Job margins by product with ChatGPT for print shops

Print prices get set once in the quoting templates and then left, while paper, click charges and finishing time creep up. Short-run booklets that take 40 minutes of folding, stapling and trimming can end up costing more than they sell for, and because the press is busy, nobody notices. If 12 booklet jobs a month sell at an average of $160£120€143A$230C$226 and now cost about $168£126€150A$242C$237 to produce, that's about $96£72€86A$138C$135 a month lost on work that looks profitable.

Export 3 months of completed jobs from your print management system or job sheets as a spreadsheet: product, quantity, stock, sides, finishing, price charged and minutes on the guillotine and finishing kit. Add your own costs: paper per sheet, click charge per side and labor per hour. Upload the file to ChatGPT and ask for the cost and margin of each job and the average by product, with a chart and the formula it used, so you can check a couple of jobs by hand. You then decide which templates to re-price. Full data analysis is on Go (about $9£7€8A$13C$13 a month) and above; Plus adds the Excel and Google Sheets extensions.

A print shop in Preston with 4 staff completes about 110 jobs a month. ChatGPT shows short-run booklets average $160£120€143A$230C$226 a job but cost about $168£126€150A$242C$237 once finishing time is counted, and the owner raises the booklet template by 15%, to about $184£138€164A$265C$259.

About $287£216€257A$415C$406 a month better off, against about $9£7€8A$13C$13 for ChatGPT Go. Moving 12 booklet jobs a month from a $8£6€7A$12C$11 loss to a $16£12€14A$23C$23 profit is $24£18€21A$35C$34 a job, if the same number still come in at the new price.

1. 1Export 3 months of completed jobs with product, quantity, stock, sides, finishing, price charged and minutes of finishing time. Leave out customer names and contact details.
2. 2Write your own costs at the top of the file: paper per sheet for each stock, the click charge per side from your service contract, and labor per hour.
3. 3In ChatGPT Go (€8, about $9£7€8A$13C$13 a month) or above, upload the file and ask: 'Work out the cost and margin of each job and the average margin by product. Show a table, a chart and the formula you used.'
4. 4Check two or three jobs by hand against the job sheets and paper invoices.
5. 5Update the quoting templates for products that lose money, and re-run the check each quarter with fresh costs.

• The answer is only as good as the costs you give it. Use your own paper invoices and click charges, not list prices, and include finishing time, which is where short runs lose money.
• A product that makes little on its own may bring in a customer's bigger orders. Look at the customer's whole account before raising a price sharply or turning work away.
• Data analysis on the free plan is limited. Go and Plus are personal plans that can use chats for training unless you opt out in the data settings, so keep customer names out of the file.
• If several staff need it, the Business plan (about $24£18€21A$35C$34 per user a month billed annually, from 2 users) doesn't train on business data by default.