Overview

This article explains how to make pricing adjustments to services in Printer's Plan and validate the results. Whether you're updating material costs, modifying production rates, adjusting markups, or performing category-wide pricing updates, the same testing principles apply: make a change, reprice the product, and verify the outcome.

Understanding Service Price Adjustments

As your business changes, service pricing will need maintenance.

Common reasons for adjustments include:

• Vendor price increases
• Labor rate changes
• Equipment upgrades
• Production efficiency improvements
• New pricing strategies
• Margin adjustments
• Updated operating costs

The goal is not simply to change values. The goal is to understand how those changes affect your final selling price.

The Service Adjustment Workflow

No matter what type of change you're making, follow the same process:

1. Identify the current price.
2. Open the service.
3. Make the adjustment.
4. Save the service.
5. Reprice the quote.
6. Review the results.
7. Validate the outcome.

💡 Best Practice: Always establish a baseline before making changes so you know exactly what changed.

Adjusting Material Costs

One of the most common maintenance tasks is updating paper stock costs.

When a vendor increases pricing:

1. Open the paper service.
2. Review the current cost.
3. Update the material cost.
4. Save the service.
5. Reprice the quote.

When reviewing the results:

• The quantity should remain the same.
• Job specifications should remain the same.
• The selling price should increase based on the higher material cost.

This is one of the simplest and most common pricing adjustments in Printer's Plan.

Using the Edit Cost Window

After repricing, use the Edit Cost window to verify the calculation.

The Edit Cost window allows you to review:

• Service quantity
• Material cost
• Labor cost
• Markup application
• Final selling price

This provides a clear explanation of why a price changed.

💡 Tip: If a price looks unexpected, the Edit Cost window should be your first troubleshooting stop.

Adjusting Production Rates

Production rates directly influence labor calculations.

Examples include:

• Impressions per hour
• Units per hour
• Production speed
• Finishing speed

When production efficiency increases:

• Production time decreases
• Labor costs decrease
• Selling prices may decrease

When production efficiency decreases:

• Production time increases
• Labor costs increase
• Selling prices may increase

For example, increasing a digital printer from 2,500 impressions per hour to 3,000 impressions per hour reduces the production time required for the same job.

Adjusting Finishing Services

Finishing services frequently require adjustment during implementation and maintenance.

Examples include:

• Folding
• Cutting
• Stitching
• Drilling
• Laminating

When evaluating finishing services, ask:

"Can we actually complete this work in the time the service assumes?"

If production takes longer than the service configuration suggests, updating the production rate creates more accurate labor calculations and selling prices.

Understanding Cause and Effect

Every service adjustment should have an expected outcome.

Examples include:

Before saving a change, predict what should happen.

After repricing, confirm that the result matches your expectations.

This approach makes troubleshooting much easier.

Adjusting Markup Strategies

Not all pricing changes come from cost adjustments.

Sometimes the objective is to improve margins.

Many services use markup table rows rather than fixed markup percentages.

When a service uses a markup table:

• Pricing is controlled by the markup table
• Multiple services may use the same row
• One update can affect many services

This makes markup tables a powerful tool for system-wide pricing adjustments.

Markup Changes vs. Cost Changes

It's important to understand the difference between these two strategies.

Increasing Markup

When markup increases:

• Costs stay the same
• Selling prices increase
• Margins improve

The increase occurs after cost calculations are completed.

Increasing Cost

When costs increase:

• Production costs rise
• Selling prices rise
• Price increases reflect actual operating expenses

The increase occurs before markup is applied.

While both approaches can increase selling prices, they accomplish that goal for different reasons.

💡 Best Practice: Understand whether your business goal is improving margins or reflecting higher costs.

Test Multiple Products

Never evaluate a pricing adjustment using only a single product.

For example:

• Business cards may show a minimal impact.
• Brochures may show a moderate impact.
• Large quantity jobs may show a significant impact.

A pricing change that works well for one product may produce unintended results elsewhere.

Testing multiple products provides confidence that pricing remains consistent throughout the estimating system.

Understanding Large Quantity Jobs

Service adjustments often become more noticeable as quantities increase.

A small stock cost increase might produce:

Small Order

• Minimal price change
• Little visible impact

Large Order

• Noticeable price change
• Greater effect on profitability

The same principle applies to:

• Production rates
• Waste calculations
• Operating costs
• Markup changes

Because larger jobs consume more resources, they are excellent tools for validating pricing strategies.

💡 Best Practice: Test pricing changes using both small and large quantity products.

Adjusting Operating Costs

Another common pricing strategy involves updating operating costs.

Examples include:

• Lease expenses
• Equipment maintenance
• Service contracts
• Labor costs
• Facility costs

Increasing operating costs raises the service's calculated production cost.

As a result:

• Cost increases
• Selling price increases
• Profitability calculations become more accurate

This differs from changing markup because the increase originates from the production side of the calculation.

Bulk Pricing Updates

Sometimes changes need to be applied across an entire category of services.

Examples include:

• Vendor paper increases
• Material category updates
• Cost revisions across multiple stocks

Instead of editing services one at a time, use:

Category → Update Costs

This allows you to:

• Apply percentage increases
• Update multiple services simultaneously
• Reduce maintenance time
• Maintain consistency across categories

After a bulk update:

1. Reprice existing test products.
2. Review the updated pricing.
3. Validate the results.

The testing process remains the same regardless of scale.

Best Practices for Service Adjustments

Establish a Baseline

Always know your starting point before making changes.

Make One Change at a Time

Avoid adjusting multiple variables simultaneously.

Reprice After Every Change

Changes do not affect existing quotes until they are repriced.

Use the Edit Cost Window

Verify exactly how the new price was generated.

Test Multiple Products

Validate changes across different products and quantities.

Include Large Quantity Jobs

Larger estimates often reveal pricing impacts that smaller jobs hide.

Why This Process Matters

Consistent service maintenance helps ensure:

• Accurate estimating
• Reliable profitability
• Consistent pricing
• Better margin control
• Reduced pricing surprises

As material costs, labor rates, and production processes evolve, service adjustments help keep your estimating system aligned with reality.

Final Takeaway

Successful service maintenance follows a simple pattern:

Adjust → Reprice → Review → Validate

Whether you're:

• Updating stock costs
• Modifying production rates
• Adjusting operating expenses
• Changing markup strategies
• Performing bulk updates

The process remains the same.

The more comfortable you become with service adjustments and the Edit Cost window, the more confident you'll be maintaining accurate pricing throughout Printer's Plan.

"The best pricing changes aren't guesses. They're tested, verified, and understood."