The printer you have spoken to is talking about offset printing. Offset printing has high setup costs. So the per copy cost is very high when it comes to smaller print runs, becomes reasonable as the number of copies go up.

When we print one copy at a time, we use a different printing technology called print-on-demand (POD). The per copy cost here is higher than what you would get if you were printing a large number of copies using offset printing. But it is more economical for when you do not wish to invest a large amount in bulk printing, and allows you to print fewer copies at a reasonable cost.