Having spent over 20 years dealing with printers, working with printers, avoiding calls from printers, arguing with printers, praising printers and negotiating with printers. I am occasionally asked (often in a moment of weakness by trade journalists) what is the differ-ence between ‘printers’ and ‘print buyers’?

Buyers are of course elegant, brilliant and dazzling individuals whose every single word must be seized upon by the humble printer. Of course, you could translate that into “buyers are pompous, self-important idiots who love the sound of their own voice so much that they fail to recognise that the printer is desperately humouring them just for the business”.

On the other hand, printers are perceived as having different motives. Is it the smell of the ink that drives them on? Is it the lure of the lucre that sets their pulse running? Is it the joy of the artist at creating something of real quality (despite the best endeavours of the customer’s creative director)? Is it all – or any – of the above? 

The best place to start and what most intrigues me about the relationship between publisher and printer is the differing perspectives both have on the same situation. That could be managing dot gain (whatever that is), the brilliant print quality compared to the atrocious paper supplied by the publisher or even when a good deal is not a good deal. I’ll use an example of the latter from my career in publishing in the UK to illustrate the point.

A well-respected printer had been pestering me for months about the merit of his fantastic new short cut-off (578mm) press. I finally succumbed to his relentless badgering of my PA and the rather camp overtures of his well-spoken sales director and agreed to meet to discuss a portfolio of exciting youth titles that we were looking to reinvent (including then iconic title Smash Hits). Cometh the hour, cometh the MD (the sales director was stuck in traffic somewhere in Hammersmith – not an uncommon occurrence!).

Deal or no deal

Having been convinced of the relative merits of the shorter American A4 press, we got down to the nitty gritty. We haggled over price, paper usage, price, schedules, price, reporting, price, green credentials, price, start date, price and finally the price for what seemed like minutes but was actually well over two hours. When we finally agreed on the deal, we shook hands (I checked my watch and wedding ring were still safe – a reflex action when in his company!) and the happy printer left our well-appointed offices just off Oxford Street. 

So far, so good, but this is where the story differs. The only fact that both parties can verify is that the printer found himself nursing a broken ankle only two minutes after leaving my office.

My version of events is that he was sprinting out of the office as fast as he could to make sure I couldn’t change my mind and when he felt he was far away enough, he celebrated his new contract and immense good fortune with a little high-kick of exultation. Unfortunately he landed awkwardly and he fractured his ankle. But so flushed with success, he proceeded to the nearest hostelry to toast his success. It was only when he tried to hobble home at the end of the evening did he realise that there may be a problem.

His version differs slightly. He is convinced to this day that the damage caused to his ankle was a direct result of having been booted out of our offices and into the gutter, albeit with a small modicum of work to make up for the severe beating he had experienced over the past two hours. He had to retire to the sanctuary of a local inn for a restorative drink before making his way unaided to the emergency room. 

So, what does this difference of perspective demonstrate? If nothing else, it demonstrates the risk and benefit of investing in non-standard press technology. 

But perhaps more importantly it shows just how printers (and publishers) tick. Neither is completely satisfied with what they’ve got and is always convinced the other party has got one over them.

Of course, this can inspire both to bridge the gap and demonstrate that ‘partnership’ is not just a glib phrase that gets churned out in presentations and pitches. (Hitler and Stalin were partners, albeit briefly and we all know how that turned out!)

Can we move things on from this warped view? Is it possible to deliver the holy grail of the win-win without both sides feeling they’ve achieved a lose-win? Of course it is possible and there are numerous examples of both printer and buyer managing to achieve a mutually rewarding alliance. How is it done? Well that would take a whole new article…

Andy Franks is a procurement specialist with over 20 years’ publishing experience, including 13 years as head of print buying for Emap, one of the UK’s biggest magazine publishers

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