brochures/cards/etc (printing)

[my3peas]

Have any of you tried something like this?

https://www.freecolorprinters.com/application/apply.cfm

you basically have a minimum monthly purchase of the ink and wax. The printer is free so long as you meet your minimum.

As I'm just getting started (children and families) I'm not sure how much I'm going to be needing to spend on mailers, packets, etc. It seems it would be less than $200 a month to have one of these. All of my biz so far has been WOM, so I really haven't had to do any advertising. What do most of you spend on this stuff?

Thanks!

[ndsimm]

don't do it...
I got one of these for my Church about four years ago, and after having to meet their minimum amount (which may have gone down since then), send in those monthly reports, and pay for the wax toner....we concluded that it would have been cheaper to get a nice color inkjet or even a entry level color laser.
Have you already qualified? what did you list as your estimated print volume for color and BW?

[esi7esi7]

Since you are unsure of what printing jobs you will have in the future, I wouldn't get tied down to paying someone $200/mo. So far Michael and I have tried a few different online printing companies (mpix, 48hrprint, overnightprints) and that has worked out fairly well for the most part. With that being said, I did investigate the purchase of a color laser printer, but after considering the toner costs, time, and how much I would actually need it vs. just wanting to have it for convenience, I decided against the purchase.

[my3peas]

Thanks to you both!

Nathan, I didn't go into the estimating yet. I wanted to hear reviews or experiences before doing that. I'd read about this on another forum. I think those photogs have more volume than I am wanting to do at the moment.

Thanks for the input!

[haraki74]

Check out a place named 4over.com They have good quality and are reasonably priced.

[my3peas]

Harry Thanks! I actually was looking at them over the weekend :)