Print Design TipsTips and Information About Printing

The online printing market is highly competitive with many sites offering services where the work is performed overseas and especially in China and the Far East.

Labor there is very cheap and this keeps the cost down but there are several disadvantages of using these outlets:

• printing quality is sub-standard and the finish and paper quality are usually very poor;
• sending work overseas means less work for American companies and their workers;
• Overseas printers use highly toxic and environmentally dangerous inks and toners which harm the environment while here in America we operate under much greater standards using environmentally friendly raw materials and recycled paper wherever possible; and
• turnaround time is usually a lot slower (by weeks sometimes).

Many free offers are nothing of the kind in any event – they are usually just a teaser to bring you onto the site and place an order which, if you commit to a certain minimum order value results in a “free” offer.  When you see “FREE!” make sure it is free – there are companies who do in fact offer free stationery or business cards for instance – and they are doing this with no obligation!

You provide the artwork or design you want, tell them the color scheme and how many you want printed off and they print them for  you – all you have to do is to pay the shipping and handling costs.

Now that is a free offer!

Why do they do this?

The answer is very simple – reputable priniting companies are not afraid to produce samples for you.  They use this as a test for themselves and a thank you to you for the opportunity to show you, the potential customer, just how good they are at producing the goods.

Obviously, the idea behind it all is if you are impressed with the service and quality you are going to come back for some more and how right they are