"Am I charging enough?" is the most common question a print shop owner asks, and the published answers are the least useful data available. A single average blends a contract printer in a low-wage market with a retail shop in an expensive city. Your own history is a far better benchmark, and you already own it.
Build the grid
Take your last hundred completed orders. For each one, record: decoration method, quantity band, revenue, blank cost, decoration cost, direct labour, and any reprint cost. Then group.
| Method | Quantity band | Orders | Avg realised margin | Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen print | 1 to 23 | |||
| Screen print | 24 to 99 | |||
| Screen print | 100+ | |||
| DTG | 1 to 11 | |||
| DTG | 12+ | |||
| Embroidery | 1 to 23 | |||
| Embroidery | 24+ | |||
| DTF | Any |
Realised margin, not quoted margin. The difference between the two is where the money goes: artwork time you absorbed, a reprint you swallowed, a rush you did not charge for, freight you underestimated.
Read it in this order
1. Which cells are below target? Usually the small-quantity screen print band, because setup was under-charged. See setting a minimum.
2. Where is quoted margin furthest from realised? That gap is a process problem, not a pricing one. Chase the cause before you change any prices.
3. Which customers appear repeatedly in the weak cells? Often one large account has been quietly negotiated below viability over several years, one small concession at a time.
4. Which method is strongest? That is where your sales effort should point, and it is often not the one you have been promoting.
Then check the market, narrowly
Once you know your own numbers, a little outside comparison is useful, but keep it narrow: shops in your own region, on the same garment tier, in the same customer segment. Public price lists, online store pricing, and campaign store pages are all visible. That tells you whether the price your maths requires is one your market will pay.
If your required price is far above local market rates, the problem is cost, not price: garment sourcing, setup time, or utilisation.
Raise prices without an announcement
New quotes at the new price. Existing accounts at their next natural reorder, with notice and a reason if they ask. Percentage rises across the board announced in a letter invite negotiation from every customer at once, including the profitable ones who were not going to complain.
Re-run it quarterly
Blank costs move, wages move, your utilisation moves. A benchmark is a habit rather than an exercise. Put it next to your weekly KPI review as a quarterly job.
Printer's Friend reports realised margin per order, per line and per customer from the jobs you have already run, so this grid is a report rather than an evening of spreadsheet work. The pricing formulas behind each method are in screen print, DTG, embroidery and DTF.