Sometimes we get asked why memorial cards and memorial printing in general seems so expensive when you compare it to other printed items such as flyer or business card printing. The truth is when you consider the overall picture of profitability from memorial printing (and running a business that solely specialises in this type of printing) the answer really is a little more complex than simple.
Memorial cards are naturally quite labour intensive to manufacture given the amount of steps involved in the process of creating them. Each of these steps require expensive equipment that require ongoing maintenance to keep them performing as required, they also require a person to be on hand to physically complete each task. Below is the breakdown of our workflow for each step required to get to the end product from an idea to a printed card delivered to you:
- Taking the order from the website (this is usually the easy bit)
- Designing and sending proofs (depending on complexity this is anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours!)
- preparing the files for printing (we test print and refine back from that)
- printing (usually printed in batches with other orders to save time)
- laminating (the most important part and one that can be time consuming to get correct)
- cutting down on guillotine (very important this stage is done absolutely perfectly!)
- creasing or corner rounding if required
- packing the order & quality control (yes we check every card!)
- dispatching the order with a courier (usually DPD who thankfully have a depot 1 minute from our door!)
Memorial Cards are a personalised product
Each order of memorial cards are completely different, which means to get this right we have to take a unique approach to every customer and consider each customers requirements. Depending on what needs to be done the design and personalisation part can take hours of labour time. For most website orders they usually require up to an hour of design time, to compare more custom orders can take anywhere from an hour to 3 or 4 hours of labour time in total!
Memorial Cards have to be of impeccable quality
Memorial cards have to be printed to exacting standards, requiring investment in the latest machinery and also requiring extra time to be put into each step to guarantee that quality issues never arise. At the end of the day we are dealing with a tribute to a loved one’s life, cutting corners or trying to make a saving at the expense of quality would be totally immoral on our part and is something which we would never intentionally do under any circumstance.
Memorial Cards require a multi step finishing process
After your order of memorial cards are imposed and printed, they require three further steps of finishing. The first of these processes is lamination which on this scale has to be carried out expensive roll laminators with specific films to ensure again that quality on point. Lamination also tends to be a process where mistakes can often occur so extra time has to be spent doing it. The next of these is cutting the cars from sra3 size layouts down to the individual cards which involves multiple cuts for each card. If you compare this to say cutting a poster or banner which only requires one cut. The next of this process is creasing, this is carried out on a particular machine that ensure the paper or the laminating film doesn’t crack and that the fold is neat and straight, each card has to be done individually again taking time.
Memorial Cards are printed in smaller quantities
Usually memorial cards are ordered in quantities of sub 300 (Usually as low as 25) which even with modern digital presses could still be considered low quantities by traditional printing standards.
As you see memorial printing, whether it be memorial cards, bookmarks, acknowledgement cards, wallet cards or keyrings, is an involved and extensive process requiring quite a few steps and quite a bit of equipment. All or our memorial products are designed, printed and finished here in Ireland too. If you have any questions we would be happy to help, simply click here to contact us.
