In a prior blog, I mentioned a print book directory, the custom printing of which I had been brokering. I had requested F&Gs for the client: folded and gathered signatures, printed but not bound. I had suggested this as a final press proof prior to binding, to give my client an opportunity to check all printing prior to the binding stage.
Any serious printing problems could be remedied by reprinting one signature rather than either reprinting the whole book or removing the book covers, then reprinting a signature, and then rebinding the book and trimming it a second time. Such an option would save the book printing vendor and my client time and stress should an egregious error be caught.
Needless to say, an error occurred. There was an ink streak in a paid ad.
Checking the Extent of the Problem
I had the book printer stop all production after my client and I found the error. The first priority was to determine its extent. And since the error damaged an ad a client had paid dearly to purchase, I made it clear that the printer would need to remedy the problem.
This was a Friday evening. On Monday, I spoke with the customer service representative and was told that most copies included the smeared ink. The printer had learned this by checking all printed signatures. If the book signatures had not yet been folded and trimmed, the printer would have determined the extent of the error by checking press sheets pulled at various times during the press run.
Some errors (like hickies) come and go during the custom printing process, and by checking every so many copies of the printed piece at distinct intervals, it’s possible to say with some certainty just how many copies out of the entire press run have a problem.
The Printer Makes Good on the Job
This is a stellar book printer. In fact, the client had been sending the job to this supplier for several years in spite of his prices being slightly higher than those of his peers.
The book printer did not wait until asked. He reprinted the signature over the weekend to stay on schedule and then started rebinding the book on Monday. My client was most pleased. I would not be surprised if the client returns to this vendor for next year’s print book directory.
Some Options Not Taken
But what if the blemish had been less noticeable, or not in the middle of the ad? In some cases a printer’s error is annoying but not seriously disruptive. Maybe it does not threaten a non-profit’s relationship with a paid advertiser. In such cases, a client may request a discount.
Such a negotiation is delicate. Depending on the severity of the problem, I have asked printers to discount a client’s bill ten percent or more for problematic work. Usually the commercial printing supplier sees this as a way to keep a client happy and foster a continuing relationship.
In other cases, the error is not the printer’s fault. A client of mine printed white ink on a beige paper stock. Only the headlines were printed in white. It had been an interesting design choice, but the letterforms were just too small for optimal readability. It was a design decision, so it was not the printer’s responsibility to absorb the cost. However, he wanted a happy client.
The client had printed many jobs at this particular vendor, so the printer offered to reprint the job at cost, which was a significant discount to the original price for the first custom printing job. This maintained good will with the client, but the printer was not penalized for an error that was not his fault.
Another Case: A Beauty Salon Postcard
I just received a postcard in the mail that had been sent to my fiancee. It was from a beauty salon, and there was a huge gash next to the face of the model in the cover photo. It actually looked like silver foil wrapped around the model’s braided hair, so I missed it at first glance. But my fiancee immediately brought it to my attention.
I looked at the blemish under a high-powered printer’s loupe. I saw no printer’s halftone dots under the 4-inch streak down the page, so I thought it might have been something on the custom printing plate that had blocked the transfer of ink from the plate to the blanket to the paper.
However, under closer observation, I saw scratches (repeated hatch marks) all going in the same direction. Therefore, my guess at this point is that one of the mailshop or postal machines actually gouged the printed image, rubbing off the magenta ink.
The Lesson Learned
For such a job, I would have started my discussion with the printer, the mailshop, and the Post Office using this initial observation. I would have asked all involved parties for an assessment. However, since the job is specifically an advertising vehicle (a postcard), I would have been more likely to request a reprint than a discount, depending on the extent of the problem.
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