The Art Of Printing

The Art Of Printing

Understanding the logistics of printing anything can be easy for some and complicated for others. It is also very easy to overlook some of the details of printing. I often hear people tell me that they will just take any ole image and print it as a sticker, a card or even a banner. Then they get frustrated because it is blurry, distorted or the colors are off. Why does that happen? Well, every item has different dimensions as silly as it may seem it is very important that you print using those proper dimensions to avoid things like bur and distortion.

I know many of you get frustrated with me because I don’t just hand over all the files, but believe me when I say, I am doing it for your own good! I am trying to prevent frustration from happening when you do print. I’m not trying to stop you from printing somewhere else, as much as I would love it if all you did was print through me, I am totally ok if you want to print elsewhere because of savings, convenience, etc. Digital copies can be purchased from me at any time for most items, I just need to know where you are printing so I can properly set the file up for you.

On that note, I do want to talk deeper about using me vs other printers. I stay up on most of the commonly used printers out there, so I know their pricing and what they have to offer. I want to compare one product, the most common printed… the business card.

I will not mention names out of fairness, but one of the most used printers I hear everyone using will be who I refer to here… I went to their site and pulled up the business card. I selected standard card and started picking out the options to match the quality I provide with my cards. Premium paper, matte, 2x3.5, horizontal… at this point the price isn’t too bad for 100, it’s only $24. So, you continue, you go to upload the image(s), things are looking good on side one and then you go to side two and look at that there is an upcharge of $8 (this upcharge gets higher the more you print too), now you are at $32 for 100 business cards. Ok so all in all not awful, you look at it and add it to cart. You begin to check out and here come the shipping fees, which add another 7 or more dollars depending on what you select for speed. Which of course if you want it in a timely manner you are going to pay for it, the cheapest shipping option of $7 will be 10-14 days of processing/shipping. That makes your total $39. Now let’s say you had me design the business cards, digital design from me is $30, now you have totaled your spending at $69 for 100 business cards and 10-14 days until they are in your hands.

When compared to Designs On The Go… to purchase 100 business cards from me, it is $45. What does that get you? Well to start it is premium paper, matte/dull finish (which is super awesome), it also gets you double sided without an extra charge, and this includes me designing the cards for you too! I do have an added shipping for only $5 but hey that can be waived if you are purchasing multiple items and spend over $100 then it’s free shipping! For argument’s sake though let’s add in that extra $5 and you are at $50 for 100 business cards. It comes in cheaper by $19 dollars! Oh, and the icing on the cake, my printer is super-fast! Once I place the order, they are usually to your doorstep within 3-5 business days if there are no holidays in there.

Ok so you are like yeah but overtime it will save me money because, once you have the digital design you aren’t paying that fee again and its cheaper for 100 cards over at the other place $39 vs $50. You are right, there is $11 savings there. Now keep in mind if you come back and order through me again, you get to save 10% on reprints! So that drops your price to 40.50 + the $5 shipping making it 45.50. That’s a bit closer, I am now only $6.50 more expensive… Let’s take that $25 and divide that 6.50, it comes to 3.8 which means you would have to order cards FOUR more times before you start saving! That could be a year before you start saving anything!

A couple more things to keep in mind, the average customer has info to update every other time they print, if not every time. These are often minor changes, and you still get your reprint discount with minor changes. The only time you wouldn’t get the reprint discount would be if we are totally doing a new design.

Lastly by purchasing through me, you are supporting another small business just like yourself! Small businesses are the heart of our world right now and it pays to support other small businesses.

So next time you start shopping around and those low prices are found to be attractive, keep in mind things like quality and all the hidden fees you don’t see on those initial prices. I will always be up front with my pricing, and I won’t ever have hidden fees that pop up later in the process.

 

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