Wikimedia Quarto/Costs

Fees and costs

How much should the newsletter cost to print? There are many print options. And what level of donation should be enough to get a copy of the newsletter?

Labels @ $0.02
Clear plastic tape-dots for foldovers @ $0.01 (or envelopes @ $0.05 - $0.15)
Printing @ $0.15 - $2 (see "Print costs" on costs page below)
Postage @ $0.05 - $2 (see "Postal rates" on costs page below)
Potential waste, mistakes, overprinting - 20%

Total: $0.25 - $5 per newsletter.

Gross costs per issue : $0.20-$1.50 for printing + $0.05-$3 for shipping, per issue.

Print costs depend on how it is printed, how many copies of that issue (and that language) are printed.

Shipping costs depend on where in the world its recipient lives, how many recipients are in that country, and whether there is someone in the recipient's country / area who can help redistribute copies sent to a central location.

Print costs

Here are a few options. Print volume bears significantly on how we do this.

Format : Two 11x17 pages, folded in half. Enough space for a big,

readable font, newly-minted graphs (server stats, donations), and

regional news for each language-version.

Alternatively : One 11x17 page (compressing pgs 2-4, with excerpts

from the interview, intro, press, community notes and calendar).

This would cut offset printing costs by within the US.

Distribution options :

- Flat (in an envelope)

- Letter (trifold in an envelope),

- Letter (trifold with address panel in the middle of the last page... sealed with tape-circles)

The last option is cheapest, but would dictate the layout of the last page. So this should be decided before finishing the print layout. Alternately, the first layout can be flat (as flat versions make sense

Cost estimates for a newsletter made up of 2 11"x17" pages, folded in half (or by half and then by thirds, for letter-size layout).

Type of printing	Color cost/item	B/W cost/item	Notes
Home/desktop printing	40c (ink+paper), 5 minutes	20c, 2 minutes.	Good for 1 to 5 copies
Professional printing	$3-$8 by resolution (laser v. other)	70c; 15c/side + paper.	Good for a master for photocopying.
Professional photocopies	$1.25 : 30c/side + paper/folding	35c : 7c/side + paper/folding	Good for 1 to 500 copies; color/image quality imperfect.
Offset printing	$500-900 color setup/proofs + 15-25c per copy; less in high volume.	B/W : $400-$600 setup/proofs + 10-20c per copy.	Good for 1000+ copies. 1-color printing : cheaper setup, a few cents off the marginal cost of full color. Paper : Many paper options which would cost 10c/sheet for the above options are available or standard in volume.

At 1000 copies, full-color offset costs about the same (60c per double-sided 11x17 sheet) as color photocopies. Color is perhaps 35% of this cost.

Offset printing is nice if we can manage it, since it makes secondary uses of newsletters (meetings, proposals; giving away copies at conferences & events) cheap. Shipping in bulk within the US is also cheap; five cents more for the second copy to one address.

These rates are not at cost; a friendly local printer may be able to cut them significantly, or charge only one setup fee for printing various documents (one for each language). +sj+ 02:13, 8 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Postal costs

Prices for shipping a periodical for a non-profit.

If there are significant price differences by weight, get prices-per-item for weights of both 3 ounces (85g) and 1 ounce (30g), and list them as: "3-oz-price (1-oz-price)".

North America

US

Periodical rates ($375 one-time application fee)

Letter, in-county : $0.08 ($0.06)
"Flats", in-county : $0.10
Other, in-county : $0.13

Letter, US : $0.23
Flats, US : $0.27
Other, US : $0.31

(extra discounts up to 40% for pre-bundling by 3- or 5-digit zip)

US-->overseas Economy sack rates for "publisher's periodicals" (11+ pounds, 2 weeks? for delivery)

to western Europe : $0.90/lb = $0.28($0.17)
to most other countries : $1.00/lb = $0.31($0.19)

(50% markup for other content)

Canada

Europe

UK

Inland £0.35 Overseas £0.67

Germany

Finland

Prices are Economy Class:

Delivery in the Nordic Countries 6-14 working days.

Delivery to European countries 8-20 working days.

Other countries 12 working days up to one month.

Within the country (including Åland)

140 g is 1.30 € (if you send 20+ pieces price is 1.10 € each)
140 g is 0.90 € (if you send 20+ pieces price is 0.65 € each)

To the European Union

140 g is 1.80 €
85 g is 1.10 €

To the United States

140 g is 2.20 €
85 g is 1.20 €

France

Within Metropolitan France
Ordinary letters

140 g. is 1.90 €
85 g. is 1.11 €

Discount Ecopli
(supposedly slower)

140 g. is 1.40 €
85 g. is 0.70 €

Italy

Spain

Sweden

regular fees, "1:a klass"
g	SEK
20	5.50
100	11.00
250	22.00
Reduced prices (delivered within 3 days)
20	5.00
100	10.00
250	20.00
For non-profit organizations (registred in Sweden)
100	4.80
250	19.20

1€ is about 9.03 SEK

Asia

Japan

domestic 国内郵便料金 [1]

Dai 1 shu - 定形外郵便物
- 100g (84g) 140 Yen
- 150g (140g) 200 Yen
Dai 3 shu - 定期刊行物
- 100g (84g) 68 Yen
- 150g (140g) 76 Yen

KURONEKO mail service [2]

100g - 110 Yen
300g - 160 Yen

China

India

Australia

Comments

Within the US, a subscription will cost us perhaps $3/year to produce and mail. We could offer a free subscription to members, for shipping and handling costs; we can offer basic subscription to non-members, or extra copies to anyone, for $1-$2 an issue (+ S&H). I think subsidizing the cost of newsletters will return increased awareness and interest among the people closest to current Wikipedia fans. +sj+

Newsletter in Print

Sign up if you would like to receive a copy of the newsletter in print, or know someone who would like to; please list only one language for each entry.

Ward C. (en, first request :)
+sj+ (en)
RoseParks 01:56, 8 Oct 2004 (UTC) (en)
Can I have one? If so, how much would it be? -- Taku 23:33, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC) (en and ja)
Go on, and I'll add an extra donation onto the price. But I live in the UK. en please. Haggis 13:20, 11 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

See also Newsletter poll

From the IRC chat

_sj_: Anthere, if we print on rag paper in a one-color print run,
_sj_: we could print a thousand newsletters for a quarter; perhaps a bit less
Anthere: 1000 - low quality - 0.25 dollars
_sj_: if we print on thicker stock with color images, it could be more like $2

[but marginal cost of further copies would be tiny --Ed.]

Ads : not really

Sponsorship (tricky) : OSI, FSF or CC

Who to sent it to :

foundation members (included in membership fees) - we may need pledges to foresee numbers.
good donors (free)
with a donation of at least xxx, upon request.

Where to send copies

(university racks, bookstores, friendly orgs...)

If you know of places where you think copies of the print newsletter would be well-received, please list them below (along with a location and a suggested quantity).

FSF Headquarters, Boston (10)
In Saudi Arabia:
- Jarir Bookstores; I am not sure how easy or difficult it would be, but I know them to be interested in supporting new ideas that have potential for success.
- My university's library KFUPM could also be convinced to have a few copies for display at the library, especially if convinced about the scientific value of Wikipedia as a growing encyclopedia.
- Media outlets. Send copies to newspapers, tv and hot Internets sites. Your efforts will be tenfold if anyone major picks up the story.
Linux Australia (?)
Heritage Linux Group Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia. Several copies for the group and for the school it is a part of. (2 or 3 would be enough)

Softcopy of print edition

Can a softcopy (say PDF) be made available of the print edition? That way anyone who wants a hardcopy and print it themselves? en:User:Samw

Can't see why not. I plan to do the interior layout in QuarkXPress, and I believe it can export as a PDF. -- user:zanimum

I second that.

External links

Online printers, for poor reference: