Heavy postcard paper??

Mark Edell

I am getting very frustrated here and that does not happen often. OK, it happens all the time but...

I have a few of the local stores asking if I would turn some of my shots into postcards (4x6) so they can sell them at their stores. We have it narrowed down to 37 images that I am going to use for postcards. I ordered a few through my Smugmug gallery and they look great! The problem is: they are 1.99 each. Too much to make anything from. I can order them in bulk and save quite a bit that way but I can not order them in a verity pack IE: 14 of each picture. I have to order 500 of each shot to get the large discount. That's 18,500 pictures!!! I only want 4 or 5 of each.

So I figured to start out I would get the paper and print some out my self and see how they sell before making a big investment. The problem is; you can not find a heavy stock paper that is as thick as the paper that the professional looking postcards are printed on. All they have at the stores is that light weight, perforated crap that you print 4 to a page and rip it in to 4. That stuff looks cheap and is a 64LB paper. I am looking for 120lb or better. I don't care what size it is really, I can cut it down to a 4x6 size.

I have looked all over the internet but can not find a single place that sells anything like this. Someone must. I can buy a printed postcard...

Any suggestions would be aprecheated.

Mark

aktse

Mark Edell wrote:

I have looked all over the internet but can not find a single place that sells anything like this.

Are you looking for heavy weight cardstock or perforated cardstock? If you're looking for heavyweight cardstock, then sorry to tell you, but you haven't looked hard enough since even Walmart sells 80lbs ultrasmooth (it's actually a radiant white ultrasmooth, but it's not label that)

In general, I tend to head to Xpedx or Kelly Paper for any bulk needs. They usually allow you to take a few sample sheets for you to try at home, and you can buy as little as a ream or as much as many cases. Those stores will usually cut for fee as well.

For online stuff, I tend like Marcos Paper

Since you want ultra-heavy weight, you might want to check PaperMill because they have 110lb paper and they might have 120lb (don't remember)

Note -- not all paper print well or take color well. You need to be specific on the brand, color (you can't just order "white", there's about a zillion shades of "white"), and finish (smooth, ultra smooth, linen, glossy, vellum, coated, etc). In addition, some printers will not take 120lb even if you're using a straightfeed.

Also, if you're doing your own cutting, a regular paper cutter will not be sufficient if you're really going after the 120lb paper. You can cut a few, but after 20 sheets, you get really, really tired and you'll quickly dull the blades.

I recommend the heavy duty version of the Carl Cutter versus any regular paper cutter at the local craft store. If I'm doing anything more than 20 sheets or realy think items, I dig out the carl cutter.

Angelo

yes Kelly Paper is a fine start

80 or 100 lb, cover stock, white (coated or uncoated) will serve your purposes just fine.

Mark Edell

Thanks,
I am going for the no perforated stuff and it will be in the neighborhood of 120 lb. The 80 is just too thin. I'll check the sites

ChatKat

Got Print?
You might look at Got Print.com for postcard printing. Their stuff is very nice.

Kavika

I'm interested to hear how your project goes. I made local image greeting cards 10 years ago, had them commercially printed 10,000 at a time, 4 up, 2,500 of each image for about $.35 each. But it took YEARS to sell 10,000 cards. So in the end, it wasn't worth all the time delivering 2 dozen here, 4 dozen there. And postcards were so cheap then, 25-50 cents, I couldn't see going in that direction. No $$$ in postcards.

Now I'm investigating doing smaller runs of greeting cards, but like you, I'm finding pricing is a problem. $1.40 for a greeting card from Smugmug doesn't allow wholesaling for $2.80 and retailing for $5.60 !

One thought - get 4x6 prints and slide them into a greeting card blank ... total cost about $1, profit $1; wholesale $2, retail $4 ... a bit expensive for a card in this economy, but that depends on your town. Check out Photographersedge.com for the card blanks.

Good luck!

bendruckerphoto

4over.com sells postcards starting at $16 for 100. They tend to force you to make huge orders, so I'm surprised at how cheap and low run their postcards are. Take a look and see what you think.

Angelo

Mark Edell wrote:

...The 80 is just too thin...

80 lb what is too thin?

80 or 100 cover stock is typical for postcards.

weight by itself is not sufficient indicator. you need to define the type of paper stock as well. stock weight metrics is a complicated system... http://www.paperandmore.com/buying-guides/article/understanding-paper-weights.html