trust issue

[greenoak]

im worried...for yrs and yrs we have done all the work to get our event mailings out....the mailing is for our garden party next weekend....its to over 3000 customers..... its one of our 4 big events.... and this yr we have entrusted the whole thing to vista print..... i have good reports from several businesses about them....but i am really worried...
the old way i saw the cards being loaded into the car and dh going to the post office....this way...ikkkk.they cant be late.... its time sensitive and we dont choose to send them way ahead,,,,
also my mexican connection tells me the shipment is on the truck and on its way.to be here monday......another big worry... hes told me quite a bit that didnt happen...so it feels scary.....
i just hope they all go by my favorite...UNDER PROMISE AND OVER DELIVER...

[Spider]

Don't worry. Worry creates worry-lines! Whatever happens, a canny lady like you will make it turn out fine.

[greenoak]

ha ha...thanks spider....i cant whip up a half semi of garden iron!!! but i would try to do somehtng....it would be so bad...i thought ahead and the guy is great but has nt followed thru on some little things....but has on the big ones.... ....

[Spider]

Is this stuff, or something similar (or if not similar, make a good replacement) available nearby? Probably not a supplier or you would have found them and used them already, but what if another retailer has something you could use as replacement which you could buy from them in bulk and re-sell.

You might have to sell at cost and make little profit, but that might be better than disappointing a large number of regular customers. It might be worth scouting your immediate vicinity and see what's out there that could be used in an emergency. Even if that's not a great idea, the comfort of knowing that something can be done, might bring some peace of mind.

Of course, according to the news this morning, it will all be over by 6pm this evening so you won't need any inventory at all, come next weekend!!!!

[greenoak]

no its all from mexico and no one has it around here...... i have about 80 pieces here now but its weak ...... i have wonderful stuff coming...a 6 ft pink falmingo and a gazebo and so much more, about 200 pcs.....
i could drive over to illinois to a supplier..ifi could talk dh into it.... ..but then i would still be getting the big load...what you said is what i would sure do if i had the option....

[greenoak]

vista print is 2 days late.... and the mexican texans said the truck will be here today!!!

[Tri-Win]

greenoak, Im sorry you are having trouble with vista print. I hope you are mailing first class, at least that way you have a good idea of the delivery times.

In the future you might consider using a local mail/print house. If you are in the Dallas area we would love to talk to you about any future jobs. We print, handle all data maintenance, and mail.

[tylerhutchinson]

In the past I have found to stay away from national print companies. The across country shipping and extra potential delays can cause disasters. I try to stay local. It may be a little more expensive but I have never had any real issues. Since they are smaller they are more personable and willing to help.

If I have to use national print shops I order AT LEAST one week of when I actually need it. That way if there is any unforeseen issue come up and it gets delayed I have that extra time built in. I would rather it be early then late.

Sorry to hear you are having problems.

[MyITGuy]

I use uprinting.com for my needs and haven't had any issues yet

[greenoak]

thanks ...its really bad....they didnt do anything they agreed to do...and we had entrusted the whole 3000+ mailing to them ....we have always done it all ourselves, including printing..... i knew several businesses that had good work with them....even on here.....
i just cant believe they would not call if they had trouble with a DATED event mailing.....they said they had manufacturing problems...??? we didnt find out until we called them today...we were happy to be getting out of hours of work....
we just bought 900$$$ of stamps and will be printing and stamping as fast as we can tonight and tomorrow..... ...
i doubt if we wil ever know what happened.....maybe we didnt ask all the questions....
i stayed out of it....and let dh and one worker set it up...they did say we didnt do anything wrong...it was a problem with whoever does their printing....
. i was in charge of the iron order and have been in big communication with them for the last 10 days.... i always expect the worst and etc etc...lol...

[Tri-Win]

Wow they should have contacted you as soon as they knew they were going to be delayed. I hope you get your mailing out in time, best of luck

[Blessed]

Ugh - sorry to hear about your mailing disaster. I know first hand how bad a late mailing can hurt an event. Someone else suggested it and I'm going to second that suggestion - find a local mail house to handle the mailing. You will be glad you did!

My client who does a lot of mailing always has her postcards printed by one of the big online printers, delivered to the local mailhouse and the distribution handled from there. She doesn't use VistaPrint and we have always been happy with the quality and turn-around we've gotten from the other place. I'd love to get her to have her full-color 9"x6" postcards printed locally as well - but none of the local printers can even come close to touching the price we get online.

[greenoak]

thanks jenn....luckily we have always done it all in house in the past....... so we did get all 3500 printed and mailed in a mad scramble in about a day and a half after we found out ...... and most got their cards the wed or thurs before the big weekend.
in future we might have someone else print but i wouldnt ok anyone else mailing them for us........it was horrible..and they didnt even notify us.....even tho they took all the blame......i got good reports on them from several places too...

[Spider]

Was there something time sensitive on the postcards - I mean, is there any reason they could not have been printed way ahead of time? You know Christmas is coming. It comes at the same time every year. Your events happen regularly, too. You can print Christmas cards now for several years ahead - can you not print the cards for your 2011 pre-Christmas event now?

That way, you get the event postcards weeks (months) ahead so you know there will be no delay in the printing, then all you have to worry about is the mailing? I don't see why this problem had to occur.

[greenoak]

it was totally time sensitive...we wanted them mailed within a certain 3 days...they offer this service.... .but we didnt contract them to just do the printing... we wanted them to do all the work. not just the printing.... .we didnt miss any of their deadlines or anything like that...it wasnt a last minute rush job.....but it w asnt set up as a printing job and then a mailing job....it w as the whole job.... ... they just dropped the ball and didnt tell us....
we could easily do what you described..... if we want to do the stamping and mailing.we were trying to get out of that.......it is a long boring job...we will do that part ourselves next time.....

[Spider]

No, I think you can take your pre-printed postcards to a mailing house and have them auto-stamped, bulk packaged and carried to the post office. Perhaps you could arrange to carry them to the post office yourselves, so early stamping can be done and you have complete control of when you carry them to the post office.

[greenoak]

we dont have a mail center.... and now i dont want to outsource it...
and our mailing goes to probably 3 or 400 different zip codes which is also an issue....

[Blessed]

I think you would be very pleased with a good mail house - it's just a matter of doing a bit of research and finding someone who does that type of work in your area. They handle all the grunt work, have no issue with sorting all those zip codes and can probably save you some money and quite a bit of time. Don't give up on the idea because of this one bad experience - just do a bit more homework (or find a marketing person to do it for you) and go from there!

[greenoak]

not interested really.... we can do it , we always have..we have a lot of workers and it can be done at the counter....but usually dh and i end up doing it in a few nights.... the next event, the yardsale, is really huge....im not taking any chances on a new deal on that one....
i will probably look for another place to make the cards tho.... ours are matt and the vista print ones were shiney and better looking i guess...i wont be using vista print tho!!!