The 80/20 Rule of Print Shop Profitability

The Hidden 20% Carrying Your Print Shop  

Most print shops live the Pareto Principle without realizing it: a small slice of customers and job types drives the majority of profit, while everything else fights to break even. The problem isn’t the concept—it’s visibility. When you can’t clearly see which work is carrying your business, you end up giving the same time, urgency, and pricing attention to everything… and your margins pay the price.

CoreBridge turns the 80/20 rule into a living, breathing advantage. Its profitability dashboard automatically ranks customers and job types by true margin contribution—not just revenue—so you can instantly spot your profit leaders and your silent margin leaks. No spreadsheet archaeology. No guessing. Just clarity.

That clarity changes how you run your shop. When you know exactly who your top clients are, you stop treating them like anyone else. You can move them to the front of the line with faster quotes, priority scheduling, and simple loyalty plays that keep them locked in. And because your top 20% is usually responsible for most of your stability, protecting those relationships is the fastest path to predictable growth.

Meanwhile, CoreBridge doesn’t just tell you what’s underperforming—it helps you fix it. Jobs that consistently run thin often aren’t “bad jobs”; they’re jobs with a missing standard, a bloated workflow, or a pricing blind spot. CoreBridge compares estimated vs. actual performance and pinpoints where margin is getting lost, so you can re-price with confidence, tighten the process, or phase out work that isn’t worth the capacity.

And when low-margin products are necessary for customer retention or lineup completeness, CoreBridge helps you stop bleeding time on them. Automation reduces touchpoints, lowers labor drag, and makes thin-margin work far less risky. You keep the offering without sacrificing profitability.

Best of all, this isn’t a one-time exercise. Profitability shifts with markets, materials, and demand. CoreBridge makes reviewing your profit mix routine and fast, so your “top 20%” stays current—and your focus stays pointed where it pays.

Because in print, focus isn’t a mindset. It’s a margin strategy. CoreBridge shows you what’s truly worth your time, so you can protect your best work, repair the rest, and grow without guessing.

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Sources  

• NAPCO Research — “Profitability Analysis in Print Operations.”  

• Printing Impressions — “The Pareto Principle Applied to Print Business Management.”  

• WhatTheyThink — “Data-Driven Client Segmentation for Profit.”

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