Originally Posted by
Jester2000
Well, Nean, it kind of depends on what kind of copy they're making for you. They are not, I would imagine, duplicating onto a crappy Memorex DVD-R and photocopying a piece of paper to slide into a paper sleeve.
I know the advent of personal computers makes the following foreign (or the distant past) to some people, but here it is: some things are cheaper when you produce them in volume.
Think about books about the trail that are produced as Print On Demand books. A trade paperback of a POD book will usually run you between $18.00 and $25.00. This is because they make them one at a time.
A publisher that does large runs of books can make a profit selling the same format book for $14.00-$16.00.
Do I accuse Rick McKinney, whose book is $18.95, or Larry Luxenberg, whose book is $19.95, of being greedy, because I've seen similarly formatted books for cheaper?
No.
You know why? Because any "thought[s] of greed to profit above and beyond" that I might have would be unfounded unless I actually knew the costs of production, and since I don't know that, it wouldn't even occur to me to bring it up in public.
And were anyone to suggest such a thing about me in regards to a trail project I was working on and then in the same post ask me if I was going to donate back to the trail, I honestly think my response would be, "that post was a joke, right?"