THIS PHOTOCOPY IS NOT CLEAR!

The hazards in printing business are quite enormous. As an operator in the printing industry you must have come across some terrible remarks about your job. Or you may have had your jobs rejected by your customers.

Several times the customers would act as if they are the one that owned your business. They give you every reason why you must give them what they are paying for or else nothing for you.

A colleague in the same trade ran into such situation last week. Someone came to do photocopies of 100 pages in his office. His assistant took the order while he was busying himself with his laptop.

The assistant told the customer that the words and images in some of the documents are too faint and therefore won't come out clearly. She printed two copies initially to show to the customer. And the customer told her to go ahead.

As the job was going on the customer excused himself to attend to somebody somewhere. It took him one hour or so before he came back.

The shop attendant therefore gave him his job. The expectation was that he would bring out his money and pay. But first of all he decided to check the work and also count to ensure that the job is complete.

Along the line the man started sorting out the copies that were not so clear. In fact they were half of the total number photocopied.

He told the attendant that he can not pay for those ones that were not clear or blurred. But the attendant said she had already told him that those copies were not clean enough for clear photocopy.

One argument led to another until the owner decided to intervene.

He explained to the customer that the fault didn't come from the printer but from his copies. 

He photocopied something else to prove his point. But instead of the customer accepting his fault he said the attendant should have stopped the job when she knew they won't be clear.

Oftentimes there are many customers who will not understand the working mechanism of the printing industry. What they just want is perfect job even if there is no possibility of making it perfect.

The take home here is that as practitioner you should always ensure that your working materials are properly okay. The fact that the customers don't know much about your business is not enough reason to play smart on them. Let the law always stay on your side in case of any event.

And then as customer, try also to be humane. Yes, it's your money you want to pay but the person offering you the service didn't acquired the working tools for free. You don't expect them to use their materials for your jobs only for you to turn down the work. It's callous and heartbreaking as well.

Dave Digitals - Much more than printing experience