How I'd choose a printer for a small job

I'd choose a printer for a small job by how they answer one question: what happens if it comes out wrong? A low quote tells me very little. On a small run the expensive part is doing it all again, days before I need it.

I'm thinking of a few hundred flyers or a box of cards, nothing grand. How a print shop stays alive is another post. This one is me as the nervous customer.

What I'd settle before any deposit

I'd want five things written on the quote, or in an email I can find again.

1. The file they want: size, margins and colour set-up, from them, so I'm not guessing.
2. The paper, by weight and finish. "Good card" isn't a specification.
3. The quantity, and whether it's exact.
4. The date, and what would move it.
5. Who pays for a reprint, and in which cases.

The paper line is the one people wave away. But one Canadian book printer's published terms say it warrants only that the work will conform to the description in the client's order.¹ I can't say a shop in Petaling Jaya writes it that way, but I like that logic, because the description is the whole promise, so I'd make it a good one.

Those are the only detailed terms I could read in full. I couldn't find a published Malaysian trade standard, so treat them as a picture of how printers think, and ask yours.

Five hundred might not mean five hundred

This surprised me. The same terms bill for what's actually produced, up to 10% either way, and call 90% of the order complete and acceptable by industry standards.¹

What an order of 500 can mean, at that printer's 10%

For cards, I wouldn't care. For a mailing to exactly 500 people, I'd care a lot. An exact quantity has to be requested when asking for the quote, and those terms say it changes the unit cost.¹

So I'd just ask: is this number exact, and does exact cost more? A small digital shop may well laugh and say of course. Good, then that goes in the email too.

The proof is where the blame moves

Here's the part I'd read twice. That printer says it isn't responsible for undetected errors if proofs weren't requested, if the work was printed on the client's OK, or if changes were given orally.¹

All three happen on an ordinary busy afternoon. So I'd always ask for a proof, give changes in writing, and treat my OK as the moment I took the job over.

I'd read it the slow way: phone number aloud, then the address, then the date against a calendar. After that I'd hand it to someone who hasn't seen it yet.

Colour is a separate fight. Those terms say variation between proof and finished job will occur, and that there are no discounts or reprints for some of it.¹ A PDF on my phone tells me even less than their proof does, I'd guess, since my screen isn't their machine.

If colour matters, say it's a logo that has to match the shopfront, I'd pay for a printed sample on the real paper. If it doesn't, I'd stop worrying about it and check the phone number again.

What it costs if they're late

Those terms also cap the printer's liability at the contract amount and rule out lost profits.¹ I'd assume a small shop's position is no warmer, written down or not.

So if flyers for a Saturday sale arrive on Monday, the most I could hope for is my money back. The sale is still gone. That's why I'd put the date a week before the real date, and tie it to the proof, since the same printer says its schedule slips when approved proofs arrive late.¹

If it comes to a dispute

This is the weak spot in small jobs, so I'd want to know it before paying. The Consumer Protection Act defines a consumer as someone buying things ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use.²

Wedding cards might fit. Flyers for my company, as I read it, probably don't, though I'm not a lawyer and I'd check before relying on either.

Small claims has a limit too. A law firm's guide says the sum must be under RM5,000 and the plaintiff must be an individual, so a sole proprietor can bring a claim and a company can't.³ For a Sdn Bhd arguing about a few hundred ringgit, I can't see the ordinary courts being worth it.

So my real protection is the deposit. I don't resent paying one: a 2023 study of Malaysian printers quotes one printer saying customers delayed orders during the pandemic, which meant deferred payments.⁵ But I'd keep it to what the paper costs them, roughly, and pay the rest after checking the box at the counter.

Two small tests

Malaysian law has an oddity I'd use. The Printing Presses and Publications Act, in the 2012 text I could open, wants every publication printed here to carry the printer's and publisher's names and addresses on its first or last leaf.⁴

"Publication" is defined widely, and the minister can grant exemptions, so I wouldn't lecture anyone over a flyer. I'd just ask whether they'd want their name on my job. A printer who knows what I'm talking about has probably thought about more than ink.

The other test is about price. I couldn't find a published price list worth quoting, and I don't think I need one. Two quotes naming the same paper and quantity tell me more than five that don't, and if the numbers are far apart I'd ask what the cheap one left out.

I'd walk away if they wouldn't name the paper, said there's no time for a proof, or wanted the whole sum upfront from a stranger.