u/Economy_Gap_2108 — reddlx

I’ve spent the last 9 months building software for my dad’s print shop, and I’m curious how other shops are handling this…

He’s been running his business on handwritten ledgers for years. Every time I tried to help him get online, the same problems came up:

Pricing lives entirely in his head
Quotes take ages and aren’t consistent
Most print software assumes a completely different workflow

So I built something for him from scratch — mainly focused on making quoting actually reflect how print is costed (plates, makeready, digital vs offset, wide format, materials, etc.).

He’s now using it day to day, which is a good sign, but I’ve got no idea how typical his setup is.

For those running print shops:

How are you currently handling quotes and job tracking?
What part of your workflow eats the most time?
Have you tried MIS systems before — and what made you walk away?

Not trying to sell anything here — just want to understand how other shops operate and whether the problems I’ve seen are common.