What it does
A label's price is mostly decided before anyone prints it. Face stock, adhesive and liner are three separate materials bought by weight; how many labels you get from a metre of web depends on the die layout; wastage and conversion rates move with both the colour count and the run length; and plates are paid for once however many labels you order. None of that is visible in a single quoted figure.
The Packaging Label Cost Calculator works that arithmetic for you. Pick a cost model, describe the label and the job, and it resolves the whole thing into a cost break-up and a price — per thousand labels, per label, or per roll.
How it works
- Open the module and choose New quote.
- Pick a cost model from the list available to you.
- Describe the label: size, the gaps across and around, how many fit across and around the web, and the material layers.
- Add the job: quantity, colours and process, any finishing operations, the die, packing and freight.
- Read the live cost break-up as you adjust it — the price updates as you type.
What a cost model holds
- Materials Face stocks, adhesives and release liners, each with its GSM or micron and its rate — per kg, per square metre or per 1,000 square inches.
- Inks and coatings Rates by ink type, with the coverage you set per colour on the job.
- Dies and tooling Each die with its charge mode — charged to the job, amortised over a tool life, or free issue.
- Wastage and conversion bands Looked up by number of colours and quantity together, so a short two-colour run and a long six-colour run price off their own rows.
- Packing, finishing and freight Packing rates per roll or carton, finishing operations such as lamination, spot UV, foiling or embossing, and six freight types including a per-kg rate with a minimum charge.
Suppliers and admins author models from Manage cost models; a model is Public (usable by everyone) or Private. A Private model can still be shared with named customers by their Google sign-in email — they can price against it but never see the rate tables or edit the model.
Pricing at several quantities
Below the price, the price table prices the same job across a ladder of quantities — 10,000 through a million by default, editable for the enquiry in front of you. Every row is recalculated in full, not scaled: bands are looked up again, freight is re-derived from that row's own shipment weight, and plates and prepress stay charged once for the job, which is why the price per thousand falls as the quantity rises. A quantity your model has no band for is flagged rather than silently mispriced.
What the break-up shows
- Specifications Labels per roll and per kg, web width, running metres and the material weight the job consumes.
- Cost break-up Material, ink, plates and prepress, die and tooling, conversion, finishing and packing to a works cost, then overheads, freight and margin to the selling price. The chart below it splits the money exactly the same way.
- Price Per 1,000 labels, per label and per roll, with the total for the order.
A label estimate is a working estimate, not a quotation, until you send it as one. It is what the job works out to against one cost model's rate tables on the day — confirm the final price with the label printer before you commit to it.
Quotes you can send
Save a quote and it appears under Saved quotes on the module home. Reopening one reprices it against the cost model's current rates and tells you if the price has moved since you saved it. When you are ready, send it: a quotation, a quotation with the cost break-up, a job cost sheet and a proforma invoice, shared by WhatsApp or email. Marking a quote submitted or confirmed locks it, and a locked quote keeps the price it was sent at however the underlying rates change afterwards.
Who uses it
- Label printers One place for every rate the shop quotes from, and Private models that stay yours while still pricing for named customers.
- Brand owners and packaging buyers With calculator access, price a label against a published cost model to understand what a quote is built on, and see how the price per thousand moves with the order quantity before committing.
- Packaging professionals The same cost break-up discipline as the laminate, box and cylinder calculators, on the same platform.
The use cases on the home page cover all eight roles and which modules answer each.