What to look for in a Sacramento printer.

Whether you just got your business license, have been in business for a short time, or are the third-generation of your business; finding a quality Sacramento printer can be a daunting task with headaches, problems, and a job of its own.

So what do you look for in a Sacramento printer?

Jennifer came to our Sacramento office after being disappointed, yet again, by the printing services that she had received from another Sacramento printer.  As SIA has been in business for nearly 15 years, we always take an interest in knowing where our customers come from.  Jennifer told us the name of the Sacramento printer she had been using an inning did not sound familiar to SIA or any of its staff.  In doing further research SIA was able to learn that the printer was indeed not a printer, however, a broker who was selling somebody else's printing.  This is a common problem.  Many Sacramento business owners can't tell the difference just looking at whether or not a company is a broker or an actual printer without knowing exactly what to look for.

The first thing that you do when choosing your Sacramento printer is to go to their office.  If you are in a printer's office that is small, cramped, and it's filled with nothing but old furniture, while the printer them self is a rather new company, you can be sure that this is your first sign that you're dealing with a broker. Next, ask them about their printing facility.  Is there print shop local and in town?, do they know the model and type of printer the use?  How large is the printer?  If they are unable to answer these questions, the chances are that you have a broker and not a printer.

So why is it important for you to decide between a Sacramento printer and a Sacramento print broker?  Well the first thing to understand is that a broker does not have any say over the quality of the printing done in the print shop of the company that they are brokering for.  Secondly, if your printing is wrong or off a Sacramento print broker has to send the print job that to the printer before they can get their new printing done.  An actual Sacramento printer, however, is able to look directly at the job.  If there is a mistake on it and have the job rerun on the spot this means that even though a broker may be able to save you a little money in the short run, in the long run, you will lose time, money, gas, and headache.

Once you establish to somebody as a Sacramento printer and our Sacramento print broker.  The next thing that you need to understand is that not all printers are created equal.  There are two major different types of printers, digital and offset. Digital printing and digital printers are just glorified laser printers with a few more bells and whistles than traditional laser printers.  Digital printers often have problems when it comes to you color matching, quality, and fine detail.  However, the advantage of digital printers are that they are generally cheaper, faster, and cost less to print per piece than offset printers.  And offset printer like the one used in SIA professional services Sacramento print shop uses plates.  A plate is an etched image of the actual job to be printed, which Inc. is then transposed onto and pressed onto the paper.  With plate printing, you are not restricted by the resolution of your printer, but rather, the resolution of the image that is sent to your machine for production.  The downside of offset printing, is that offset printing generally is not price comparable for smaller quantity jobs such as 250 or 300 flyers.  Understanding that plates are made of different materials and produce different quality printed products is also important.  Plates can be made from paper, vinyl(a glorified form of plastic), or metal.  Paper plates are a good cheap alternative for printers you are doing one into collar jobs however, further full-color multicolor jobs paper plates just don't provide the quality and requirements that would be needed for high detail or large jobs.  Though more expensive than paper plates and better in quality vinyl plates can warp, carry pockmarks, or still create inferior printing as compared to metal plates.  As a premier Sacramento printer, SIA Professional Services only uses metal plates on their Sacramento printing press.  Metal plates do not work they do not degrade and they are the best quality, by far, of any other plate option on the market today.  Guess, this means that SIA spending more on their plates for printing.  Then we have to, but the scrutinizing in the eyes agree that it is the best of the best investments of their time and money that they could have.

Yes the start all may seem biased towards a kind of printing that SIA Professional Services does.  But that doesn't mean that there is a place for other printers on the market.  For example, for small runs digital is probably your best option is those jobs will be done fast and cheaper than anything that off second in even the best Sacramento printers agree that digital is the way to go whenever you're looking to do jobs quickly, small, and cheap.  For large run one or two color jobs, finding a Sacramento printer, who has a one or two color press is probably a better option than utilizing somebody like SIA professional services, who has a large four-color Sacramento offset printer. 

One of the things that SIA professional services prides itself in is its ability and relationships with other printers.  So that jobs SIA professional services isn't able to offer in-house at a competitive price are still able to be taking care of by SIA professional services account managers.

So, yes choosing equality Sacramento printing company will take a little bit of work and research.  But by knowing what you're looking for, who has what you're looking for, and the best prices for the quality you are looking for, you can save yourself and your business time, money, and headache  when all is said and done.  For more information on some of the Sacramento printing services that SIA offers in-house, or if you have any questions about the Sacramento printing services that SIA offers, please feel free to call our office at 916-361-0792.

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