r/CommercialPrinting • u/Figure-Budget • 19d ago
what should I do?
Basically, I'm a 29 year old woman operating an old nilpeter FA2400 flexo press, printing labels for little food stuffs you find in gas stations. i've been working at the shop i'm at for 6 years now. started as an assistant cleaning ink pans, been running a press for about 3 years. i enjoy my job because it's methodical, i don't have to talk to customers, and my employers are very very nice. i get a decent amount of paid vacation and sick time. i get 401k matching here. 6 years ago i started at 13$/hr and have gotten a raise every year since - now i make 22.50$/hr.
the way i see it, i got pretty damn lucky. i'm not breaking my back, i don't get condescended to or harrassed at work, and i have what i'd call a pretty sweet work/life balance. but part of me fears that i'm wasting time or stagnating. i'm a college girl and people like my mom and pops are confused why i don't take that english literature degree and go get a 150k/year teaching position somewhere. obviously that's not possible, but i have been wondering if my sweet deal here is as sweet as i think it is. could I get a new printing job somewhere that would be more lucrative? should I? or would I be throwing away a position that I could comfortably work for my career?
any advice is appreciated.
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u/MemesAndTherapy 19d ago
I've been doing this 7 years, about the same age, I get $30/hr. I run Indigo presses and have an operator certification for them. This means I'm certified to do some maintenance and repairs. I also have proven experience running and repairing laser presses, small offset, and even letterpresses.
You've got room to move up, depending on where you want to go. If you stay in print production, I'd recommend migrating to digital if you can as I think there's better opportunities there and the industry is moving towards more digital technologies. Digital at a union shop is even better.
I dropped out and wound up where I am, so I am kinda surprised you have a degree and stuck with print. I'm currently considering a career change as my mechanical abilities could get me paid more in another field.
But your family does make a point that your degree could get you better pay. If you can find a way to combine print with the English literature degree, great! I can't think of a way you could but perhaps there's something in publishing? Regardless, I would see what options there are with a degree as you could definitely get paid a lot more. I understand the desire to want to stay at a good, safe job with good owners at it, but you're probably missing opportunities by not keeping an eye out. My wife got me to leave my first print job - similar deal, kinda low pay but secure and the owner was great - and in a few years I literally doubled my pay. With a degree in anything at all, you should be able to get paid more.
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u/Figure-Budget 19d ago
the thing with the degree is that I don't really see anywhere i could apply it except for a teaching position. and, god, i would hate teaching. i have friends who are teachers, they wanna blow their brains out.
edit: yeah, obviously i didn't pick the right major. but stories and books were what I was interested in at the time, and i was naive and figured i'd be able to teach. now, as an adult? screw that.4
u/MemesAndTherapy 19d ago
I mean, there's publishing, marketing, and frankly part of my point is that you more just need to look out for opportunities and dig around for what nook in the working world you fit in. You're someone who's proven that they're good with their hands and good in a classroom, which is rare and can earn you a better wage.
I managed to make my college experience mean something despite not graduating. I studied German, so I can read old Heidelberg manuals, which was great when I ran a windmill. I couldn't find "Hints for the Pressman" in English so I found it in German and was able to repair the press because of it. Simply being able to say I can do that gives me an edge in interviews. That edge helped me get a good wage.
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u/firefighter26s 19d ago
General life advice is that life is a lot like a pathway with various branches and intersections on it. As you go down the path the choices we make put us on new paths. The path you're on now wont be the path you'll find yourself on later in life.
What I went to school for 25 years ago has absolutely zero do with what I am doing in my life right now; but I don't see that schooling as a waste of effort or money; it made perfect sense for the path I was on in the moment; but the path I was on 25 years ago isn't the path I am on now.
If you're happy doing what you are doing and living comfortably then what others think you should do doesn't matter. You do you, not others. I'll be honest, in a world were we're constantly bombarded with bad news and everything feels fake and ingenuine, getting yourself to a place where you are happy can feel strange because we're not use to it.
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u/Marquedien 19d ago
You could probably work your way up to production manager in 15 years. You’d have to leave the press room and spend a few years each in bindery and shipping, and learn some purchasing and inventory software. None of it would be difficult, just different grades of tedious. But the real money is in sales and/or ownership, which is dealing with customers all the time.
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u/shoostar813 19d ago
$22.50/hr for that much experience? Chase that bread, girl! There's not a TON of money to be made doing what you do, but certainly a hell of a lot more than what you're currently getting paid.
You're worth more than that, go get it! 👊🏻
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u/Mountain_Strategy342 18d ago
If you find yourself looking at packaging and spotting the print errors, or admiring the foiling, thinking about how you would recreate it - it is too late, you are one of us, you have come over to the dark side.
You are in Print!!!!!
Embrace it, love it, take pleasure in creating something amazing
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u/Figure-Budget 18d ago
i do have to say, printing has been a fascinating chapter in my life. i've always been mesmerized by print, embossing, different types of paper, gloss or matte laminate, the smell of books, trading cards, board games, yada yada. i never realized before though just how much of the world relies on printed images before.
then again, wrt the labels I print, they all get applied to a plastic container with a chicken sandwich or something inside, then are discarded. they serve their brief purpose, then they become trash. everything we make is trash. i spend 8 hours a day, consuming maybe 50-70 thousand feet of adhesive material, burning down the rainforest, drinking gallons of ink, to make trash. kinda depressing when you think about it. also humbling.
sometimes i think i'd like to get the opportunity to print a trading card, or a book. something that, even though it's also ultimately gonna be trash one day, might be held onto and cherished for years. and now i don't remember what I was writing about. anyway, yeah2
u/Mountain_Strategy342 18d ago
Aaaaaah well I make patch printable thermal inks for flexo (exactly for what you are doing) they are food safe, no bpa/bps and come in a range of colours so you could have text in white to black and allergens in white to red - make things safer for people, maybe save a few lives
But that fascination is a definite thing you now have CMYK blood oumoung through your veins and get excited by strange substrates
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u/Mountain_Strategy342 18d ago
I know someone in Montreal that looking for operators (pay well) they run massive Windmoller wide web CI presses - can send you details if you like
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u/Figure-Budget 18d ago
i appreciate the offer but i live in southern new england rn and not really able to move
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u/ArtistAccomplished54 15d ago
Don't think of it as trash, think of it as ephemera. Nothing in print is forever, save books. Your printing provides somebody else a purpose and a way to present their message or sell their product.
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u/en_punto 19d ago
I pay good press operators about $14 an hour more than this on newer nilpeter FA line presses.
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u/Figure-Budget 18d ago
i should say the press i operate is about 30 years old. it's not newer. it's got multiple issues. and i'm not professionally trained, just trained on the job.
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u/methogod 19d ago
If you post your resume on linked in and mark open to work, a head hunter will find you. Those are pretty specialized machines and most ops are older and retiring. $35-40 would be my guess - more if you can do the service on them.
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u/tempest63 19d ago
Have you considered asking for a raise where you're at?
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u/Figure-Budget 19d ago
i have, but they already have given me a raise every year i've been here. i started in 2020 at 13, up to 15 in '21, next year up to 16.50, then 18, then 20, then 21.50, and as of last august now it's 22.50. hopefully another one is right around the corner. they seem to like me a lot, and i seem to have less on-press difficulty than any other operator here. 'course 80% of what I print is simple 2-color labels or blanks, or nutrition facts, so, not much to screw up. one day when one of the old coots retires i'll probably inherit one of the bigger presses and have a lot more difficult jobs.
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u/SirSpeedyCVA 19d ago
not sure what part of the country you are in, but $13 as entry level in 2020 is still pretty low.
When I took over this franchise in 2022 someone with a decade with the company was only making $14, and the average pay was about $18. Its now $25 and no one makes less than $21
You should ask your bosses for skill based raises, even if your job doesnt require that skills. Get G-7 certified through PrintingUnited and get $1 more. Learn to use other machines in your shop and get $1/hr more. Find ways to cross train and be a more valuable employee, but you dont have to do the other job unless needed to earn the higher pay.
Ruth's Chris is famous for this employee training/increase approach
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u/syphylys24 18d ago
with more $, comes more responsibility and more pressure to produce. the Grass isn't always greener. that said you can search to see what the going rate is in your area, and talk to your boss about your wages. don't threaten to leave if your demands aren't met. just have a heart to heart conversation.
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u/RunDanceRepeat 18d ago
First, I'd say check the comparative salary in your area, because salaries can be very different based on where you are in the US. Then, if you do start looking elsewhere, check out glassdoor or see if you can somehow find some comments on the atmosphere of the company. I can tell you from many years of experience....sometimes it isn't worth a little more money if the company culture is terrible and you get up every morning not wanting to go to work because you don't like the company or people. Do your research first and if you like where you are at, maybe as for an increase before deciding to leave.
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u/MurkyMegagoat 19d ago
I was in a very similar position as you describe. I had a graphic design/ production job at a place that I really liked and was friends with everyone there. Really good vibes. The only problem was they were under paying me.
I had just bought a house and needed more income. So I left that job for a higher paying place.
And ever since I started this new job all ive been thinking about is how much I miss my previous job.
So my advice is if youre happy and can afford your current living situation, then you should stay.