Post Office Marking

[jrsc]

How do you guys deal with customers that don't understand you can't control how the post office handles mail?

We have a customer that is ready to drop us because we can't make every piece of mail show up 100% perfect. We are UV coating both sides, even double coating some. They really look good as far as mail goes. Some come perfect but some have tiny little marks on them that is typical for mail.

No matter how much I to explain how the post office works this guy does not get it and thinks it's our fault.

 

[gordo]

How do you guys deal with customers that don't understand you can't control how the post office handles mail?

We have a customer that is ready to drop us because we can't make every piece of mail show up 100% perfect. We are UV coating both sides, even double coating some. They really look good as far as mail goes. Some come perfect but some have tiny little marks on them that is typical for mail.

No matter how much I to explain how the post office works this guy does not get it and thinks it's our fault.

Try this:
https://www.canon.com.au/sitecore/t...iz-uptime/DPC-whitepaper.ashx?wid=ptppswp1008

 

[jrsc]

Try this:
https://www.canon.com.au/sitecore/t...iz-uptime/DPC-whitepaper.ashx?wid=ptppswp1008

Thank you. I think that might help a bit. Do you know if they ever did the proposed test with the coating? I'd love something showing UV is the most protective.

 

[Craig]

Here is something else you can do. Look at your junk mail and collect all the mailers that you know are offset printed and use them to compare against your mail. I have found that Offset with NO Coating has equal to more markings than digital with NO Coating. I found a video that I have linked to my website that walks you through how mail is handled by USPS. Watching it makes one wonder how anything survives

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB7dhE_TW9g

 

[gordo]

Thank you. I think that might help a bit. Do you know if they ever did the proposed test with the coating? I'd love something showing UV is the most protective.

They did. The samples were distributed by GATF at a tecj alert conference. But since GATF is no longer I don't know how you would get physical samples.

 

[jrsc]

They did. The samples were distributed by GATF at a tecj alert conference. But since GATF is no longer I don't know how you would get physical samples.

So no report on that one. Anyone have any suggestions to reduce scuffing other than UV coating. Or a specific UV coating that works better. I think even after I convince him that it will happen with any printer and any post office he is still going to expect us to find a way to avoid it. As far as I know film lamination is the only option better than UV coating but isn't cost effective.

 

[Keith]

...Anyone have any suggestions to reduce scuffing other than UV coating?... As far as I know film lamination is the only option better than UV coating but isn't cost effective.

If film lamination is out of your customer's budget, tell him to stop bitching and deal with it or use envelopes. If your customer is an idiot and thinks the scuffing is your fault, you should challenge him to come down to your shop to observe your printing process. Or if he is short on time, challenge him to inspect every single tray before it leaves your shop. Even better, have him tag along with your delivery truck to the post office so he can be sure no scuffing is occurring. Then let him peak inside the postal processing center and then he will finally understand where the scuffing comes from.

Seriously. That is what I would do.

 

[Keith]

Why the hell can't I edit my post?! After I hit submit, I thought I should be a little nicer about the customer so this is what I meant to say:

...Anyone have any suggestions to reduce scuffing other than UV coating?... As far as I know film lamination is the only option better than UV coating but isn't cost effective.

If film lamination is out of your customer's budget, try envelopes. Probably just as expensive as laminating. If he insists on still being an idiot and thinks the scuffing is your fault, you should challenge him to come down to your shop to observe your printing process. Or if he is short on time, challenge him to inspect every single tray before it leaves your shop. Even better, have him tag along with your delivery truck to the post office so he can be sure no scuffing is occurring. Then let him peak inside the postal processing center and then he will finally understand where the scuffing comes from.

Seriously. That is what I would do.

 

[jrsc]

Why the hell can't I edit my post?! After I hit submit, I thought I should be a little nicer about the customer so this is what I meant to say:



If film lamination is out of your customer's budget, try envelopes. Probably just as expensive as laminating. If he insists on still being an idiot and thinks the scuffing is your fault, you should challenge him to come down to your shop to observe your printing process. Or if he is short on time, challenge him to inspect every single tray before it leaves your shop. Even better, have him tag along with your delivery truck to the post office so he can be sure no scuffing is occurring. Then let him peak inside the postal processing center and then he will finally understand where the scuffing comes from.

Seriously. That is what I would do.

I think he gets that it happens at the post office but thinks it's because our printing isn't good enough to make it through the mail. I'm trying to convince him that a UV coated print is about as good as he can get from anyone or better than what most places would provide.

 

[jminrod]

We had started using clear poly bags for a client that had the same issue. Didn't want to pay for the lamination and our UV coatings where scuffing on some through the mail

 

[Kees]

Laminating is not a guaranty, you still get marks from the machines the post uses, maybe a little bit less then with UV but it does not go away in my experience. The only solution is to use an envelope or some other type of protection but I presume the product is a kind of self-mailer or postcard?

 

[dabob]

I have no first hand experience in this other than what I get in the mail, but, I have heard that if there is more than one processing center in your area one may be more gentle than the other. You could run some tests with each one and see . . . apparently some maintenance workers are better at adjusting the machine than others . . . (don't we all know that)

Just a story i heard a while back . . .

 

[jrsc]

Laminating is not a guaranty, you still get marks from the machines the post uses, maybe a little bit less then with UV but it does not go away in my experience. The only solution is to use an envelope or some other type of protection but I presume the product is a kind of self-mailer or postcard?

yes, mostly postcards and some self mailers. We do other pieces in envelopes for them and they are happy with those.

 

[jrsc]

I have no first hand experience in this other than what I get in the mail, but, I have heard that if there is more than one processing center in your area one may be more gentle than the other. You could run some tests with each one and see . . . apparently some maintenance workers are better at adjusting the machine than others . . . (don't we all know that)

Just a story i heard a while back . . .

Tried that as well as using pitney bowes presort services so it is touched less by the post office. Everything helps but he's not happy until 100% of the pieces are 100% perfect. It's just frustrating because I can't get him to understand that we don't control the post office and there is nothing we can do to their mail to make everything 100% perfect when it gets delivered.

 

[dabob]

Tried that as well as using pitney bowes presort services so it is touched less by the post office. Everything helps but he's not happy until 100% of the pieces are 100% perfect. It's just frustrating because I can't get him to understand that we don't control the post office and there is nothing we can do to their mail to make everything 100% perfect when it gets delivered.

Kinda off topic but also on . . .

Years ago I had a shop on a busy street and I had a customer that had these expectations . . . needless to say we could never please him, so one afternoon he started complaining again and I had had enough - so I sez . ..

"Sir, I am only human and I cannot achieve perfection, if that is what you desire, close your eyes, turn right and walk out that door for about 30 - 35 feet . . .

He responds but that would put in the middle of xxx street

I respond, thats true but it will get you to heaven which as far as I am aware is the only place to achieve perfection . . . .

It worked he never complained to me again . . . but then I don't recall him coming in again . . .

 

[jrsc]

Kinda off topic but also on . . .

Years ago I had a shop on a busy street and I had a customer that had these expectations . . . needless to say we could never please him, so one afternoon he started complaining again and I had had enough - so I sez . ..

"Sir, I am only human and I cannot achieve perfection, if that is what you desire, close your eyes, turn right and walk out that door for about 30 - 35 feet . . .

He responds but that would put in the middle of xxx street

I respond, thats true but it will get you to heaven which as far as I am aware is the only place to achieve perfection . . . .

It worked he never complained to me again . . . but then I don't recall him coming in again . . .

I'd give that answer to a lot of my customers but this one spends quite a bit of money and the people we work with on a day to day basis are some of my favorite customers to work with.

 

[msaeger]

How do they even know what they look like after they have been mailed anyway? Is it something that gets filled out and returned so it gets run through the mail twice?

 

[jrsc]

How do they even know what they look like after they have been mailed anyway? Is it something that gets filled out and returned so it gets run through the mail twice?

They usually include about 5 of their employees located throughout the country in the mailings. They do about 5 different mailings a day so they get a lot of samples in the mail to look at.

 

[Craig]

Try firing a customer that did 2 million prints a quarter! The lack of migraines more than made up for the loss in revenue. I've since made it back two fold, so the loss was short lived! Sometimes you just need to walk away and let them get the same results for "the other guy".

 

[kdw75]

This isn't exactly what your talking about, but we had a client from the other side of the state drop us because people weren't getting their mailings quick enough. They switched to a printer in St. Louis, and it cut their delivery times by two days. They kept blaming us, thinking we weren't mailing them fast enough, but we would send them out the next day after proof approval.

Sometimes you just have to accept what you can't control.