Printers give cold shoulder to poll season orders

Press owners refuse orders from poll candidates as they say recovering dues from politicians becomes 'impossible'

The printing industry usually does brisk business during the elections, but city-based printers are an unhappy lot this polls season. Even though candidates are desirous of placing bulk orders for printing of promotional-booklets, owners of the printing units are not very upbeat about the windfall of orders as most candidates, irrespective of losing or winning elections, default on payment of due amountu00a0-- either citing financial bankruptcy or showing their political clout.


Stop press: Most printing units in the city are refusing to take orders
from candidates contesting civic polls as they say recovering the dues
from influential politicians becomes a herculean task. Representation pic

Cash in advance
According to printers, they have to bear losses when a defeated candidate fails to pay up the printing charges for the booklets. "We have learnt from experience why one should refuse taking orders from a politician in the run-up to elections," said the owner of a printing unit in Kothrud. He added that he does not accept partial payments from politicians or their supporters.

"Now, I accept their orders only when I am paid the full amount in advance. Earlier, I used to take half of the amount before starting the work, but in due course of time I observed that they default on payment of remaining amount even after the material is delivered to them," he said.

The owner of a printing on Sinhagad Road said, "We don't entertain them at all. There are several reasons why we avoid politicos." The owner of a Narayan Peth-based printing unit said, "The politicians don't let us make an invoice as they would have to pay tax for it."

Money matters
According to a city-based printer, the minimum charge for one copy of a colour booklet is Rs 50. Rates may vary as per design and layout. This means even if a candidate orders 2,000 copies of such booklets at the minimum charge, the cost adds up to Rs 1 lakh.