Can i say that a printing shop is a factory?

josephbt · Post by **josephbt** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 6:58 am

As the title says. Wiki and my google foo have failed.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 9:14 am

What kind of printing shop?

Kinkos is not a factory. A book press is a factory.

-Username17

JonSetanta · Post by **JonSetanta** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 9:14 am

Not that I've encountered in my town.
They call them "presses" and "shops" but not factories since nothing there is manufactured as much as it is designed and processed.

josephbt · Post by **josephbt** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 1:32 pm

Okay, my english sucks sometimes.

My brother works at a place that prints magazines, large ammounts of full color, glossy cover and stuff-inside magazines. He says it's a factory, i say it' not. No books, but sometimes they take outside orders for a special issue of a daily newspaper. They are sorta big in this part of Europe.

JonSetanta · Post by **JonSetanta** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 8:24 pm

josephbt wrote:Okay, my english sucks sometimes.

You're far better than most of what I've encountered, as far as non-primary-English speakers go.

Neeeek · Post by **Neeeek** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 9:15 pm

Why does it matter? Or in other words, what is the context in which this printing place being described?

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:27 am

"Factory" is not incorrect, but if used by a native speaker would carry a negative implication.

dictionarydotcom wrote: 1. a building or group of buildings with facilities for the manufacture of goods.
2. any place producing a uniform product, without concern for individuality: They call it a law school, but it's just a degree factory.

Since "book factory" or "magazine factory" are unusual usages, many people would assume that the word was being used in the second sense.

And because that's a negative implication, it makes sense that the company and their employees would consider it incorrect.

****

However, from the information so far, it sounds likely that the best word here is likely:

Bindery

but Press, Printers, Print Shop,

josephbt · Post by **josephbt** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 6:54 am

the context is that my brother described himself as a factory worker. i simply can't think of it as a factory.

ckafrica · Post by **ckafrica** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:00 pm

I don't know, he helps works with a series of (semi) automated machines that produce a finished product? As in a production line? Sounds like a factory to me.