# Checking Shirts - Contract Printing



## madmanmagee (Feb 1, 2009)

I'm printing shirts for several shops in my area.
They supply the shirts, and I print them.
We have a price worked out.
Includes costs like how many colors the prints are,quantity, flashing, and whatever else.

So....Here's the Issue:
I don't have a fee for checking the shirts.

In the last 2 weeks I have had this happen 2 times:
Print the order & I'm packing stuff up, then I find a hole in once of the shirts. Its like the size of a Nickle. 
Now they want to send us a new shirt to print.

This is causing delays because now, we have to either:
1. wait for the new shirt to come in or;
2. take the screens down and re-set up the job later for 1 shirt.

This could be avoided by checking the shirts before printing them.
However that's also going to cause a major delay too.


How does everyone else handle this?
Would you:
1.Charge an additional Fee for checking the shirts before printing?
2. Just eat the lost time and check every shirt before printing it for holes/problems? 
3. Ignore the hole & send it out like that - the supplier did give me the shirts they wanted printed it should be up to them to check it?
4. other suggestions?


Anyone else out there charging fees for this?
What do you charge if you do?

I just want some ideas before I bring this up with the businesses I print for.

Thanks for the help guys.


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## TYGERON (Apr 26, 2009)

Not #1 and definite not #2.

If you charge a fee for checking customer goods and you miss something, then it's on you for missing it.

Eating the cost of checking _before_ printing is losing money and you still might miss something and have to deal with it in some way anyway.

Advise the customer to check. If they don't want to and you catch something while loading, during printing or after, I'd let the customer know and whatever they decide I'd charge for it.

Set a high enough re-setup and print fee to make it worth your while if you go that route.

If it's a sizeable order, advise the customer to provide a few extras.


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## slacker27 (Oct 2, 2011)

I would offer a refund and a sincere apology on the shirt. Usually the customer understands and it usually doesn't effect repeat business. Like in all things in life, it help to have a good relationship with your customer base.


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## slacker27 (Oct 2, 2011)

Sorry for the double post, but I did want to add that if you let the customer up front what happened and why it happened they tend to be more understanding. DONT NOT give the defective shirt to a customer and hope they don't notice as it is dishonest and it hurts your reputation.


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## PatWibble (Mar 7, 2014)

Contract printing is contract printing. You are simply printing onto what the customer supplies you with, and your responsibility starts and finishes with the quality of the print. Quality control of the garments lies squarely with your customer and his garment supplier, although if you notice a recurring and obvious fault it would be sensible to halt the print run to check with your customer. This is out of consideration for the customer, and to enable him to return the goods if needed.

I do a lot of contract printing, but I am very specific about what garments the customer supplies. It has to be something purpose made for the imprint industry, from a recognised supplier (Gildan, Fruit etc), and has to be verbally approved by me first. I won't print onto cheap chain store garments, or off-price tat, because quality, surface, and washability can't be guaranteed.
I also stipulate a 2% overrun of blanks (with a minimum of 2 pieces per size/colour), to cover any misprints. Any unused shirts are either returned to the customer, or I will print them at no extra charge. This can save any need to reprint, due to my error, and only costs me pennies. 2% is a fair amount for misprints, and by supplying the shirts the customer is saving far more than that.

Most of my contract customers are other printers, usually heat press guys or embroiderers, so they understand what is required. 

Before you take the job, you need to make your customer aware of the terms of the service you are providing, with regards to the garment quality expected, and the limit to your liability for defects associated with it.

There certainly no call for a refund or apology for defects in customer supplied goods.


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## oasis1 (Jun 16, 2009)

PatWibble is right on the money in this regards.
We do strictly contract printing and have a 2% window for misprints/shortages it is a common industry standard.
If our clients want us to check their product in we charge $.10 per item. If we find a defect we notify them so they can then contact their supplier and get the problem solved and we will print when all the problems are fixed or if our client says to print it short.
If our client does not want to pay the $.10 for us to check in then it is all in their court in regards to the quality of the garments not the printers.


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