Shipping and “free” stuff…
I wanted to take a moment to address some of the free services that other labs are offering, and why we do not. While we would like to hitch a ride on a proven marketing metric, our no-BS policy prevents us from doing such. Our pricing is as out-in-the-open as possible so you can clearly choose what you want to pay for.
There is never a free lunch.
We have all heard the expression “there is never a free lunch” but what does that mean, and how does that relate to your choice in printing facility? There are a lot of labs and a lot of choices out there who offer “Free Shipping” or “Free Color Correction!” and other marketing incentives to get you to spend your hard earned dollar with them. How is this “free” stuff being paid for? We all know that shipping is not the cheapest thing out there, and marketing people have discovered that throwing a “free shipping” label onto everything gets your attention.
Now, being reasonable people, when we sit down and think about this, we realize that the costs for this is going to be built into everything they sell. You will be paying for that free service with every item you purchase. This is not right, and it is not fair.
Why we’re different.
We bill shipping at or near our cost, period. We bill color correction as a per-image, not per print. If you elect to use these services you are not paying for them twenty or fifty times over. You will find that our cost per print is less then our competitors, and the quality is higher. If you find that to be untrue, please let us know so we can fix it!