Business cards, ASAP and stat.

September 2, 2005 2:08 PM

I need a thousand four-color business cards by the end of the day, Tuesday the 6th. Please help.

In the past I've used silkcards.com, but after some customer service issues and the fact that they can't ever rush an order under any circumstances, I need a new vendor. The cards are 4-color on front, black on the back, and I must have them in Phoenix, AZ by the end of the day Tuesday. Is this possible? Who can do it?

posted by Optimus Chyme to Media & Arts (15 answers total)

Best answer: Have you tried a local printer?
posted by Pollomacho at 2:13 PM on September 2, 2005

Response by poster: They are my last resort, Pollomacho. Good people, good results, very expensive on this kind of timeline.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 2:19 PM on September 2, 2005

I had a good experience with these guys. (Note: even if you don't order the glossy coating, the cards are fairly glossy anyway, and don't take ink from a pen or even a Sharpie well.)
posted by furiousthought at 2:20 PM on September 2, 2005

Vistaprint?
posted by MeetMegan at 2:27 PM on September 2, 2005

Best answer: i imagine that with that kind of timeline, any extra expense going local vs. online is going to be dwarfed by the rush charge that an online order house is going to want. Admittedly, I haven't dealt with a lot of printers (one local, three or four online -- the quality, results and service at the local shop being far superior, natch) even think of an online place that would take on such an order, and it's getting to the point where a local house might not even be able to do it.

my impression is that people who order online usually don't care whether they're in a gang run or when they get it; and people in the biz use b&m printshops.

salmonberry would know for sure.
posted by fishfucker at 3:23 PM on September 2, 2005

so i guess my answer is 'this is not, from what i've seen, possible, and if it is, it's gonna cost you about as much as a local shop'. My friends who I did some design for were in a similar situation where they needed a one day turnaround, and they ended up paying about $200 for a run of 500, when they could've got in online (if they had two weeks, minimum, to wait around) for $40. When you need something quick, ime, you usually have to suck it up and eat the extra expenses.
posted by fishfucker at 3:26 PM on September 2, 2005

jesus, so many typos above. just ignore them. thanks.
posted by fishfucker at 3:26 PM on September 2, 2005

PSPrint can do one business day turnaround times, but it's probably too late to submit something due to the three-day weekend.
posted by kathryn at 3:31 PM on September 2, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks, all. I sucked it up as suggested and went local. Fingers crossed.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 3:32 PM on September 2, 2005

yeah, given a longer timeline I would recommend psprint, but even using their super-rush job, they probably wouldn't make this deadline -- also, they have reeeally long turnarounds on business cards as opposed to their other products.
posted by fishfucker at 3:50 PM on September 2, 2005

did you manage to extract a promise that you'd get it end of day tuesday? that's usually the advantage you're paying for with a local printer.

either way, good luck.
posted by fishfucker at 3:51 PM on September 2, 2005

I wish I'd seen this earlier. I think Overnightprints.com might have been able to make it happen for you.
posted by MegoSteve at 5:09 PM on September 2, 2005

I saw it earlier! (But the deadline was very tight.)
posted by furiousthought at 5:20 PM on September 2, 2005

Response by poster: did you manage to extract a promise that you'd get it end of day tuesday?

Yeah, but it's costing me $75 for a quarter-run cards because of the holiday. Bleah.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 2:56 AM on September 3, 2005

I think that "Professional Business Cards Online" has high quality business card designs. The price is also very reasonable, just $4.95 for 100 business cards.
posted by Jason Fung at 1:51 PM on July 27, 2006