Your annual report is printed. Everyone is pleased. And then you get the printing bill. What's this?! A $4,000 charge for type corrections made on press! But...but...you sputter to yourself, I just added a comma and corrected a few misspellings!

Before you accuse the printer of gouging you, keep in mind that any change on press even a single comma isn't as simple and inexpensive as correcting a typo on a desktop computer. A printing plant, after all, is a manufacturing operation involving dozens of complex, sequential processes and many workers. Stop the presses, and the impact is felt up and down the line. The press sits idle, while the prep department scurries to fix the problem and remake film, blueline and plates. More than a dozen people may be affected, and several hours lost.

Granted, mistakes occasionally happen, no matter how carefully the job was proofread before release to the printer. But a press check isn't the time to start proofreading; it's intended as a last chance to make sure that all previous corrections have been made. Avoiding proofreading corrections on press is the best way to avoid incurring additional costs. But it takes cooperation from everyone and awareness that even adding a single comma can add up to big money.