Politics And Printing

"Their cost per impression is probably many times what it would be if we did it here," Tucker says. "They're not putting enough emphasis on cost efficiency."

Nor on charging back, he adds. Because this agency doesn't charge for printing, its offices get the illusion that printing is free, he says.

Though such renegade print shops have cropped up in many government offices—several have sprouted in the federal government, taking business from GPO—they're not the norm. In Nevada, where printing is also mandated through the state printer, Bailey says agencies have no desire to buy their own printing equipment.