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Business

Richard Feinburg
Richard Feinburg
2,970 Points
Posted by Richard Feinburg
Richard Feinburg
2,970 Points

Print job Question (NON WEB)

I'm doing work with someone that I know. We did a 12 page magazine for a church. The magazine will be mailed out to church goes from the printer. The problem is that the church has not paid my friend for any of the work or prints or postage. He said that they mail the check in but will not get it until a few days. The print shop needs the money by today and my friend is tell me that we need to pay it so we can send it out. I have never heard of this before that the designer will need to pay for the prints just to get it out on time and get paid at when the check comes in. I told my friend to wait for the check so that it can cover the cost and the tells me it does not work that way. I told him that I never heard that before. It's not a few hundred dollars, it's over $3200. What should I do?

3 Answers

jonathankavalos
jonathankavalos
3,523 Points
jonathankavalos
jonathankavalos
3,523 Points

The first thing anyone is going to ask is "what did the contract say?". Whenever you do work for someone you need a contract or a less formal work agreement that outlines the expectations and responsibilities of each party. If your friend was doing design work for the church and handling their printing he could rightfully charge them a premium for being a middleman in their print transaction (charging upwards of 20% of printing costs in addition to his design fees).

My immediate answer is to tell your friend NOT to front the cash to get the magazine printed. If the church is deadline driven, then they need to pay for the print order. If your friend pays for printing, he is doing so at his own risk, as the church is not legally obligated to pay for the prints, especially if they are unhappy with the end product.

Richard Feinburg
Richard Feinburg
2,970 Points
Richard Feinburg
Richard Feinburg
2,970 Points

Thanks for your input. Not my client and I was doing it because extra cash and he doesn't know anything about InDesign. I was surprise that he needed the money to get it print and postage for the mailing. All my print work was with a company but my freelance work is web and thought it was the same as print as in I get the money upfront just for the cost to run it.

Thanks and no he does not have a contract with them.

qdzfplofsk
qdzfplofsk
22,025 Points
qdzfplofsk
qdzfplofsk
22,025 Points

I just finished a print job for an auction with invite, program, banners signs etc. - I donate my time to do the design every year. I like using a printer that I can do everything online (upload files, see soft proof like with uprinting.com). When it came to payment I simply asked the client to provide me a credit card then input that info when paying at the same time the job is uploaded.

The reason most printers require payment of front is the same reason clients should pay upfront for printing - nobody wants to get stuck with it should things go wrong. If the client protests about paying for printing simply provide them with final press-ready pdfs and offer a printer recommendation. They do not need to know anything about the printing process, if there is a trapping issues or rgb low-res logo the printer will contact you. Remember to hold on to your original files (InDesign, Photoshop layers etc.) until they pay your final bill.

Tony

Eleanore Rainfield
PLUS
Eleanore Rainfield
Courses Plus Student 3,310 Points
Eleanore Rainfield
Eleanore Rainfield
Courses Plus Student 3,310 Points

Jonathan is right about having a contract, even for the simplest of jobs. Print shops will always ask for payment upfront, unless the company (your end client) already has an account with the printshop and receive the invoices directly from the printer.

I used to handle the printing cost to abstract clients unfamiliar with the printing process (for a fee) until one client disappeared with the printed materials (even when I had a contract) and I was stuck with the 4K bill. So, I'd suggest to note in the contract who is paying for what and work out a good faith start cost/deposit. In principle, this is similar to web designers getting a hosting service and domain set up for a client, which have a starting cost in addition to actual web work rendered.