Coleslaw

if you don't mind ordering online, try www.print100.com

They are a big printing factory in hk and Guangzhou. My dad has ordered from them from hk and it was good. Only HK$100 for 300 pcs. Full color 2-sided and laminated. They also have templates and do design for fairly cheap, just check out the website.

To get the same quality of cards in vancouver, the cheapest is around $90 for 500 cards or $100 for 1000 cards.

Since my dad has tried the place, I decided to order through them online through the "Global" site, the cost for the same 300pcs cards is definitely higher than the hk price, but they don't charge extra for shipping, so comes out to be around same price. They charge in USD$ though so you have to be prepared for currency exchange fees through your credit card company.

Coleslaw

I did my own design, so there was no design time included.
It took 6 days before it was shipped, and arrived by Fedex 2 days after it was shipped.

I added UV coating and naturally UV coating takes maybe 2 days more for printing time because the coating needs time to dry, so it took 6 days. But without the UV coating the normal card printing time is only 3-4 days as claimed by their website.

The service was definitely very fast and will be faster than if you get the same quality of cards here. Because the reason these cards are so cheap (even the CAD$90 for 500 cards in vancouver are very cheap for full color printing) is because they are done in a big batch and since there are limited orders in vancouver, usually they do card printing batches every 2 weeks or more, sometimes you have to wait up to a month. These cards also take more time to print because they are laminated on both sides, and each side i think takes 1 day for the lamination to dry.

Coleslaw

u know how big is the market and how much is the labour in vancouver la
ricrick 發表於 2009-4-11 14:26

Those are some of the factors, also the market is not as big here so many printing places in vancouver don't have bigger more expensive machinery that can handle heavier and more efficient work flows. Printing has always been expensive in small quantities and much more cost effective when done in large quantities.