Recommended postcard printers in Toronto area

[Mark McCarvill]

I'd like to print 500 or 1000 B&W postcards for an exhibit in May / June, and I'm not interested in cranking out that many on my own printer.

Any recommendations for a good printing house, ideally in the Toronto area so I can easily inspect proofs?

Thanks

[eddie]

i have used overnightprints.com for my business cards. very nice product. (way better than my local people)

it may not be what you are looking for as they are not in toronto and you can not inspect them first.

eddie

[Ted Harris]

I use vistaprint.com for biz cards and postcard, etc. Way better an less expensive than local options.

[Geary Lyons]

Our own list member Matt Blais, ( matthew blais), provides this service. His work is very good , as well as his service. Although not in the Toronto area, handling these types of projects electronically has become the norm.

It would be worth a PM, or follow to his website and email him.
Cheers,
Geary

[Mark McCarvill]

Thanks for the suggestions.

For those who order online, how do you ensure the card prints right without seeing a real proof. Is a PDF proof enough?

I got awful results (excessive contrast, etc.) on some Christmas cards from a printer last year when I didn’t think to get a real proof; hence the caution.

Mark

[Tsuyoshi]

Hi,

I use 48hourprint.com. I have been using them for a last couple of years, and I have been happy with their product and service.

We do 4-5 orders of postcards in quantity of 1000-2500 at a time. The prices is reasonable enough and they have a good customer services.

My proof is generated via PDF, and it is usually OK. If you are not happy, they would work with you.

Hope you can find someone you like.

Tsuyoshi

[matthew blais]

Our own list member Matt Blais, ( matthew blais), provides this service. His work is very good , as well as his service. Although not in the Toronto area, handling these types of projects electronically has become the norm.

It would be worth a PM, or follow to his website and email him.
Cheers,
Geary

Geary is right...most send a pdf proof though everything my printer does matches what I send off in CMYK. Never had a problem. They use stochastic line screen and have what I think are the best prices. I just did 1000 5x7's on 16ptC2s (4/4) for $150.00 plus shipping if you're interested.

500 is just a handfull less, so 1000 makes more senses for the money. Add UV for about $15 more, otherwise AQ coat standard. My guys aren't an on-line service for the masses but rather for brokers/designers and other printers.

[Mark McCarvill]

Thanks, Matt.

Maybe I should have gone with your printer. The Toronto shop I eventually went with (for *convenience* reasons) delivered my cards today and I had to send them back because they’re all scuffed up! And when I called to say (in a friendly way) that I'd be returning the cards because they were damaged, the company’s president was anything but apologetic. His reply, when I told him about the scuffs and other marks on the cards: “Well, that’s hard to believe.” Amazing how some companies stay in business.

Mark

[Murray]

I keep going back to modernpostcard.com because they have been most helpful in getting us satisfactory results with my rudimentary PhotoShop skills.

I have never figured out color profiles, and the more effort I put into tryingthat, the worse th eresults become. That is MY problem, and it's probably fixable, if I got the right help and put enough effort into it.

They are not the cheapest, but they will work with me. I tried some other place somewhere on the east coast with 5000 cards for $175 (it may have gone up) on somone else's recommendation, and I was in my color profile stage. I got 5000 cards with green skies. I called this other company, explained my problem, that I needed help figuring out what I had done wrong with color profiling, and they just said 'they look fine to us', and the only option they'd give me was $1400 for my own run. Ther was nothign further to discuss if green skies were fine...I told them I fully understood I had submitted digital material with a problem & wanted to fix it. We just walked that box out to the dumpster.

I went back to MP. What I do until the day I can improve my digital workflow is just print a proof that I am happy enough with (and for our needs, that is good enough), on my uncalibrated system, and send it overnight (we're usually on a tight schedule) the day after I set up my on-line order (so I have an order number to associate my proof with).

They invariably suggest minor changes to get the color closer (somehow they can measure and compare color accuracy between the submitted proof and the digital file).

I have gone with their suggestions and also let it fly as submitted, and both have been good. I have had artists tell me the postcards look better thatn his artwork (I don't know what to say to that...maybe he just liked the saturation better).

For us postcards are just a reasonable reproduction to appeal to people to get them to come to a show, not to compare to the original.

MP makes it easy for me. I know enough to use their online submission methods.

I have never done repeat business with any of the other places I've tried.

I have never had b/w or grayscale cards printed. One thing to consider with places that focus on economical printing like this is that they 'gang' print. Many jobs are on one sheet on the press simultaneously and cut apart later, so the color match is the best they can manage, but not perfect.

You might ask to see samples of gray scale work from a gang printer or discuss this with them to find out if it is ever a problem.

[matthew blais]

Too bad Mark..it sounds like chop shop mentality.
When I first started using my guys I went and took a tour of the place, and talked with some pre-press guys. Two I had known from other printers so we sat down and looked at on screen files (swop coated cmyk) and the actual finished printed piece. It helped me enough to profile my jobs to them. Most the color mishaps happen on the pre-press end. Even on large gang runs you should get accurate colors overall as the adjustments on press are hard to do with gang jobs.

Packing is better than most too. Empty spaces in box filled to avoid movement could have avoided your problem, or part of it.

[Robert Richardson]

For what it's worth, I have used MP for my last 5 shows and also for client cards over the last 8 years and have always been pleased with their quailty, service, and price.
Bob

[CnC]

For postcards, try BCT Toronto (http://www.bcttoronto.com) (this will be the cheapest, however they're wholesale), or C&C Printers (http://www.torontoprint.ca)