Every commercial print shop's quote engine boils down to the same shape:
- Per-product baseline — what a 4/4 unit at standard paper and standard turnaround costs at the 1,000-piece tier
- Quantity discount curve — small runs cost dramatically more per unit; a 100-piece order is roughly 1.5× the cost-per-piece of a 1,000-piece order
- Color treatment — black-only halves the cost; one-sided 4-color is ~70% of two-sided 4-color
- Paper stock — premium (14 pt) adds ~35%, deluxe (16 pt / soft uncoated) adds ~65%
- Finish — UV gloss adds ~18%, soft-touch laminate ~30%, spot UV ~45%
- Turnaround — 5-day rush ~18%, 3-day rush ~35%, next-day rush ~70%. Setup fees scale the same way (prep time compresses, prep cost rises).
The "chain comparison" callout reflects what large consumer-facing printers (VistaPrint / Moo / Overnight Prints) typically publish — they're 30–40% above the wholesale-to-mid- market baseline because they include retail margin and customer-acquisition cost. That spread is roughly the "stop renting your storefront" math at the order level.