I realise that there are not many 24 hour print shops in Sydney. Like not that I know off.
I'm just wondering if there is an interest if I was to start one. Not very difficult jobs, mainly small jobs and rush jobs. Prints could be a6-a0 work or light commercial/marketing products.
Nah, not worthy. Most Officeworks open at 7am and close at 9pm.
Printers and scanners are also very cheap these days. I highly doubt they'll be much people going out of their way at 2am just to get some printing done.
Also, the competitive print shops also offer document binding, business cards, laminating, trimming etc so it's not all just printing.
Even if you want to do small and rush jobs, will the profits be able to sustain your business? Will there be a good influx of small and rush jobs late at 2am? Perhaps if you're close to a university and students need a hard copy assignment submission then yes. But even those jobs are rare as most assignments don't need hard copies anymore.
My 2c: Do some research and see what may be in high demand in print and copy. Whether it be flyers, mouse pads, calenders, mugs, t-shirts, invitations etc. If you capitalise on that, then it might be easier to have a steady flow of "small" or "rush" jobs.
You're very limited to what can be done. Also they don't deliver immediately and you have to wait in line. But thanks for your feedback,just weighing my options here
if i have things to print out at night, chances are I have a printer at home. Or I have been granted extension from work.
Hell, I still have 2 hours window the next morning to print things out if i have to. Certainly wouldn't waste my time driving around town at 10 pm. looking for 24 hours print shop
Just be wary of the clientele you get if you try naming it Kinko's…
What?
Just google Kinko's, then you'll get the joke…
S(canning) & M(arketing)
Don't forget, if you want a large multi-page document done, you'll also want their bondage service…
I have had to print 1000s of pages under extremely tight deadlines (Corporate tender submission due at 10am) where I ended up using an external printer to produce the bulk of the document by their 6pm deadline, and added the final portions during an all nighter.
If the printer had been open later, this would have been better, but we would only use it rarely, like once a year or less.
The driver for hard copy submissions is much less these days, with government accepting these types of docs by electronic submission, and we usually plan better ahead of time for production.
first google search
http://www.ozlocal.com.au/24_Hour_Printing_Sydney
what can you offer that these guys cannot?
sounds really gimmicky to call yourself 24 hrs for the sake of it
how much of your business model would be targeted at revenue after hours
how much would it cost to run to business in this model
then calculate how many jobs you will need to get to recover this cost
I got the impression they were offering a service within 24 hours as opposed to offering a service 24/7.
Ah, I misread that as well…too much Better Call Saul…
It'll do well if you add a self-serve beer tap inside.
No, it's in Sydney. May run foul over lock out laws.
The closest thing I can think of is in Melbourne:
http://www.dinkums.com.au/
or
maybe a MBE that does 24/7 http://www.mbe.com.au/printing/self-serve-copying but I'm not sure which if any still do.
If there was a market for it, existing print shops would just extend their trading hours
It would be heaps funny if the thing standing in their way of offering such a service was being too busy to print handbills letting people know they would offer extended hours and couldn't find someone else to print them either.
even if there would be a demand, think of few things
1 running cost (elec, maintenance of printers, technician call out, papers, avaiability of multiple different format of papers )
2 employee wage (ppl wont work cheap for grave yard shift)
3 competition , penetration
large printers are mainly provided by a lease operation these days. Ricoh/ Canon, Xerox etc
they dominate the maret, but where you can shine is where they dont have contract. As most likely you're going to have a shop front, how do you differentiate price/service to these "lease" type models ?
even realestate agents are now printing inhouse with their own printer these days.
4 race to the bottom.
if only think you have to offer is just a PRICE, you'll soon realise you're not making money. you need different target/different market, not just night owls. (eg marketing flyers, grossy junk mails, etc)
good luck with your idea.
All good points - one more…
5 location
Needs to be convenient to where the documents are needed
Are you City/Nth Syd, or Parramatta, or Campbelltown??
Maybe near the airport, for people wanting to print photos from the camera to give to family/friends who are dropping them off. We rushed around Saigon on the last day to try and find someone could do that for us.
Nothing good happens after 2am.