When I first started at Think Promote, the pricing systems used across the industry seemed convoluted, confusing, and at times opaque. A couple of years later, I am officially part of the problem.
More recently, while designing the quotation configurator on this website (head over to our promotional calendars page and click on a calendar for an example), I ended up relearning almost every detail behind how promotional calendar pricing actually works. And yes, it is still confusing. That said, we have trimmed a lot of the unnecessary complexity out of our own process and I now feel reasonably confident giving a clear and honest explanation of how pricing tends to work, whether you place work with us or another manufacturer.
Most of what I describe here comes from Think Promote’s own pricing model, though truthfully, much of it is fairly representative of how the wider industry operates. Also, while I focus on promotional calendars here, much of this applies to fundraising calendars too.
Before we start: a few concepts worth understanding
Always think in units
Promotional calendars, by definition, are intended to promote a business at . That means manufacturers, including us, generally expect orders to sit above a minimum quantity threshold (we will come back to this shortly). Throughout the rest of this guide, pricing - excluding delivery - is discussed per unit, or in this case, per calendar.
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Not all costs are equal
When a business places a promotional calendar order, there are both fixed and variable costs involved.
Fixed costs
Fixed costs are costs that do not usually increase with each extra calendar produced. They do not scale with quantity.
Order-level fixed costs
Also often called setup costs, these can include artwork checks (staff wages, software licensing), plate making for lithographic presses, admin order entry, and studio work such as designer time. In many cases, these costs are broadly the same whether you order 10 calendars or 10 million.
For example, if an advert appears on 1,000 calendars, it does not need to be designed 1,000 times. It gets designed once. The same applies to printing plates. For large print runs, the plates used in lithographic printing only need to be produced once per colour set.
Business overheads
Other fixed costs are not tied to one customer’s order in a direct way. These are the wider costs a business has to pay to keep operating.
Examples include factory rent, business rates, insurance, utilities, website costs, accountancy fees, and general management costs. Overheads are still included in the wider pricing model. Each order contributes towards them, but not in the same direct way as materials, production time or order-specific setup work.
Variable costs
Variable costs work differently. These scale directly with the quantity ordered. Obvious examples include paper, ink or click charges, binding wire, hangers, packaging, and factory floor time. For every additional calendar produced, you need more materials, more machine time, and more labour. As a result, total variable costs rise proportionally with quantity.
Quantity-based pricing
If you understand the difference between fixed and variable costs, this part should feel fairly intuitive. As quantity changes, the total price of your order changes. But so does the unit price.
Why smaller orders cost more per calendar
Smaller orders often carry broadly the same fixed costs as larger orders. When the quantity is lower, those fixed costs are spread across fewer calendars, which keeps the cost per calendar higher.
Why larger orders cost less per calendar
Larger orders work the other way around. As the quantity increases, those same fixed costs are spread across more calendars. This is one of the main reasons the price per calendar usually falls at higher quantities.
The simplified example below shows the idea. The numbers are illustrative, but the principle is the same: the setup cost has not disappeared in the larger order. It has just become a smaller part of the cost per calendar.
Illustrative example only. The proportions shown here are simplified to show how a fixed setup cost can make up a much larger share of a small order than a larger one.
Minimum quantities
Because of the fixed costs involved, orders below a certain quantity often become uneconomical to produce. Or, to put it less politely, we would lose money.
For example, if we sold only 5 calendars, the setup work, artwork checks, administration and production preparation would still need to happen. At that point, the cost per calendar can become too high for the order to make commercial sense.
That is why manufacturers, including us, usually set their own minimum order quantities. It is not because the extra calendars are difficult to make. It is because the order needs to be large enough to cover the work required to get production started.
Extras that can change the price
A big source of confusion is that the same product can often be configured in different ways, and those choices can change the price. I’ll explain a few common examples below.
Branding options
For promotional calendars, your company advert is usually placed at the top of each calendar leaf. This advert represents your brand and gives people a way to contact you.
A classic branding option is advert colour. You may be able to choose between a single colour advert and a full colour advert.
On calendars with an advert-colour choice, single colour adverts are included in the quoted price, while full colour adverts carry an additional variable cost depending on quantity. Some calendars include full colour as standard. Our quote configurators show this clearly, and you can see an example of these options below.
Example from our quote configurator showing a single colour advert included in the price, and a full colour advert listed as an additional cost.
Advert colour is just one branding option. The wider point is to make sure you understand which options have been applied to the product you are buying, and how those options affect the price.
Turnaround
Fast track and rush services are not standard across the whole industry, but we offer them for customers who need their calendars sooner.
In plain terms, this means moving an order ahead in the production schedule. That can affect factory planning, staffing and the flow of work on the factory floor, so there is an additional charge to reflect the extra pressure it creates.
These charges are applied to the whole order, not to each calendar individually, although the quantity ordered can still affect the final amount.
Other bespoke customisation
If the product you want is completely bespoke, or does not fit neatly into our standard pricing model, contact us and we will price it based on your requirements.
This might include unusual sizes, non-standard materials, special finishes, different packaging, or anything else that needs to be reviewed before we can quote properly.
Delivery
If your promotional calendars are being delivered to you, and you plan to distribute them yourself, delivery is usually charged once per order.
If you want your supplier to send calendars directly to your customers on your behalf, that is different. There may be a charge per calendar for handling the mailing, as well as the actual postage cost of sending items individually rather than in bulk to one address.
Delivery prices shown on this website, and likely on many others, will usually assume UK mainland delivery to a single address. They may not account for split deliveries, overseas delivery, individual mailing, or delivery bundling. Delivery bundling is where multiple products from the same supplier are sent together, often on the same pallet or courier shipment, to reduce the overall delivery cost. We do this automatically where we can and let you know.
If your delivery requirements are outside the standard setup, it is worth discussing them with the supplier before comparing quotes.
Also note: suppliers really should not use delivery charges as a quiet way to make extra margin. This applies to the listed delivery cost, not necessarily to handling, preparation or transport services, which may reasonably include a fair mark-up. Delivery should be charged clearly and fairly, based on the reasonable cost of getting the goods to you.
How to compare calendar quotes properly
Okay, if you’ve made it this far, there is not much further to go.
You should not trust quotes blindly. Not from us, and not from our competitors. After all, why would you? However transparent we try to be, our interests and yours are not always perfectly aligned when it comes to pricing. Let’s not pretend that’s a secret.
So, say you want promotional calendars and now have a few quotes in front of you. How do you compare them properly?
Specification match
The first point is a big one, and we see it all the time: are the quotes actually for a like-for-like product?
Just some of the things that can differ between quotes are size, number of leaves, turnaround time, wire colour, mailing scheme, artwork support, paper type, and finishing options.
Check, then triple check, that both suppliers have quoted you for the same thing.
Headline price vs total cost
This follows the same basic idea: check whether the quotes include the same things.
Ask yourself:
Do they both include delivery?
Do they both include or exclude VAT?
Do they both include the extras you asked for, such as mailing, board-backed envelopes, faster turnaround, artwork support, or bespoke finishing?
We try to make our quotes as clear as possible, but this industry has not always been great at transparency. Check that everything is included, itemised, and easy to understand before you compare one headline price with another.
Payment terms
If you are a cash-rich company, this may not matter much. For everyone else, payment timing can make a real difference.
Ask yourself: when will I actually have to pay?
For a company watching cash flow, paying several months later may have value. If two quotes are close on price, but one gives you better payment terms, that is worth considering. On the other hand, if you are mainly looking to reduce the total cost, check whether either supplier offers a discount for earlier payment.
At Think Promote, our payment terms are often NET 30 on dispatch, meaning you pay after your calendars have been dispatched. We may also offer prompt payment discounts.
Supplier credibility
Suppliers should not be opaque. Before accepting a quote, look the company up.
Does their website look trustworthy? Do they clearly explain who they are? Do they have a real team behind them? Are they the manufacturer, or are they reselling another company’s product? Reselling is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is useful to know.
A cheap quote feels less impressive if the calendars arrive late, arrive wrong, or never arrive at all.
It takes real work for a supplier to create clear support, communication and aftercare processes. That does not mean every supplier needs a huge website or endless resources, but you should understand the risk profile of the company you are buying from before you place the order.
Aftercare
No one expects something to go wrong with their order until it does.
When comparing quotes, ask yourself which supplier you would rather deal with if there was a problem with your calendars. Do they offer proper support? Do they explain what happens if mistakes are made, deadlines are missed, or goods arrive damaged?
If a supplier does not talk about aftercare, it may mean one of two things. Either they believe nothing ever goes wrong, which is not realistic, or they do not have a documented support process. The second can sometimes be managed with clear reassurance over the phone or by email. The first should really worry you.
Mistakes happen. Orders can run late and goods do arrive damaged occasionally. That should not happen of course but sometimes it just does. What makes a bad situation worse is when the supplier has not explained in advance how they will deal with it.
For example, we offer faster turnaround options on promotional calendars. If you want your calendars earlier than standard, you can pay extra to have your order fast-tracked through our factory. But what happens if we miss that faster turnaround?
In our case, we explain this before you place your order. If we miss your latest dispatch date because of a delay caused by us, we refund or credit the full extra fast-track charge for the affected job. That sort of detail is useful to know before choosing a supplier, not after something has gone wrong.
Final thoughts
If, after reading all of this, you are still a bit confused, that is okay. If you feel even slightly clearer on how promotional calendar pricing works, I have done my job.
The truth is, you do not have to figure it all out alone. We have a support team here to help customers understand the process and compare options. If you are unsure, get in touch and we will talk you through it.
Learn how to track your Think Promote order online, view production updates, check dispatch status, and find courier tracking details after your order leaves the factory.
If something has gone wrong with your order, this guide explains what to do next, what we may ask you for, and how we work out the right way to put things right.
