I'm the office administrator for a 340-person company that produces weekly newspapers, brochures, and a surprising number of labels. I manage the print buying—roughly $215,000 annually across 11 vendors—and I report to both operations and finance. I'm not a press operator, and I don't have a technical background. I just sign the POs and live with the consequences.
If you've ever typed "thermal printer near me" on a Tuesday and then asked a vendor about a "high volume printer" on Wednesday, you know what I mean. The first search is about getting a small job done now. The second one is about building long-term capacity. They're different conversations, and too often they get mixed together.
What I want to share is the framework I used to compare two very different routes:
- Option A: Reconfigure a used Goss Community printing press and run the work in-house.
- Option B: Keep outsourcing to local print shops and manage the results.
The comparison comes down to three dimensions: cost at the volume you actually print, control over quality and timing, and the maintenance burden you are willing to carry.
1. Cost at the Volume You Actually Print
The local shop will quote you per job. That is convenient, but it hides the real economics. You're paying for setup, for the vendor's overhead, for their profit, and for the risk of a rerun. When our volume was 10,000 printed pages a month, outsourcing was fine. When we crossed about 35,000 pages a month, the math turned ugly.
Then I met a company that sold used press equipment. They offered a Goss press reconfiguration: take the used Goss Community, change the folder and cut-off configuration, and set it up for our specific format. The upfront number was intimidating, I'll be honest. But after we worked through the cost per delivered piece—including paper waste, make-ready time, and labor—the in-house route started to make sense.
A few people have pushed back on this by saying a local print shop can quote lower if you shop around. That's true. But "lower price per unit" is not the same as "lower total cost per delivered piece." A 48-hour quote usually excludes the phone calls to chase an order, the freight, and the one job in ten that comes back with a dinged corner or an off-color cover.
To be fair, I'm not telling you to stop using local shops. If you're printing fewer than about 20,000 impressions per month in standard product sizes, the local route can be the right answer. But if you're running recurring work at higher volumes, a reconditioned press has a head start that per-job pricing cannot match.
Worth remembering: standard newsprint resolution is around 170–200 DPI, not the 300 DPI used in commercial offset. If your work is truly newsprint and inserts, ask whether you are paying for extra capability you don't need.
2. Control Over Quality and Scheduling
The comparison I like to draw is between a promised delivery and a controlled schedule. With an outside vendor, you are dependent on their backlog. A "thermal printer near me" search might get you a labeler for today, but it won't give you visibility into their press schedule next month.
When we moved to the in-house route, the scheduling conversations changed completely. Instead of asking "when can you fit us in?" we were asking "when do we need this on the loading dock?" That shift matters more than I expected.
Quality is a little more subtle. The first time we printed a corporate logo on the reconfigured press, the sample looked different from our old vendor's output. It took a few test runs and a phone call with the press technician to get the color under control. If you're buying a high volume printer for brand-critical work, do not skip proofing.
What changed my view was a missed deadline in May 2023. The local vendor promised a same-day rush on 8,000 inserts and didn't deliver until after our distribution window. It cost us a $15,000 client credit and made me look bad in a meeting I'd rather not repeat. I did not fully understand the value of in-house control until that moment. The surprise wasn't the production speed. It was the difference between "we will try" and "we control the line."
If your brand depends on a consistent color, the industry benchmark is Delta E < 2 for brand-critical colors (Pantone Color Matching System guidelines). A good vendor should be able to explain how they will hit that tolerance. In-house production doesn't automatically guarantee it—you need the right operator and calibration steps. But you will have the ability to fix it yourself instead of asking someone else to fix it.
3. The Maintenance Burden Nobody Wants to Talk About
Here's the part that keeps me up at night, because it's also the part dressed up nicely in the sales brochure.
A local print shop's maintenance problem doesn't appear on your invoice. An in-house press does. Before you commit to a Goss press reconfiguration, ask the seller who will handle parts, installation, and breakdowns. If they can't give you a credible maintenance plan, keep shopping.
I'm not a press operator, so I can't tell you how to rebuild a folder. What I can tell you from a buyer's perspective is that the cost of downtime is real. It includes the operator's idle time, the missed deadline, and the overnight freight you suddenly have to pay to make things right.
If you've ever searched "how to clean hp inkjet printer heads" at 9 p.m. because the office printer was clogged, you already understand the principle: convenience machines become inconvenient at the worst moments. A used Goss Community is a professional machine, but it is still a machine. It needs trained people and preventive maintenance.
So glad I asked for a maintenance contract for the folder section. Almost skipped it to save the line item, which would have been a terrible decision when a folded product started jamming at speed. The service call alone would have cost more than the contract.
My guideline now: if you are choosing between a high-volume printer and an outsourced source, put 12–15 percent of the equipment cost into a maintenance reserve. If that number makes the in-house route fail your budget test, then in-house isn't right for you yet.
So Which One? Scenario Advice, Not a Winner
This is where most articles would declare a winner. I'm not going to do that, because I've watched both options work for different situations.
Choose the Goss Community reconfiguration route when:
- You have steady, repeatable volume—not just occasional spikes.
- You can staff or train an operator who understands web offset.
- You're willing to manage parts and service relationships.
- Your product mix is stable enough that the reconfiguration doesn't have to change every month.
Choose the local/outsourced route when:
- Your jobs are highly variable in size, finish, or format.
- You need the simplicity of not managing a press line.
- You don't want the hiring and training burden.
- You're ordering smaller quantities that a digital or smaller offset press can run more efficiently.
And one important note: if your actual pain point is a label printer, don't buy a press to solve it. Search "thermal printer near me" and talk to a local dealer. That's a purchase decision, not a production strategy. A thermal label printer is not a high volume printer in the same sense as a web offset press.
If your actual pain point is an office inkjet that constantly clogs, fix that problem before you think about press equipment. Search "how to clean hp inkjet printer heads", run a cleaning cycle, and replace the ink if necessary. A small maintenance routine can prevent you from chasing a much bigger expense you don't need.
After five years of approving print orders, I've stopped asking "Which is better?" I now ask "Which is better for our schedule, our volume, and our stomach for maintenance?" The answer for us was a Goss press reconfiguration. It's not the answer for everyone. Run the numbers honestly, include the maintenance reserve and the training cost, and you'll know which one you can live with.
Take it from someone who signed the checks—on both sides.