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Comment by jasonlotito | Hacker News Reader

Or, you could just go to a local print shop. My wife used to work at one before moving up in the world. Practically ran the place for the owner. Good quality cards, and if something was wrong, they'd fix it. You got to see the options before you made a choice, and much easier to get exactly what you wanted. Also, from what I see in the chart, you'd get it a LOT sooner then most of the places.

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This is easily the best option, especially if you already have the design ready to go. My dad used to run a print shop and he had all the card styles (paper, printing style) available to view and touch which can make a world of difference when deciding.

The only reason I could see wanting cards from one of these online companies is if you only want a small amount of cards as it is usually better for local print shops to run larger batches on the presses. (But even then you will probably be able to get 500 cards for something like 50 dollars on a minimum run)

The benefit to a local print shop isn't in the initial price of the cards. It's in the follow through and printing needs after business cards. Most print shops don't make money off business cards. The cards barely pay for the cost of the material and time involved. It's a cut throat business.

However, you get your business cards, and when you have additional printing needs, returning to them gets you better results (especially if you paid on time). The printers I know (several of them, in fact) all cherish customers who pay on time and will bend over backwards for them.

It also becomes easier going back to them. They have material already, and can usually get what you need faster.

I prefer online to avoid interacting with some high schooler that has no clue about color management. My experience with retail is that it's typically excruciating. People get distracted, fail to accurately record details, are often doing retail and a filler and would rather get back to finishing their chemistry homework the minute I walk out the door. I have more faith in well respected online business' that pay attention to detail, like amazon.

I think your confusing a copy shop with an actual printing shop with actual presses and people who understand colour separation and bleed. I'm talking about professional printing shops, not Kinkos.

Although ironically, one of the printers tested (Moo or VistaPrint, hard to tell from the pic) didn't even print at the correct resolution.

He mentions in the comments that Moo is English and printing in the correct size for that market.

In my experience local print shops can be really expensive, and the quality of the card is normally pretty poor.

YMMV, of course. Local prints shops vary. Here in Montreal, they are a dime a dozen, and having a wife in the industry, she has connections and knows what to look for.

However, I still think it's worth the time and effort finding a good local print shop and developing a good relationship with them.

It's good to do business with someone you can scream at, if necessary.

Crocodile tears are vastly more effective.

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