RAND » Client Services » Publications and Creative Services » Printing » Publications and Creative Services - Print On Demand

Print On Demand

Print on Demand (POD) at RAND

RAND Printing and Reprographics, which is located on the first floor of the Ocean Avenue building in Santa Monica, now has the power of print-on-demand technology in house. Print on demand (POD) is a process utilizing new breakthroughs in technology by which small quantities of books can be printed and bound very quickly and at relatively low cost.

Capabilities

POD means more capability to control your printed products while reducing cycle time. With POD, we can now print 6" x 9", 7" x 10", and 8 1/2" x 11" books with full-color glossy covers and perfect-bound spine – in days rather than weeks!

The POD Process

The in-house print process (PDF), including print on demand, is pretty much the same as it has always been—just with more capabilities.

Trade Offs

The key to getting the least expensive print cost possible is the luxury of waiting. By printing in quantities averaging 1,000 copies or more and waiting five to six weeks for delivery, the cost per copy will average only $2 to $4 for book-like documents of 125 pages or less. The advantage of POD printing is not in reduced cost per copy (which averages $6 to $8 per copy), but rather in the quick turnaround time this new technology makes possible on high-end books-days rather than weeks-and in reducing initial print cost outlay and waste by printing copies only when needed. The trade-off is that you aren't printing extras "just in case" with the lower per-copy cost: the net effect should be that the total cost is lower because we are saving in printing and warehousing costs.

What better way to reduce costs than to eliminate the printing of copies only to sit in a dusty warehouse for long periods of time with little to no dissemination activity.