Staples Printing Services EPIC FAIL

I usually have a couple of projects bouncing around in the 'ol noggin and occasionally I get to actually make them.  There was a business card idea I had for me & the Mrs. to use in gaming circles.  After spending a good day's work with different versions, trying to nail it down I had my final result.

I could print it at home, but I thought it might look better if professionally printed at Kinkos.  I've had them do cards before and it is cost effective for the printing, but getting the cards cut is rather pricey.  These cards are a bit on the simple side, black and white duplex on cardstock....nothing fancy.



Because I have been trying out Staples lately I figured I'd take my cards there to get printed.  Instead of a simple single card I already had them laid out 8-up in a standard template.  Staples printed one sheet of cards up and ran them through their handy-dandy card cutter.  The colored cardstock was what I was looking for, but the machine cuts to a specific format which is basically 10 standard US cards to a single sheet.  The manager of the printing section was good enough to look up and write down the required margins and offset so I could tweak my file.

I was appreciative for the help and rather happy with the print services at Staples.  I figured that this might be my go-to printing place instead of Kinkos.

Today when I went back to Staples I got a totally different experience.  The manager was there, but I dealt with another employee.  After handing him the thumbdrive with both cards as individual PDFs I asked for a test copy with the goldenrod cardstock*.

"I'm sorry sir, but you can only get these cards printed off on cardstock from this color list."

Ok.....I get that maybe only certain weight cardstock can be run through the cutter, but the cardstock I asked for was the same weight as the sample set of colors he showed me.  I picked the closest color and he printed off one copy.  After going back to the card cutter he had a few words with the manager.....the same manager I has worked with the last time I tried to get the cards printed, he comes back to me with the full sheet.

"We can only print this up in white and on one side if you want us to do cards for you."

Seriously?!  Your cutting machine....the cutting machine which can cut a stack of cardstock at once can only cut white cardstock now...and then only if it has been printed on one side?  I'm sorry....did the cardstock you printed for me last week....the cardstock that was the color I wanted it to be and was printed on both sides somehow ruin the cutter?

The real deal is they want to charge me $20 for cards that I don't want instead of the much cheaper black & white copies which is exactly what I'm looking for.  The printing is actually easy....hell, I can do them on my laser printer at home.  What I was needing, and willing to pay for, was the cutting.

Now I'll just have to add cutting guides to my files and do the work at home.....and take the rest of my print jobs to Kinkos.  EPIC FAIL Staples, EPIC FAIL.