When we talk about what we can print, the conversation usually starts with one number: 13×19.

That's our maximum press sheet size — the largest piece of paper our equipment can handle in a single pass. Every finished product you get from us starts as a 13×19-inch sheet (or smaller) and gets cut down to size. Understanding this explains a lot about print pricing.

Press sheet vs finished size

The press sheet is the raw material. The finished size is what you hold in your hand after trimming.

When we print a batch of business cards, we're not feeding 500 individual cards through the press. We're printing multiple cards on a single 13×19 sheet, then cutting them apart. The more cards we can fit on one sheet, the fewer sheets we run, and the lower your cost.

This is called imposition — arranging multiple copies (or multiple pages) on a press sheet so we use as much of the paper as possible.

What fits on a 13×19 sheet

Here's how common products break down:

Business cards (3.5×2) — Up to 20 per sheet with trim room. That's why small quantities of business cards are still affordable.
Postcards (4×6) — 4 per sheet. Each sheet gives you four postcards with room for bleed and trim.
Postcards (6.25×9) — 2 per sheet. Larger cards use more paper per piece, which is part of why EDDM mailers cost more than standard postcards.
Flyers (8.5×11) — 1 per sheet, with bleed room. The finished size is close to the press sheet, so there's minimal waste.
Posters (11×17) — These take almost the full sheet. At this size, you're essentially paying per sheet.
Posters (13×19) — Full bleed at our maximum size. The image prints edge to edge on the entire sheet.

Why some sizes cost more than others

Pricing in print comes down to two things: how many sheets you run, and how much of each sheet you use.

A 5×7 postcard uses roughly the same amount of paper as a 4×6 — you still get about four per sheet. But a 6×9 drops you to two per sheet, effectively doubling your paper cost. That extra inch and a half in each direction doesn't seem like much, but it crosses a threshold on the press sheet.

This is why we sometimes suggest adjusting a size by a fraction of an inch. Moving from 5.5×8.5 to 5×8 might let us fit one more piece per sheet, and that adds up fast on a run of 500.

What "full bleed" means at 13×19

When you want ink to run all the way to the edge of the paper, that's full bleed. To achieve it, we print the image slightly larger than the finished size and trim off the excess.

On a 13×19 sheet, that means:

The maximum finished size with bleed is about 12.75×18.75 inches. We need roughly 0.125 inches on each side for trimming.
If you want a true 13×19 poster with full-bleed color, we print it borderless — our press handles edge-to-edge printing at this size.

How this affects your project

Knowing the press sheet size helps you make smarter decisions:

Standard sizes are cheaper. 3.5×2, 4×6, 8.5×11 — these all fit the 13×19 sheet efficiently. Custom sizes can work, but check with us first.
Quantity pricing makes sense now. Going from 100 to 250 business cards barely changes the cost because we're already running sheets. The labor is the same; we just run a few more.
Larger isn't always proportionally more expensive. A 12×18 poster costs roughly the same as an 11×17 because both take one sheet. But jumping to anything over 13×19 means a different process entirely.

The short version

Everything we print starts on a 13×19-inch sheet and gets cut to size. The more efficiently your finished size fits that sheet, the less you pay. Standard sizes exist for a reason — they waste the least paper. If you're designing something custom, send us the dimensions first and we'll tell you exactly how it lays out on the press sheet.