One of the things I’ve found the most common when working with screen printers is the fact that in the end all they care about is how much money is in their pockets. I guess it’s important that people get paid, but one of the most aggravating things to me is when people couldn’t give two craps about their customers.
Screen Printers will lie, steal and cheat if it means they don’t lose money on an order. It’s important to be very focused on your order and your expectations when you go to a screen printer. Don’t worry about being nice because the screen printer sure won’t!
Here are just a few scenarios that happen incredibly frequently in the screen printing industry. What they will do and what you can do to prevent it or deal with it:
1 – Your order is a few days past the delivery date and the screen printer doesn’t know when you should expect it to be ready. Make it very clear that you gave more than ample time for your order to be processed. (Please note that it’s important that you actually did give ample time – 2 weeks is usually ideal.) If your screen printer wasn’t capable of printing your order within that time or was missing information and didn’t contact you for it, then they are responsible for the delay. I would recommend that you ask for some sort of compensation for this, free screen charge, no freight on shipments, something to prove that when you give a deadline date that is when you expect it to be finished. Most printers have a lot of extra padded pricing, so they can afford to knock off a screen charge or two without losing money on the order. But remember, Rush orders are bad news! Don’t give your printer an excuse to be late, plan ahead and make sure that you have provided everything a printer could need within at LEAST two weeks’ notice.
2 – You sent all of the finalized artwork to the printer, but something went wrong and it was printed wrong and they won’t admit it’s their fault. This is when it comes in handy to sort as much of the details as you can out by email – then you have a record of it! Make absolute SURE that you sent all of the artwork correctly, sized to printing size and with proper instructions. If you did all that and your order still managed to get screwed up then it is your printers fault. Printers often try to justify things by saying stuff like “Well I wouldn’t have noticed, even comparing it to the mock up, it looks close!” They are just trying to get you to agree with them. Don’t let their sly ways confuse you, Grasshopper! Stand your ground and make the printer pay for the damages and/or the new printing and blanks. Why should you have to pay out of your pocket for their mistake? Eh? Eh?
3 – You got your order back and several of the items are damaged and you were still charged for them. Many screen printers neglect that little thing called “quality” in lieu for “speed”. If you get an order and several (more than 2% of the items) of the pieces are printed incorrectly or are damaged bring them back to the printer. Show them each item and make a list of the total quantity, size, print, price and damage of each style. Add it up and ask them to order and fix any merchandise that was printed incorrectly. Anything less than 10 pieces ask for a refund for the items and call it even. The printer may try and offer you a credit, but FYI most printers keep horrible and out-of-date records and won’t remember the credit and will beat around the bush next time you order.
4 – You got charged a lot more than what you were quoted. In my experience, most cases like this are because the customer is incapable of basic math, however, in some cases I have seen printers throw in extra charges here and there because they under-quoted the job. But, just like at a store, the price you were given is the price you shall pay. NEVER, and I repeat, NEVER (!!!) go ahead with a print job without getting a complete quote on it. If you haven’t added anything to the order along the way, then the printer shouldn’t be either. Before the order is processed ask for an invoice or order sheet with the total charges pending everything in the order is printed properly. Save that invoice and make note of charges like Screen Charges, Art Charges, Film charges, etc. Talk to your printer about what each of these are and whether or not you will have to pay them upon reorder. If you feel like you were overcharged go over each item with your printer until you are satisfied.
Printers screw up all of the time, it’s a fast-paced environment and sometimes things get mixed up. Always allow for a 2% margin of error (make sure you aren’t paying for that 2% in your invoice, however!) and inspect all of your garments carefully. Try to keep your orders as uncomplicated and informative as possible.
Here is a basic checklist of information you should provide when making an order for screen printing:
- Attach a Digital Mockup of the artwork on the t-shirts
- Include all sizing & measurements exactly to scale (you don’t have to make things huge for them to look good, either!)
- Make sure that if you are sending a file with a type font used that you have either rasterized or created outlines in the art, otherwise the printer may not be able to read it in the proper font. (Another option for this is to attach the font file with the artwork)
- Information about the Style of Garment, Blank Colors, Quantities, Etc. (this is best provided in a purchase order for your own documentation!) – eg. American Apparel Style #2102 Ladies Fine Jersey S/S Tee in BLACK, 25/SM 20/MD 15/LG 30/XL TOTAL = 90 PCS
- Send your art sized to spec at a minimum of 300 DPI (pixels per inch!) (this means if it is supposed to be printed at 10” W, then make the artwork 10” W! )
- Don’t just say “RED” or “BLUE” for an ink color, there are thousands of variations of these shades. Pick specific pantone colors. If you don’t have pantone color info available to you, select these at your screen printer (this is ideal!)
- Provide any and all contact info you have available: Name, Band/Company Name, Phone, Fax, Email, Website, etc.
- Provide specific details about shipping instructions and Deadline date… *NOTE* If you need an order absolutely MUST have it by say, Thursday, make your deadline date TUESDAY. Always plan ahead.
- Make sure you know your payment arrangement. If you are expected to pay a deposit, how much, when will you have to pay the balance and how?
If you can be prepared to give all of this information to your printer when you walk in to make an order, I guarantee there will be a much smaller chance of something going wrong with your order. 99% of the time the mistakes are made when there isn’t enough information provided.
Most importantly, get familiar with your printer and their facilities. Learn about the things they can and can’t do and their other customers. Pay attention to the quality of their shop and their showroom and how much care and effort they put into their company, because essentially that is going to be the same care and effort that they put into your product.
When it comes to merch you’ve got to spend money to make money, so make sure you are spending it somewhere good!
