Talk:Tag:shop=printing

I think we should use this tag for printing plants (German: Druckerei). The difference to a copyshop is:

• A copyshop serves end customers. One can print single documents or copy some sheets of paper. This is typically done with laser printers or office copiers.
• A printing plant serves mainly business customers who want to print a lot of copies, and in high quality. They use more professional techniques like serigraphy.

--Tanjeff (talk) 20:32, 11 September 2014 (UTC)

• Agree with the distinction -- but processes like offset litho or foil blocking would also come under printing rather than copyshop. In many cases a printing company might also be designing rather than just reproducing. But we should also consider if craft=printing would be more appropriate as these businesses would always be producing goods to order -- unlike a shop, which generally sells from stock.

--harg 10:32, 19 June 2015 (UTC)

Also, the tag has been used for shops selling parts or services related to printers rather than printed documents. This might actually make sense, since there is no other tag covering that (except maybe shop=electronics, which doesn't really match. --Rauferd (talk) 13:04, 13 November 2014 (UTC)

printing plants should not get the shop tag. They should be tagged as man_made=works and maybe some suitable product=* value like "printing_service" or even just "printing" (as opposed to "printers" or "printing_machinery" or sth. like that for those producing the machines, e.g. Heidelberger to name a famous brand).

Clearly, for printer parts a tag like shop=printer_parts would make more sense, although I don't know if they even exist (usually people just trash their broken printer, and the parts for industrial grade machines aren't sold in "shops"). For shops selling primarily printers (like digital, office printers), a tag like shop=printers should make sense. I don't think we have to differentiate these from places that sell big, industrial grade machines, because again, those are not sold in "shops".

For reference, there is also a discussion about this on the tagging mailing list and part 2. --Dieterdreist (talk) 10:26, 28 February 2018 (UTC)

I think shop=printing could be used for small places offering traditional printing (analogue printing, e.g. relief printing) as a service (bigger facilities will get the man_made works tag), but I wouldn't use "printing" as value for craft. Craft is about a profession, and the tag should IMHO be craft=printer. Someone who repairs printing machines would be craft=printer_repair (or printer_service, or printing_machine_service, but not printing_service). Admittedly, using the term "printer" can create ambiguities, because it can mean either a person, or a machine. --Dieterdreist (talk) 10:33, 28 February 2018 (UTC)

For a short time, there was a clarification of the difference on the description page. But jeisenbe made it worse again. That's not a very constructive way to move forward (except he would enter a dicussion about probable details). rtfm Rtfm (talk) 12:58, 9 April 2020 (UTC)

Usage of shop=printer

I used this tag for a small shop, operated by one person, which not offers photocopying services, but prepress, press, and printing services. The press jobs are done elsewhere (not in the building or near around), so it is not a craft=printer. Fabi2 (talk) 14:55, 26 November 2022 (UTC)

changing the definition

[1] Yunan973, did you check that this tag is used that way u described? Because Wiki is to document existing usage not desirable usage. maro21 10:59, 27 April 2024 (UTC)

I didn't change the definition but improved it. I wanted to add the good tag on a shop. I looked at taginfo then with overpass-turbo to try to understand how it was used in France. All usages that I found in France seem coherent with previous version of this page (= printings for professionals, not books nor newspaper but specific printings), I looked at several websites of these shops and improved the definition with the main descriptions found on these websites. Yunan973 (talk) 17:01, 27 April 2024 (UTC)

And I never found a shop with this tag on a "copyshop", differences between these 2 tags seem clear, at least in France. Yunan973 (talk) 17:06, 27 April 2024 (UTC)

This tag is a synonym of shop=copyshop

The description of the tag now is a synonym of shop=copyshop. shop=copyshop is not limited to A4 paper or photocopies only (see the service:*-tags on the page)! Large format plotting and photocopies, besides scanning are very common in Germany, as usually people don't have hardware for it at their homes. Here (website) (as front shop of a craft=printer, so they offer also offset printing an pre-press data preparation, besides digital printing and large format printing) and here (website) (offers photo copies until A3 and scan and then large format (PC-)printout services, besides digital printing) are some examples. --Fabi2 (talk) 13:47, 27 April 2024 (UTC)

I agree. For sure shop=copyshop is not limited to A4. maro21 12:20, 28 April 2024 (UTC)

I also agree. I think for digital printing, there is significant overlap of printing shops and copy shops, and also for traditional printing (e.g. screen printing on t-shirts and similar), some (self-declared) copyshops will offer it. On the other hand, there are printing facilities which offer services that are beyond copyshops (because the required machines are so big). Maybe we should distinguish printing services with properties that describe the kind of services they offer (e.g. photocopying up to A3, big format photocopying, offset printing, screen printing, book printing, ...). Ultimately this can become very (too) detailed, but without any indication, you will have to call them each before going there, because the data that is currently available is not sufficient to understand who they cater for / what kind of services they offer. --Dieterdreist (talk) 13:21, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

For me shop=copyshop is a shop which offers document reproduction services in general, where as craft=printer is a craft facility, which usually offers more printing techniques (e.g. offset or screen printing) then just digital printing, which can be done with bigger office laser printers with finishers, so many copy shops already have one. I updated the German page of craft=printer already. --Fabi2 (talk) 23:24, 29 April 2024 (UTC)