services

October 29, 2014 By Tom Gimer

New Service: Wide Format Scanning

For years people have been coming to us with architectural drawings, maps, paintings, kids’ artwork and other large documents they want copied or digitized. Regrettably we had to turn them away because our scanners weren’t big enough.

But no more! We can now scan items up to 42 inches wide with no length limitation. And it doesn’t have to be paper — we can scan things up to 12mm thick such as mounted posters.

We’ve even discovered new ways to put it to use, such as taking large drawings and resizing them to print on fold-over cards and t-shirts. Perhaps you have such a job to bring us!

Anyway, we thought you might be interested in this new service.

Pricing depends upon document size, condition and scanning resolution, but as a general rule it is between $1-$2 per square foot.

January 8, 2014 By Tom Gimer

Our business strategy

No tips today — just some information that will hopefully help you get a feel for the type of business we operate.

These days it is not enough to just provide high quality work product and great customer service. You need to differentiate yourself from your competitors so much that customers easily notice the difference. They must be so impressed with you that they prefer doing business with you and actively seek out more ways to do so.

Our best customers became regular clients because they noticed the three basic components to our strategy for getting them and and keeping them — be as competitive as possible with respect to price, provide extra value with every job, and meet every deadline. We’ve found that when we reach these 3 goals, we gain customers who are extremely loyal. The fact that an online vendor or even a local competitor offers a similar product or service for a few dollars less becomes a non-issue to them. It isn’t worth the uncertainty or the aggravation for our customers to switch vendors. Comfort is important to them, as it should be to everyone.

You can always find a lower price. Look hard enough and you’ll find someone who is so desperate for work that they’ll undercut the lowest price offered (which, by the way, was already too low). The internet is full of “great” deals, that is, until you actually buy and your order arrives late and not in the condition expected — and then you can’t even get through to speak with a human about it. We can’t compete with desperation, so we don’t bother trying. The process of chasing the lowest price always leads to the slaughterhouse. No thanks!

Calling vendor after vendor to find the lowest price, project after project looking only for who is the cheapest — some businesses do things this way. But there’s a huge drawback to using this method of purchasing: no mutually rewarding relationships result from a method which focuses solely on price. As regular consultants to event planners, graphic designers, marketers and others who strive to create perfect communications, we have a ton of experience and plenty of good advice ready to share with anyone who asks for it. But the people who purchase solely on price never tap into it. They’re too busy trying to save money to listen. And because of this they find themselves afloat at sea alone on every job.

With respect to our goal of providing extra value with every job, here’s a great example that you won’t find elsewhere. Our clients have also written about ways we’ve gone above and beyond the norm on our feedback page.

And with respect to deadlines, we thrive on crushing them. We never take a job we can’t complete on time. Read our policy on deadlines and you’ll know we mean business.

So if you’re looking for the best “price” in the area, broaden your thought process to include more than just the dollar figure quoted. Think about value as well as comfort. Consider giving us an opportunity to bid on your next project. When you look over our bid, factor our business strategy into your analysis of the best vendor for the job. We hope you’ll decide to do business with a company like ours that wants to support you in any way possible, who will never miss your deadline, and who will still be around the next time you need help making a project perfect.

Anyway, enough about us… back to work!

November 11, 2013 By Tom Gimer

Scanning documents and photos here

Scanning is part of what we do here on a regular basis, not only when our customers request it, but also in connection with our own work. It’s the best way to get elements which exist only on paper into digital form, where they can then be edited and incorporated into our designs.

Scanning services here are always handled by a member of our staff. We do not offer self-service scanning here. Over time we found that scanning is too complicated for most clients to figure out without needing help, which completely defeats the purpose of “self-service”. We’d rather help you get things done right the first time and save us both the hassle! Below you will find some information about scanning your documents and photos here. Each of the “sections” relates to a decision that will need to be made before the scan project is started.

Resolution

The resolution at which your project should be scanned at depends on what you are scanning and how it will be used. Simple text documents (both color and black and white) can be scanned at 200 dpi. This keeps the file size low without affecting readability. On the other hand, high-resolution photographs should probably be scanned at 600 dpi. This creates a large file, but when dealing with photos, detail is often more important than file size. Exactly how much detail you want to capture from your original is the deciding factor as concerns the resolution setting. There is a middle ground, as 300 dpi and 400 dpi scans are also possible here. Unless you alert us that a specific resolution is required, we will make the decision about resolution for you based upon your art or documents. One more thing about resolution — you never get it back. It’s pretty easy to compress a high-resolution file but it is impossible (without the help of a graphic designer) to turn a low-resolution scan back into the original.

File types

How you will use your scan dictates what file type you should select. Text documents are commonly saved and shared electronically as PDFs. Color images are often saved, shared and integrated into graphic design projects as JPGs (jpegs). There are many other formats available (and we can create files of many different types upon your request) but these two are the most common. Sometimes our clients will have the exact specs they need for their scanning project, such as with government forms and attachment requirements. When clients give us this information up front, everybody ends up happy with the result.

Layout

Size and shape of the original will dictate whether it can be scanned using a document feeder or whether it must be hand-placed and cropped. Standard size papers (such as letter, legal, tabloid) which are in good condition can be scanned using the machine feeder. Photos, drawings, news clippings or articles, and odd-shaped documents must be hand-placed. This is the only “setting” that affects pricing here. With the additional labor involved with a hand-placed vs. a machined scan, pricing is higher. With either method, the more scans you get, the less you pay per scan.

Saving and sending the file

Some people would like us to create a separate file for each scan, page or set. Other people want all scans saved in one file. Either way is fine with us. With respect to sending the file(s), we can email them (if the file size is small enough for your email server), save them to provided media such as a flash drive (thumb drive, usb drive) or CD, or we can burn a new CD for you. We may soon offer flash drives for sale here because they’ve become so integral to the exchange of graphics elements that it just makes sense to have them available.

Hopefully this post will answer all the questions you may have about document scanning here. If not, feel free to ask in the comments or in person.

July 8, 2011 By Ece Gimer

Instant passport photos

Our shop is located directly across the street from the U.S. Passport Office at the Friendship Station Post Office in Tenleytown. About 10 years ago we started offering instant passport photo processing because we are in such a convenient location. Of course, it also helps that the passport office camera is “out of service” about 90% of the time and people depend on us! (Plus, we’re cheaper!)

The whole process takes about 5 minutes, and you don’t need an appointment. Just walk in.

We also take visa and passport photos for many countries other than the United States. With the push of a button, our equipment sets up for Turkey, Germany, Taiwan, New Zealand, Mexico, China and Russia, just to name a few. It’s actually pretty common for a customer to walk into our shop with a set of photos they took at CVS or some other discount shop after the photos had been rejected by their country’s embassy or consulate. Picture sizes, backgrounds and facial dimension requirements can be different with each application. Sometimes pictures even need to be cut to special sizes. We have all of this information at the shop, but if you bring in your country’s requirements that is helpful too.

Do you have any questions about our passport photo processing services? Ask them below!

July 1, 2011 By Ece Gimer

5 reasons why “mom and pop” shops rule

Mom and Pop shop front desk Of course I’m biased but the proof is out there! (We also hear this all the time at our front desk)

“Mom and pop” print shops like ours have at least one distinct advantage over national chains that don’t run on the “each shop independently owned” model. It’s great customer service. And here’s a list of the top five reasons why I believe this to be the case…

1. Clients are always greeted by a live and friendly voice on the phone. Most small shops don’t want their customers getting lost in an automated phone system, getting frustrated and hanging up. Talk about a bad business practice!

2. Team members at the small shop take the time to listen and understand what is required to help a customer. They’d rather do the job perfectly the first time (because he or she would be the one who had to re-do it)!

3. Each client is made to feel special, comfortable and valued. The reality at the small shop is that every customer really is special and valued. And our customers tell us that they love the fact that they get to work with the same designer/writer/team member on all of their jobs. That’s the comfort element.

4. Business is about relationships and service, not price, and the small shop is selling customer service and reputation above everything else. Sometimes you just can’t compete on price with deep discount shops or internet outlets. So you have to beat them in every other way! Oh, here’s a related post on why doing business locally is smart.

5. The independent “mom and pop” shop always does what is best for the customer, because their reputation in the community is their most important asset. Small shops go out of their way to treat their customers right and also try to figure out what they can do better.

Do you agree or disagree? Please leave some feedback below or come and speak with me personally!

services

Resolution

File types

Layout

Saving and sending the file

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