They want a print-ready file. Here’s the extra.

The quote was RGB. They asked for a press PDF.

In 2026 the thread is still “send a print-ready,” “add bleeds and crop marks,” or “the printer needs CMYK with a 0.125 inch wrap.” That is not a native-file zip. It is not more users of the same file. It is not a runbook. It is not captions. The fee they already signed assumed a screen delivery — RGB, a web PDF, a site export. Now they want ink: a press PDF, bleeds, crop marks, a CMYK pack. Bill that clock at the hourly floor on the hub. Keep target, billable weeks, and any tax buffer you chose live there — this card does not clone them and is not a 50-state tax engine. $270 is 3 × 90 written as money. Invoice in another currency on the hub. Still guessing at $90? Start on how to set a freelance rate.

Print-ready extra = hours you type × hourly floor. Time the work from the first bleed to the file the shop can plate. Three hours is 3. A long booklet or a die-cut is 6. A second size — a business card after they asked for the poster — is extra hours you type — not $12 a page, not 20% of the original quote, not a print mill by trim size. This card will not mint “print is 20% of the project,” a free press PDF, a per-page mill, or a press certification. If they forwarded a printer’s invoice, that receipt pastes on expense-markup. This page is the hours you spend on the file, not the shop’s bill.

Worked USD: 3h × $90 = $270

Preset: 3 press-file hours. Floor $90. Second-size hours 0. Print-ready extra: 3 × $90 = $270.

That $270 is the press PDF — the bleeds, the crop marks, the CMYK conversion on a quote that was screen. It stacks on a number that already paid for RGB. It is not handing them the native .fig. It is not letting more people run the same file. It is not a runbook. It is not a caption file. Put the dollars in writing before you open InDesign. Do not wait for “print was in the original fee.” This page never tucked a press pack inside a screen quote.

Third preset: 6 hours at the same $90. Extra: 6 × $90 = $540. You typed the 6. This page did not. A longer CMYK pack — every spread, every dieline, every spot — is still hours × floor, still billed because they asked after a screen quote, still not 20% of anything, and still not a per-page mill.

A second size is extra hours, not a page price

Second preset: same 3 press hours, same $90. They also want a business card after the poster, or a square after the letter. You type 1 extra hour for that second size. Billed hours: 3 + 1 = 4. Print-ready extra: 4 × $90 = $360. Press-file labor is $270. Second-size labor is $90.

That extra hour is not a $12/page SKU and not “20% of the job for press.” You typed 1. The card did hours × floor. If they said “also a card” and the second-size box stays 0, the second-size line stays $0 — this page will not invent a slice of the original quote, and it will not invent a per-page mill. Type the hours that second size actually costs, or leave that box at 0.

This is not a zip, more seats, a runbook, captions, or a shop bill

The native Figma / PSD / AE project after they already bought the PDF, MP4, or live site is a different product. Package/handoff hours × floor on the source-files card (worked 2h × $90 = $180). Optional 0.25 of original job hours is a quarter-job comparison they type there — not 50% of the project, not added. That zip is layered source. This extra is a plated press PDF. Want both? Zip hours there, bleed/crop/CMYK hours here. Do not treat a CMYK rebuild as “just send the .fig.”

More people running the same screen file is not a press pack. Quoted hours × floor × a multiplier they type lives on the usage-license card. 0.5 is a half-again example they type, not 2× for nationwide ads, not a copyright statute. Usage widens who can run the file they already have. This card rebuilds the file so a shop can print it. Do not tuck a CMYK pack inside a paid-ads multiplier, and do not tuck extra seats inside a press extra.

A written SOP so the next person can operate the thing without you is the documentation card. Worked 6h × $90 = $540. Stills there are extra hours, not a per-page ticket, not 20% of the project. A wiki is not ink. A press PDF is not an SOP. Want both? Writing hours there, press hours here.

Captions, alt strings, or a transcript after a quote that shipped the work as-is belong on the accessibility card. Worked 4h × $90 = $360. Not 15% of the project, not a WCAG mill, not billed per minute of captions. A .vtt does not add crop marks. Crop marks do not write alt. Want both? Caption / alt / transcript hours there, press hours here.

A 9:16 Stories/Reels cut of a 16:9 or square master they already bought is not a press PDF. Extra aspect ratios = hours you type × floor on the social-cuts card. Worked 4h × $90 = $360. Not $50 a cut. Not 20% of the video. Recrop and reframe for a different frame. Bleeds and CMYK stay here. Want both? Cutdown hours there, press hours here. Do not treat a vertical MP4 as “the print file.”

The printer’s shop invoice they forwarded — plates, stock, bindery they asked you to pay — pastes on the expense-markup card. Share 0 is pass-through at cost. Type 0.15 as a 15% example, not a 20% agency markup. That card multiplies a receipt. This card multiplies hours. Two lines if they want both: the shop bill there, your press hours here. Do not launder a $1,200 printer invoice into “a couple of print hours,” and do not launder bleed setup into a fake markup on that receipt.

You type the hours. This page will not invent 20% of the project

Print blogs love a tidy slice: 20% of the fee for press, $12 a page, “everyone marks up print.” None of those percents is a statute, a filing table, or the math this card runs. Poster vs booklet vs card only names which press file they asked for. Dollars here are hours you type × floor. This page will not mint a 20% print-ready buyout, and it will not mint a per-page mill.

If they ask for “the usual print percent,” say there isn’t one on this card. Show the $270 three-hour example, type 6, or type a second-size hour. You pick the hours. Skip guilt. If they will not confirm the extra, the press file stays unbuilt. The screen quote they already bought still stands. The shop bill, if they sent one, still belongs on expense-markup — not inside this extra.

Paste the line before you open InDesign

Name the press-file hours. Name the floor. Name $270 (or whatever the card shows). Name that it sits on a quote that was screen. If second-size hours are on, name those too. Copy from this card so the dollars in the email match the dollars on screen.

• 3h × $90. Print-ready extra: 3 hours I type for a press PDF / bleeds / crop marks / CMYK pack × $90.00/hr = $270.00. The quote was screen. A press file after that quote is hours × floor — not 20% of the project, and not a per-page mill. The printer’s shop invoice, if they pass one, sits on a separate extras line. Please confirm $270.00 before I open the press file.
• Same 3h, 1h second size. Print-ready extra: 3 hours I type for the press file + 1 extra hour I typed for a second size = 4 hours × $90.00/hr = $360.00. A second size is extra hours, not a per-page mill. That is not 20% of the project. Please confirm $360.00 before I open the press file.
• 6h CMYK pack. Print-ready extra: 6 hours I type for a press PDF / bleeds / crop marks / CMYK pack × $90.00/hr = $540.00. The quote was screen. A press file after that quote is hours × floor — not 20% of the project, and not a per-page mill. Please confirm $540.00 before I open the press file.

Leave out guilt and “everyone knows print is 20%.” That speech turns a press PDF into a fight. This page has no official print percent and no per-page mill. No confirmed fee, no press file opened. Native working files belong on source-files. More users of the same file belong on usage-license. A written runbook belongs on documentation. Captions, alt, or a transcript belong on accessibility. A printer shop bill belongs on expense-markup. If the $90 floor moved, rebuild it on the hub, then name this press extra.

Planning math, not a print-production contract

Planning numbers only — not legal, tax, or collections advice, and not a print-production contract. No mandated press percent, no statute that prices bleeds, no 20% slice of a screen job, no per-page mill, and no 50-state tax engine. Keep the contract you already signed. Need enforceable print-production language? Hire counsel where you work before the press file leaves. Filling this card does not draft that language and does not certify the file for a shop.

You type press-file hours, the hourly floor, and optional second-size hours (not a per-page dollar). You get billed hours, the print-ready extra, and one sentence to paste. Dollars here are labeled USD; live currency plus any tax slice you chose stay on the hub.

Rate calculator Native zip, not the press PDF 9:16 cutdowns, not a press PDF More users of the same file Printer shop bill, not your hours Set the hourly floor

Billable weeks moved? Recalculate the floor on the hub before you price the press pack. This page names a screen quote rebuilt for ink — hours × floor, a second size as extra hours, not 20% of the job, not a per-page mill. Native working files after a bought delivery: source-files. Broader rights on the same hours: usage-license. Extra aspect ratios of a video/still master: social-cuts. A printer’s shop invoice they forwarded: expense-markup. A wiki an inheritor reads without you: documentation. Captions, alt, or a transcript after the work as shipped: accessibility. Floor still a placeholder? Begin on how to set a freelance rate.

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