Standard Ink is an ink that we carry in stock as a standard or "common" ink color. It comes already premixed in a can from the manufacturer. Since these colors do not have to be mixed or special ordered the price for them is cheaper than mixed inks yellow inks, process inks or metallic inks. Since black is the most common ink in offset printing it is the cheapest and is always in stock. Standard inks do NOT include specialty inks Like TUFF TEX inks for outdoor projects, or high heat "laser Inks" used for printing on materials that will run through laser printers and high speed copiers.