Simulacra – cre8ica

Sorry i haven’t posted in forever. Been crazy busy with new product development and an upcoming product launch…

I was recently looking to have some banners printed for some upcoming conventions and trade shows. I prefer to deal with online companies mainly because it’s easy to just upload the required files and all questions about layouts and print quality are answered via an FAQ. Easy to deal with and I don’t have to deal with making cold calls looking for the best price.

I was hoping to deal with a local online printer since there are a ton in Leaside and Markham and may as well try to keep as much business in the local economy.

Unfortunately like all things online it was difficult to find a local provider with 1. a decent website and 2. a good price.

I was resigned to go to a Us based printer that  I’ve dealt with before and tend to offer some great pricing on most printing. I was also needing some more business cards and stickers and bundling them together would offset shipping charges etc.  A 2′ x 3′ banner worked out to being about $60 shipped to my door. Not bad for a Vinyl banner double stitched and grometted since I was getting quotes of $12 sq ft in Toronto.

Luckily I found a Canadian based printer located in BC called Always Signs. They offer 13oz, glossy vinyl banners that are waterproof with double hems and grommets. Unbelievably they quoted me $35 for a 2′ x 4′ banner with shipping included in Canada. That works out to about $4.50 a sq ft. 

I gave them a try with 2 banners thinking if the print quality sucked I’d only be out $70 and still have time to get it printed elsewhere.

Customer Service via email was amazing since this was my first time printing large format banners and I had many technical questions about size and bleeds etc. All questions were answered immediately and the banner was printed in less than 24 hours and shipped via FedEx ground which took about 5 days to arrive from BC to Toronto.

Received the banners today and wow I’m amazed at the quality and the workmanship. Everything is properly stitched and the print quality was flawless.
Great Price, great customer service and quick turnaround is exactly what I look for in an online printer.

I’ll be printing out a few more to have as spares and for various upcoming events.