Alphagraphics and card printing

[Jason Morningstar]

Hey all,

Just an update on Bully Pulpit Games and card printing - for The Roach we have a little deck of 40 cards that ship with the book, and up until our most recent reprint we've been doing it locally with a lot of sorting labor on our end.  When RPI merged with Alphagraphics, our rep indicated they could handle our cards, so we're trying it out.  The proof looks great, very precise, and shrink-wrap is a really useful option. 

Our unit cost is approximately $1.05/card pack right now.  It's expensive but worth it in terms of saving labor for us.  The order specifics were:

200 x 40 originals, printed 16 up on 1 side of 9 x 11 White 110# Exact Index
8 x Cuts, 16up cards w/bleed 8 cuts
200 x Shrink Wrap,

They can round corners and obviously print double sided (which would have raised our cost to $1.52/each).

Here's a picture.

[Steve Segedy]

For additional reference, our per-unit cost for our original method wasn't much cheaper at roughly $.97 each.  This included printing and cutting at Kinko's and then hand-sorting and packing them ourselves, with help from friends bought at the cost of pizza (thanks again, fellas!). 

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

That pricing's pretty decent, actually. I'm over $2 where I have UtB printed, and no round corners. Can they do tuck boxes? Alexander was nice enough to design a DIY one, but I'd really like to sell the decks in a box.

[Jason Morningstar]

We didn't ask about tuck boxes - let me know what you find out. 

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

Just real quick, Jason.  How many cards are in a pack?

Peace,

-Troy

[Jason Morningstar]

40

[Jason Morningstar]

Also note that they are 16 up, so pretty small - around 2 by 2.5" each.

[Mike Sugarbaker]

Just to be sure I understand you: we're talking about a run of just 200 decks?

[iain]

Could you point me towards a website. I have a project that is only awaiting me finding a decent printer and this sounds good.
Cheers
Iain

[Steve Segedy]

Mike: Yeah, this particular print order was for 200 decks of 40 cards each.  We considered a larger run, but based on the difficulties we've had with the RPI/Alphagraphics transition, we decided to aim low and just meet our immediate needs.  Assuming everything goes well, we'll look at larger runs in the future (presumably at a lowered cost).

Iain: we're currently working with Alphagraphics in Seattle (http://www.us297.alphagraphics.com/), but since Alphagraphics is a national chain, you might well find one in your area.  Keep in mind, however, that several folks have been having a rocky time with the Seattle location recently, and it's in your best interest to shop around.  See this previous thread for more thoughts on this.

[daMoose_Neo]

Out of curiosity, you're running a pretty basic stock with that right? Something along the lines of 110lb cover stock?

[Jason Morningstar]

To recap:

200 x 40 originals, printed 16 up on 1 side of 9 x 11 White 110# Exact Index
8 x Cuts, 16up cards w/bleed 8 cuts
200 x Shrink Wrap

[daMoose_Neo]

My bad, blind me didn't catch the whole bit at the top.
Talk to me sometime come January or February. I'm converting my Twilight card game to similar stock, but I'm also picking up a printer, cutter, and supplies to print the whole package myself, should have it all assembled around that time. Whole kit&kaboodle we're talking here (4/1 Poker sized (2.5x3.5) 54 card deck, rounded corners, one page (8.5x11) front & back rules insert, box, shrink wrap) is looking to run me between $.85 and $.90 per deck, very little labor. In any quantity, though multiples of 9 are the most cost effective (9 to a sheet no bleed, 6 to a sheet w/ bleed). Something the likes of what you're talking, can be a fair bit cheaper.

[Jason Morningstar]

Thanks Nate, let's definitely talk when you've got that set up.  I'd love to send production your way if it makes sense.