Reprographers Who Don't Charge More for DWF: They're Out There

A reprographics shop is much like an emergency room. Just like a doctor who wants to get patients in and out, a reprographer wants to get print jobs in and out. Some patients are critical and need immediate attention. Some print jobs are urgent and need immediate attention. It's all about processing time.

On August 4 I posted an article about why reprographers might try to charge more for printing DWF files. That article included the results of a survey on whether or not reprographers charge more for processing DWF files. On August 30, PLP included a blurb in its newsletter that I was collecting data on how reprographers charged for processing DWF files. Though I received additional responses, the overall results remained the same:

• 54% of the reprographers who responded did not charge extra fees for printing DWF files. The other 46% did.
• Plot files are still the most popular file type received by shops. On average, 17% of incoming jobs are exclusively DWF for shops that do not charge more; however, that number is on the rise. For shops that do charge more, only 6% of the jobs are DWF.

For example, some of the shops who do not charge more for processing DWF include:

• A&D Technical Supply
• ABC Repro - Denver, CO
• Ace Reprographic Service - Paterson, NJ
• Advance Reprographics - San Diego, CA
• Carbon Copy Digital - Edmonton
• Cianoplan - Spain
• Digital Publications - San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Edmonton Riley's Reprographics & Printing  - Edmonton
• FXWB Reprographics - Chicago, IL
• Fastprint Reprographics - Phoenix, AZ
• Hyline Paper & Reprografix - Salt Lake City, UT
• Key Companies - Columbus, OH
• Les Industries Poly Inc. - Montreal
• Marbaugh Reprographics - Indianapolis, IN
• PacBlue Digital Imaging - Vancouver
• Pacific Coast Reprographics - Irvine, CA
• Reliable Graphics - Van Nuys, CA
• SBR Technologies - Salt Lake City, UT

The future looks brighter for more and more reprographers to move in this direction. The latest version of PLP PlotWorks 5.7 includes processing time improvements for DWF. That's just what the doctor ordered.