The economics of leafleting

One of the few disadvantages of standing for election as an independent candidate, is that there are no party funds to cover the cost of leafleting. I'll have to fund it out of my own pocket, until I get established locally and one or two donations start to roll in, perhaps...

My first leaflet is more or less ready to go, but where should I go to get it printed...?

Money certainly is an object when leafleting has to be funded out of my own pocket, so I'll have to do it in a way that is cost effective. A5 black on white, 80gsm paper will be absolutely fine. There's no need for anything too fancy. Particularly as many of the leaflets will quickly go into the bin...!

I've discovered that there are some interesting online print services, such as Instaprint, which could print 1000 A5 flyers for £44, but on 120gsm paper. That's quite a good price actually, but the paper is possibly a bit heavier than is really needed...?.

So it looks like my local print shop will be the place to go. Currently offering an unbelievable 2000 A5 flyers, black on 80gsm pastel, for £39.50. I don't think they can be beaten.

But its a pity I only need 1000 leaflets. I don't really want to put a huge pile of unwanted leaflets into my green wheelie bin, so I need a solution that is a little more flexible over quantities. Well, in the longer term at least. Due to the pressures of time, I'll probably have to run with my local print shop for this first leaflet, and ask them to just print the 1000 or so that I need. I'm not sure I'll get a reduction in price for the reduced quantity though. They didn't seem to keen when I enquired about that the other day, saying it wasn't worth their while. I can see their point, but I don't want to buy 2000 and throw 1000 away, risking the obvious "Independent candidate kills tree's unnecessarily" headline...

So what is the longer term solution, that is economical, flexible and reliable....?

Maybe one of these mono laser printers would do the job. The Samsung ML1670, pictured above, is quite cheap to buy and it should comfortably cope with the mass production of a couple of thousand leaflets once in a while.

Reams of A5 paper are also relatively cheap from Viking Direct, especially if I buy in bulk.

The main expense would be the toner cartridges, but that can also be minimised by buying from somewhere like IJT Direct

I'd have to try it to see how it worked out in practice, but if I assume that I could possibly get 2000 A5 flyers from one toner cartridge, using 4 reams of A5 paper, that would be approximately £65 per 2000 leaflets (or £32.50 per 1000), once I've purchased the printer.

But that unbelievable price from my local print shop still looks pretty competitive.
Whilst they can hold that offer, I might as well use them I suppose...