Sticker shock at Kinko's

I took the PDF file to Kinko's to have printed, but the
charge at $10.00 a square foot, was more than I was willing
to pay. It would of been $150.00 total for the Zone 2.
Can anyone tell me, is this the going rate? What is anyone
else paying to have plans printed? This Kinko's is
located in DC. Thanks, Alan

Geez, that's ridiculous. You need to get a master plot hardcopy of it somewhere. There's simply no excuse for that price.

Last fall I plotted four E size AutoCAD pages myself (at work, after hours, I paid for supplies..) and then took it our local Insta-Copy. It was $37 with the tax for 12 total pages (3 x 4 sets of plans), about $3 a sheet.

Granted, I'm out here in the sticks in southern NM, but I'll bet it isn't THAT much more in the Big City.

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"Makin' copies!.. It's the Alanmeister!" - from "Saturday Night Live"

I brought a set of plans in and had copies made at I believe 10-15$ per sheet. That was at a printer, in Ct.

Yer standard Kinko's has two machines suitable for printing plans. The HP plotter is the expensive one. The other machine (I don't remember the manufacturer) is a copier that can reduce and enlarge. The price for this is $1.50 or so per foot.
Print your .pdf at some convenient and economical size, say 11 X 17. Measure some feature on the drawing and determine what scale factor is required to get a perfect 100% print (your Kinko's professional can help here). Print the enlargement with this scale factor. Be sure to measure the enlargement to verify it came out right. 1 or 2% can make a big difference. While you're at it, verify the enlargement in both the X and Y axis.
You might also consider calling around to "blueprint" shops. Most have made the conversion to digital and can generate black and white plots economically.
Derek Moran

Hmm, I went into Kinko's a couple of months ago to just make photocopies of a set up plans (to make templates). I used their big photocopier that can take 36" wide sheets; any length. Cost was about $4.00 a sheet. I ended up making 3 of them just in case I messed something up (a frequent occurance).

I don't know what they'd charge to print up a .pdf file that big, but knowing Kinko's, they probably wear a mask and hold a gun when they charge you.

I've had better luck, service, time and price at local blueprint shops. Seems like it is usually about $8 - $9 for a 3ft. by 4ft. print. However, I've recently heard that one of the shops has gone up on their prices but I haven't been there lately so I don't know any details.

You didn't try to get them to print it in color did you? I did notice the very nice line colors in the PDF file, but that will really drive the print $ up. Still, even for a color plot, the price sounds high.
Eric V.

Ack! What is it, a B-36?
That is a tad on the high side. I usually take small plans to Kinko's that I can run thru the plotter myself. The last I copied was less than $2.00 a sheet. The more complicated stuff I take to someone like Thomas Reprographics. They charged me about $8.00 ea. for a couple average size OT stunter plans I had done not long ago.

Send the PDF file to me...Iwillprint it out for FREE and just charge you shipping to get it back to you..

Same goes fo ANYONE that wants plans done

I have used Kinko's in Arlington VA and have no problems. I usually pay $4 to 5 for a set of plans blown up to full size from an 8 by 11 set of magazine plans on the digital blow up machine. The quality is great and it is all do it yourself.

>Send the PDF file to me...Iwillprint it out for FREE and
>just charge you shipping to get it back to you..
>
>
>Same goes fo ANYONE that wants plans done
>
>Wynn

Wow, that's cool...

The going rate used to $1.00 per sq foot. That would equal $15 for any of my plans which are 36 x 60.

Not the cheapest way to go but the most accurate and prettiest prints.

Try OfficeMax they have large print services also.

I mean it...send em to me....I also have 300+ stunt plans that I can print off and send to you at shipping costs only.......hmmm didnt I say I wasnt going to advertise plans......ooops.....

I am paying $6.80 for 36" x 48" prints at Kinko's. Plus Tennessee sales tax 9.75% the total is $7.46 per print. There is no other place in town where I can get prints this size. The only other option is Blue Prints at about half the price of black line copies from Kinko's. $10.00 a square foot sounds a bit expensive to me. Double check the price Kinko's quoted you to see if it was Black Line or Color.

thanks everyone who answered .last night after posting this I received a phone call from Watt Moore saying he will help me out with the plans. thanks again everyone Alan

Sometimes you can drop in to an land planning engineering or surveyor business and they will perform the work for you at a very reasonable price.

Bob Smiley