As an organization's commercial printing needs grow, there can come a point where it's impossible to deal with them in-house. It's wise to figure this problem out before it becomes a real challenge, but how do you know it's time to speak with a commercial printing company? Here are five signs you need to seek out third-party commercial printing services.

Basic Needs Are Eating a Lot of Time

Even a task as simple as label printing can become painful if you need to do enough of it. If your business is at the point that people spend too much of their time printing and not enough doing their jobs, you need to turn to an outside company for help.

Don't assume your staff is comfortable filling this role, either. People sometimes get down when they're handling jobs outside their original domains.

Quality Is Lagging

Assembling a high-quality piece of commercial printing work isn't easy. If you're looking at the printed materials that are going out the door and wondering what it says about your company, it's time to talk with a pro.

Look at printed items and examine them for little details. Does the ink go the whole way to the edge? Can you produce high-gloss materials? Can you bind everything in a way that isn't burdensome to readers?

Size Matters

Some organizations have significant in-house capacity, and yet many of these companies still turn to third parties. One big reason they might is to print larger items. If you're looking for large posters, banners, or signage, you may need commercial printing services. Folks in the industry have access to large-format printers, and they know how to set them up properly. When you need to go big, the smart move is to have a professional handle the job.

Speed Limitations

Pushing out even a few hundred printed items can end up being time-consuming. It's hard to compete with the speed of a commercial-grade printer, and a pro can hook you up with a faster solution. If you're looking at producing a thousand items within a day or two, for example, that's a tough task to tackle on your own.

Regular Needs

Finally, some work is needed so regularly that the wise choice is to work with a commercial printing company. If you know you're going to require 10,000 labels every three months, for example, a commercial printing services provider can probably scale the job up enough to save you some money.