Snap Printing

I needed an A0 poster for a conference… this shop was right next door. I popped in just before lunch with the poster on a USB stick. The guy took care of sizing it and printing it. It was ready in like 15 minutes. Was pretty cheap too. I dunno if I just lucked out with the timing but they were friendly and the poster was printed perfectly (even with a perfect bleed). Nice indeed.

Organised to have some printing done there for Supanova 2014 because they were opposite the convention centre where it was being held. First went to them some weeks in advance to make sure everything would be organised and okay. I should have been suspicious when the staff seemed to struggle with just copying my files over, and then were unable to output a saddle-​stitch print up from the InDesign file I supplied (along with everything else, including source files and a non-​saddle stitch output). I excused this as just lack of technological know-​how with the particular staff member I interacted with, and figured they were better at hands-​on print issues. Sadly I was mistaken.
Everything seemed okay until the first day of the convention when I picked up my prints. The first prints I placed with them had dreadful colours very different to the ones I approved, and it turned out their digital printer had problems and was serviced just after printing my first set of prints were made (they did not print a second set with the supposed «fixed» printer). Then it turned out I was missing prints from this set I had ordered weeks before which left them ample time to get the job done. And some of the first group had awful trimming which meant I had to take to them with a pair of scissors while trying to set up my table for the convention.
The second batch of prints (presumably printed after the printer was serviced) had better colours, but many were not printed to the correct size, but were trimmed to the size I requested, resulting in a large strip of white around the outside of the prints I also had to trim away with scissors, and the prints being significantly smaller than others in the batch which were exactly the same file dimensions and setup (high-​quality print basics). It was utterly pathetic, and I felt ashamed to have to be selling them to people at the convention but I had no other products so I had no other choice.
Excuses were made and costs were reduced eventually, but this kind of service is not acceptable and I do not recommend them for anything other than perhaps basic business B&W printing.

I’ve come to expect varying levels of service from Printers. For me, in a professional context, the value of having a reliable, reasonably priced and quick printer is paramount. Working in marketing, it’s incredibility important that schedules are met and quality is ensured, so that’s why I tend to gravitate towards Snap Printing when I can. They’re level of service is very high and I’ve come to be on a first-​name basis with them.
I have to say their prices can be a little high, certainly compared to the self-​help sizzler style of the Office Works chains — but still, it’s not horribly bad and like I said, the reliability is there.
I’ve gotten business cards printed within a day, as well, which is quite a feat considering I wasn’t a regular customer back in those days. They were very helpful and were able to push it through, which was great.

It was 3am.
My eyes were bloodshot and focused on the blinking red light on the printer,
The death keel beep it produced had signaled I had drained the last blot of ink.
Now this would ordinarily be the point where I would panic
but I had that ace up my sleeve, SNAP printing services on Merivale street.
I was able to pop in the morning and print out my presentation
on a nice, recycled 120 GSM uncoated matt stock,
it looked better than it would ever had done out of my old HP laserjet.
Another time these guys saved my kiester was printing a small portfolio
of my work. The sales staff all but held my hand through the entire process,
they took the time to remember my name and didn’t mind the frequent calls and questions about my printing job.
If you explain exactly what you want and what results you are after,
the staff at Southbank are very willing to sit down with you and offer
good advice and numerous paper samples.
Although professional printing can get on the pricey side,
the results and service at snap speak for themselves.
As for me, I have not been to officeworks since.