PRINTING TRADE : How to Start.—Only the practical man can start to-day with any prospect of success in the printing trade. He ought to have been apprenticed to one of its departments or have passed through its principal branches as a worker. The nature of his business will depend upon his capital. Supposing, for instance, he has only 1'100 to l'200, he must commence in modest style. First let him pick his district with care. Country towns are as a rule well supplied with printers, but circumstances arise from time to time giving a new man the chance he desires. Excellence and style should be his motto. A printer who can make a well-balanced display of posters, programmes, and business announce ments wins business. Tasteful two-colour printing, the use of carefully chosen type, and an eve for the effective are conditions of success. He has to prove that printing is an art. To accomplish this he should purchase up-to-date machinery, type, and general accessories. His stock of type need not at first be extensive, but should be varied and distinctive. A small cylinder machine, a gas-engine, a platen, a cutting machine, and a press are necessaries, but at the first he may rule out the cylinder and the gas-engine if capital does not permit. Some machine-makers adopt the instalment system, but obvious disadvantages arise. An additional sum is added to the purchase price, and to this extent the printer suffers. In some cases the system works out all right, but it is not one that can be recommended. Again, he must be careful not to expend the whole of his capital on plant and stock. Some provision has to be made for working capital and his own personal expenses. At the lowest computation he ought to provide 125 to for rent, food, clothes, &c., until the payments for work begin to accrue.
The cautious man will naturally refuse to start unless he has some prospect of work from business firms and societies in the neighbourhood. It will be of advantage to him to secure a promise from a firm of auctioneers with a large auction connection. Ile is sure in that event to obtain orders for posters, particulars of sale, &c. But as a beginner he will naturally have sonic slack times. How then is he to best employ his small staff and his plant ? Unless he can surmount such inevitable difficulties, he will be expending his slender resources without a corresponding equivalent. Under such circumstances the printer must exercise his wits and enterprise. He should issue a time-table with advertisements to cover the cost and provide a profit. A local guide-book with advertisements may prove profitable. Another idea, if well worked, is a blotter. This should be distributed gratis throughout the district and provide a creditable display of the printer's workmanship. Again, the cost can be covered by business
announcements yielding a good return. These could be stock jobs for slack times, except perhaps some portions of the time-table, but in each case he would be advertising his own capacity. All the time he or his staff must canvass for new work from fresh customers, and his best recommendation and advertisement will be the jobs produced at his own printing office.
If the business grows, problems Neill arise as far-reaching and important as at the start. He will require more plant, paper, cards, &c. He has to provide necessary developments but to guard against unremunerative expenditure of capital. It is better to refuse work or give it to another printer out of the town rather than purchase new type that may not be put to a profitable use. Again, if he is not shrewd and far-seeing he may lock up his type in sonic unprofitable jobs for months at it stretch. His progress must therefore be marked by discrimination and judgment.
The man with eE2000 to 1'3000 capital can commence printing on a larger scale, but he cannot afford to neglect the conditions suggested for the printer with small capital. His business will only grow by means resourceful enterprise. To both alike may be given the advice—do not start by cutting prices. Many printers make this mistake, and whilst spoiling the living of their competitors, ruin their own chance of building up a respectable business. He should endeavour to secure printing, orders that mean business every week or month, such as weekly journals, monthly magazines, or regular contracts. These he can afford to quote for on special terms, but a shrewd man will remember that though this class of work will assist in maintaining an average of production, it often conies in at an awkward time, and must be produced in time for the day of publication. Overtime and exceptional charges should be considered, otherwise the rate of profit may be too low to cover adequately the various establishment charges. A weekly journal possessing a large circulation often requires special machines for its production. With sufficient provision for such outgoings a regular trade is much more advantageous to the printer than irregular work that does not employ fully his staff' and motive power. Similar advice may be extended to the larger printer as to his smaller competitor. He should endeavour to secure a promise from two or three publishers or large firms whose requirements will tdrord a sufficient nucleus for substantial business, and so obtain some warrant for his enterprise.