mil).
I use them at home for laminating important cards that I want to keep protected or intact or even laminating my business card for use as an ID. I just laminate it, strap it to my laptop bag and I’m good to go.
And How Much Does it Cost?
A box of 500 business card sized laminating pouches at Lloyd’s is $12.53. That price will decrease when you order higher quantities, dropping to just $10.02 per box when you order 20 or more.
For more information on our business card laminating pouches or to place an order, please visit the Lloyd’s website.
School Size Laminating Pouches and Supplies (2 1/2″ x 3 5/8″)
School size laminating pouches are designed to protect standard-sized school documents from everyday wear and tear and potential damage.
How are they Used?
Just like most of our laminating pouches, simply slip the appropriately-sized school document into the laminating pouch, add a carrier cover if it’s needed and run it through the laminator. These pouches can be used with any brand of laminating machine and come in three different laminate thickness sizes (5 mil, 7 mil and 10 mil). But before you purchase a thicker laminate, like the 10 mil option, make sure your laminating machine can handle it.
These pouches are crystal clear, simple to use and designed to protect important documents against UV light, moisture in the air, dirt and regular use.
And How Much Does it Cost?
A box of 500 school size laminating pouches at Lloyd’s is $9.98. As the size of your order increases, the price per box will decrease – dropping to just $7.98 per box when you order 20 or more.
For more information on our school sized laminating pouches and supplies, or to place an order, please visit the Lloyd’s website.
Drivers License Size Laminating Pouches (2 3/8″ x 3 5/8″)
Where there’s a standard-sized document, there’s a laminating pouch and while our driver’s license sized laminating pouches can be used for any standard ID card, they were originally designed for state licenses.
How are they Used?
Like most laminating pouches, simply take the ID card and insert it into the laminating pouch. If the laminating machine manufacture recommends using a cover carrier, use one, and then run the pouch package through the heated machine.
You can use our driver’s license size laminating pouches with any laminating machine. That said, you may want to check the laminate thickness threshold on the machine before you attempt to run our 10 mil laminate pouches through. The glossy pouches come in three different levels of laminate thickness – 5 mil, 7 mil and 10 mil.
And How Much Does it Cost?
A box of 500 driver’s license sized laminating pouches at Lloyd’s will set you back $9.43. That works out to just under $0.02 per pouch. Order 20 boxes at once and you’ll pay just $7.54, or $0.015 per pouch.
For more information on our driver’s license sized laminating pouches or to place an order, please visit the Lloyd’s of Indiana website.
Credit Card Laminating Pouches
These laminating pouches may be credit card sized, but that doesn’t make them credit card specific. You can use them for making wallet cards, IDs or customer loyalty cards for your business.
How is it Used?
Just like any other laminating pouch, simply slip the wallet card into the pouch, add a carrier cover if it’s needed and run it through the laminating machine. They can be used with any brand of laminator and come in 3 different laminate thicknesses (5 mil, 7 mil and 10 mil).
The lamination process will protect your wallet cards from UV light, wear and tear and possible water damage. This makes them an ideal protective coating for cards that are going to be used regularly. So, if you run a business where you’re giving loyalty cards to customers, do them a favor and laminate them.
And How Much Does it Cost?
A box of 500 credit card laminating pouches at Lloyd’s is just $7.98. Meanwhile, a pack of 25 at an office supply store will cost you anywhere from $10-$25, so this is a huge savings.
For more information on our credit card laminating pouches or to place an order, please visit the Lloyd’s website.