Commercial industry
Commercial Printer Insurance
A commercial printer is a manufacturing account that looks like a shop. The press and the bindery are equipment breakdown and property. Customer stock and furnished film or files are bailee. Ink, solvent, and paper are a fire-load and a ordinance conversation. A missed deadline after a mechanical failure is business income. Treating a print shop as a office with a copier is how a four-color press and a staged catalog become an argument about “office contents.”
We place commercial printers, bookbinders, and litho / digital shops that are still admitted manufacturing-plus-service accounts. Copy-and-ship storefronts can live on a BOP when the equipment is light. A real pressroom should not. If mailing and fulfillment dominate, see mailing services and we will attach the print. If you only design and send files to a plant, you are closer to an advertising or consulting professional file.
Property starts with a statement of values that can replace the press, the folder, and the tenant improvements — not a used-market number from an auction. Equipment breakdown and spoilage-of-work-in-process belong on the same proposal. Business income should contemplate the week a political or catalog customer will not wait. We ask about heat-set, UV, and solvent use because those change fire protection and, sometimes, appetite. We do not write that as a scare; we write it as a sprinkler and a flammables-cabinet fact.
Customer stock, furnished paper, and work in process need a bailee or property-of-others grant at the peak of a job, not the average week. Inland marine covers plates, dies, and stock in transit. Products and completed-operations cover a printed piece that injures someone or a label that is wrong — rare, but not theoretical on food or chemical labels. If you print those, say so.
Commercial auto covers delivery vans. Cyber covers customer files and a RIP system that is on a old server. Washington press and bindery payroll stays with L&I; we place stop-gap and competitive-state WC. We do not replace L&I. Additional-insured requests from agencies and publishers are a certificate job we actually read.
Mailing services, advertising agencies, and wholesale are the related pages. Sign shops and large-format only are writable when the process is still print, not when the shop is really a electrical or outdoor-advertising contractor. Describe the process.
Risks we actually schedule
- Press or bindery breakdown in the week a dated job has to ship.
- Fire in a ink- and paper-rich room, including ordinance-or-law on an older building.
- Damage to customer-furnished stock and files.
- A label or published piece that becomes a products or professional claim.
Frequently asked questions
Is a copy shop a printer for insurance?
A storefront copier-and-ship is often a BOP service class. A pressroom with bindery and customer stock is manufacturing. We look at the equipment list, not the word “print” on the awning.
Does the customer’s insurance cover the paper they sent us?
Sometimes. Your bailee grant is what you control when the loss is your sprinkler or your forklift. We schedule it for the peak job.
We also mail the finished piece. One policy?
Usually, with the mailing and auto exposures described. If mailing is half the receipts, see the mailing-services page — we may still write one account.
Related coverage, industries, and locations
Commercial Property
Buildings, inventory, equipment, and business income when fire, theft, wind, or water shut you down.
Coverage detailsEquipment Breakdown
Boilers, refrigeration, production machinery, diagnostic equipment, and the business income that follows a mechanical failure.
Coverage detailsInland Marine
Tools, equipment, cargo, installation jobs, and property that moves — the coverage a building policy leaves behind.
Coverage detailsGeneral Liability
Third-party injury, property damage, and products/completed-operations protection for shops, offices, and jobsites.
Coverage detailsWorkers Compensation
Private WC in competitive states, plus stop-gap and multi-state design. Washington employers stay with L&I for WA payroll.
Coverage detailsMailing Service
Lettershops and mail houses: property on the line, bailee on customer lists and stock, and the trucks that make the drop.
Industry pageAdvertising Agency
Professional liability, cyber, and a package for shops that sell ideas, media, and production.
Industry pageWholesale and Distribution
Warehouse property, fleet, products liability, and cargo for distributors who move other people’s shelves.
Industry pagePennsylvania
Licensed commercial insurance broker serving Pennsylvania.
State page