Copying Pages Becomes Expensive

I have been taking my copying jobs to a local Kinko's/Fedex nearby. I am working on gradually moving my US material from a three ring album into Lighthouse albums. Today I took a dozen pages I had done previously in the three ring format in along with some blank Lighthouse pages and asked that they copy from the old pages onto them. In the past something like this would have been maybe $6-8. Today I was quoted $23. I was told they now need to 're-format' my old pages onto a disc for their printer to read from.

Anyone else run into this? Seems like an excuse to discourage small jobs. I may be taking my stuff to a small mom and pop copy shop.

I'm curious. What are you copying from the 3-ring to the Lighthouse. Are these pages that already have stamps on them?

No, pages from a three ring US album that I prepared myself for covers and varieties. I removed all material from the pages before submitting them. I did get a call last night from Kinko's that they were ready- the final price tag on the project is around $17. Still sticker shock for 12-13 pages but better than I'd feared. A bit over a dollar a page isn't all that bad, I guess. I think I'm still going to shop around for future projects.

Stamps1962, perhaps you should invest in a scanner and a laser printer.

I have a scanner and a printer. I am printing onto Lighthouse pages, larger than those my printer takes.

Picked up my pages, charged 18.85 including tax, for 11 black and white and 2 color pages. There is a charge three times of $5.00 each for something called 'file enhancement', whatever that is.

They did good work but at a ridiculous price IMO. I am shopping around before my next trip.

One advantage of living in a larger town or city is that there is a lot more competition in the copy center business. I would call around; it is certainly worth your while to do so. Also, it would be to your advantage to get more copies made...even if you don't need all of them immediately.

stamps1962....oh well....here goes.
You expect someone to do you a service....
and do it correctly....
for under $20??? and complain that is high.
I just dont get it.....

Apparently it's no longer a case of simply feeding copies through a machine. They have to digitize all the images in order to be sure they all come out in a uniform appearance. I was having pages done at this same place for years and never had cause for any complaint. I imagine Fedex/Kinko's is compelling outlets to follow this procedure. One thing- there are a LOT fewer copy outlets now than when I checked last hear. I think Kinko's is elbowing a lot of the smaller shops out. I am sure I can find someone to do this work less expensively.

kevin504- 18.85 for 13 pages is indeed a bit on the high side, wouldn't you agree? Apparently not though- we'll just agree to disagree.