How Much Do Labels Cost?
How much do labels cost is a complex question. It is easy to think it is just the material but there are loads of other factors that influence how much labels cost.
- Material and Adhesive Cost
- Quantity ordered
- Press costs
- Press running costs (maintenance, electricity etc.) – think rental
- Labour – not as significant as people think but still important
- Consumables – inks, tapes, plates and cutter tooling.
- Company costs – the fixed overheads of running a business – software, rent, rates, advertising etc.
- Profit – there is no point doing it if there is no profit in it!
In simple terms, it’s not simple.
How Much Do Labels Cost: Units
The first thing to grasp is how the price of a label is portrayed. Some companies quote per roll. Some companies quote per thousand. Some companies also give a per-label price, which can be a helpful measure for unit pricing your own products.
Positive ID Labels quote per thousand as this is a fixed measure that allows customers to compare prices and (generally) easily calculate order values. When comparing suppliers, it is important to ensure you are comparing like-for-like units.
A company quoting £10 per thousand is cheaper than a company quoting £6 per roll of 500 (£12 per thousand). Always compare apples with apples, not apples with pears!
Positive ID Labelling has invested in automating our quotation system. Give us your label specifications and quantity, and we can give you a quote over the phone. The price we quote is the price you pay – no estimates, no surprises. Click the link below or call 01332 864895
How Much Do Labels Cost: Material
Most people just think of the material as the single input cost. Material is a major factor in calculating the costs of a label, but it only makes up about a third of the cost of flexographic printed labels, and less on digital labels.
Not all materials cost the same, and not all labels are the same size. So we have two major factors: material and size.
Adhesive plays a part too. There are 4 main adhesives available, and each one carries a burden of cost:
Bigger label – more cost.
Dearer material – more cost.
But conversely, higher volume – less cost per label.
Let me explain.
How Much Do Labels Cost: Quantity
Quantity is a major factor in determining how much labels cost. The longer the run, the cheaper the unit price.
Short runs of labels use very little material but, disproportionately, they use more time as a percentage of the cost. That is because every job requires preparation and time to get the press ready.
The more labels you buy, the more the quantity of material we require, and the material takes up more of the overall order cost.
Conversely, the more we produce, the time taken to set up the press represents less of the overall job time.
The time on press is made up of these 2 time tasks, and the presses can run fast, meaning we can produce lots of labels in short order, once the press is running.
But the more you order, the greater the overall cost. However, the more you order, the less the unit price. So again, asking the question: how much do labels cost? It depends!
How Much Do Labels Cost: Press Costs
There are three main factors affecting the press costs:
- Investment cost
- Running cost
- Labour
“How much do labels cost?” It’s complicated!
Investment Costs
Printing presses can cost a lot of money. Some of our main kit costs include:
This means not only does the company have to make an investment in the kit, but we also have to depreciate it and pass those costs on as part of your label price. Positive ID Labelling has historically invested from cash reserves. This means we do not have to add interest or financing costs to our pricing, helping us keep your costs down.
Press Running Costs
Printing presses can use lots of energy. Mercury discharge curing lamps, powerful motors, IR drying units.
Maintenance: We also have to maintain the presses – like a car, they need servicing regularly, and they break do down from time to time. Parts are rarely cheap! A typical engineer rate will be over £100 per hour. To smooth these costs and make them more predictable, we enter fixed-price contracts to save us from any perilous costs in the event of a major press failure. This also helps with reliability as a well-maintained press is less likely to break down during a job.
Labour
Production: Staff cost money. Our staff are skilled personnel with niche capabilities. We cannot drag anyone off the street and turn them into a press operator in a matter of days. It takes time and experience to operate the presses to the standards we require to keep our label quality high and our customers happy.
Pre-press Studio: Often overlooked as a keystone of good label quality. The studio staff process your artwork into usable files, tweaking your design as you require and as we need, to be able to produce. This is a highly skilled job with commensurate pay for those skills. It also requires suitable software, which is costly too. We spend over £20,000 a year on software systems to support the pre-press and production processes.
Management costs are a necessary overhead to keep the business performing for owners, investors and customers. Without management, nothing would get done, nothing would improve, costs would spiral, and delivery would deteriorate. Think purchasing, planning, investment, systemisation, automation, human resources, training. The list is endless!
“How much do labels cost?” You ask. It’s complicated!
Consumables
Like material, there is a level of consumable consumption running printing presses to make your labels. The most significant one is probably ink in most cases. Ink can cost anywhere up to £60 per litre, and specialist inks can cost hundreds of pounds per litre. Whilst your order may only require 500ml of a special ink, we still have to buy in 5 litre bottles.
There are other costs for all sorts of things, from specialist cleaning fluids, lubricants, mounting tapes and on some presses, parts that have relatively short lifetimes.
How Much Do Labels Cost: Company Costs
Like any company, there are overheads for people not involved in actually making your labels. There is rental for the factory, advertising and marketing costs, professional fees, software costs and more. Every order has to take a small percentage of those costs.
How Much Do Labels Cost: Profit
Profit is important. It is not a dirty word. It is a necessity for future investment and supplies the government with tax revenues to run society. On top of that, profit makes the burdens of running a business worthwhile for the owners and investors.
So in answer to the question “how much do labels cost?”, it’s complicated!
Positive ID Labelling has invested in automating our quotation system. Give us your label specifications and quantity, and we can give you a quote over the phone. The price we quote is the price you pay – no estimates, no surprises. Click the link below or call 01332 864895
