Having a need to get some prints done quickly, I employed a print lab that offered the paper I wanted at a good price.\u00a0 Unfortunately, they overcharge\u00a0for 2-day shipping and also charge a $25\u00a0fee for a rush order.\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 $70 for rush processing + shipping?\u00a0One of these cost penalties is understandable, but the sum of these two penalties was disturbing.\u00a0 Maybe a different lab would do the job without one of these two penalties?<\/p>\n
I\u00a0returned to a lab that I had\u00a0used a month ago.\u00a0Speaking with the lab via telephone, they told me I must upload the file within 60 minutes to get it into the processing queue.\u00a0 After consulting\u00a0the shipper’s\u00a0web site (UPS), they quoted me only $20 for 2-day shipping and no apparent surcharge for rush processing!\u00a0 But the paper choices are different and the print cost is significantly higher, compared to lab#1.\u00a0In the end the total cost would be just a bit less, not much.\u00a0\u00a0I did\u00a0login and upload the file, but then I could not seem to place an order.\u00a0 Their website allowed me to upload the file, but then the site navigation was confusing and I could not figure it out.\u00a0 (Which is odd because I had used this site just one month ago.) At this point, I was experiencing a lot of anxiety because of the time pressure.<\/p>\n
Returning to lab#1, I completed the ordering process.\u00a0 Then sent a courtesy email to lab#2 because they were watching to receive my rush order (which I abandoned).\u00a0 Ten minutes later, someone from lab#2 telephoned me because he saw the upload and called to help.\u00a0 Sorry, but it was too late.<\/p>\n
Lesson 1: When push comes to shove, never ever underestimate website ease-of-use.<\/p>\n
Lesson 2: For rush jobs like this, I need to print myself rather than\u00a0outsource to a\u00a0print lab (incurring shipping delays, shipping costs, and rush processing fees).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Having a need to get some prints done quickly, I employed a print lab that offered the paper I wanted at a good price.\u00a0 Unfortunately, they overcharge\u00a0for 2-day shipping and also charge a $25\u00a0fee for a rush order.\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 $70 for rush processing + shipping?\u00a0One of these cost penalties is understandable, but the sum of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,29],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photo","category-print","tag-outsourcing","tag-photo-printing","tag-print-lab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":631,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628\/revisions\/631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}