I’m kind of on the fence about whether or not to drop-ship all orders. The pros are that the customers receive their prints faster and with less handling, as they’re coming directly from the printers. The cons are that I don’t have a chance to look at them first. It gives me peace of mind to be able to give orders the once-over before handing them over. But that means I’d be the middle man, and more resources in the form of time and supplies are necessary to package and to deliver the prints again. This extra step is not exactly GREEN, you know?
Except…I’m a sucker for nice packaging. The more paper and whatnot involved the better. If I had no qualms about decimating a forest with my giant carbon foot, I’d have Japanese silkscreened paper included somehow, and thank-you cards printed on linen paper or my logo letterpressed (love letterpress) on nice thick stock cards where I’ll write you a little note, and wax seals (eee!) and rubber stamping and stickers and lilac-scented tissue paper and cellophane and…
Or I can just keep it simple. When it’s just as easy for me to hand deliver prints as it to drop ship them, I’m going with this stick-’em-in-a-nice-envelope-that-has-a-slight-shimmer approach. They’re from Paper Source, in sizes big enough to hold 8×10’s and 5×7’s, as well as cardboard inserts meant to keep the prints unbent. I spent an entire Sunday evening breaking down boxes and xacto-knifing 8×10, 5×7, 4×6 cardboard rectangles. So there’s my green contribution to offset the extra paper used for the envelopes.
Attach the biz card using a pretty round paper clip, and it’s all set to go. I’m not letting go of the idea of letterpress thank-you cards though. If I could get a custom-made letterpress of the logo I would be in heaven.
I’m a sucker for pretty packaging too. I like your classic, simple approach. I’m still trying to find what will work for me. Love the business cards!
I love great letterpress. That would be very cool to have a custom-made letterpress of the logo.
Question for you: Why animal photography in particular? Why did you choose to focus on animals instead of just general photography? I have really enjoyed following your blog as you have started this journey for yourself. You take really beautiful photographs.
Congratulations!
Wow, fabulous classy presentation! You’re off to a great start.
Those client envelopes are lovely!
Until you/if you have complete trust in your printer, then drop-shipping is an option. The real problem is you just never know what is going to happen from the time it leaves their printer to when it arrives at the client’s home. Around christmas time, we had some terrible issues with our larger prints. They were being bent as they were stuffed in the shipping envelopes, then dented in the mail because there wasn’t enough support in the shipping envelope. It would have been really bad to have found this out via a call from the client!
I think the extra step is worth it (and you’re personalized packaging will leave such a nice impression with your clients0. When you are busy, you can order prints for multiple clients at the same time (sometimes it works out this way!) and minimize the impact of shipping that way. So many things to consider! :)
The site looks great. I really love your packaging for the prints. It adds a nice personal touch also. I personally couldn’t trust that the printer would always ship things out that are up to my standard. I’m a bit of a control freak though and feel the need to handle more than I always should.
Since I see that you are Boston based, would you be interested in amateur letter-pressed business cards for significantly cheaper? If you are thinking of getting a block made, I can also point you at places to get more info about that.
so glad to see your site/blog up and running. everything looks lovely! and congrats on the launch of your biz! exciting isn’t it?