by: Mart Gil Abareta
Postcard printing services continue to expand in recent years. Individuals and companies have realized its importance, and have warmed up to postcards as a smart personal means of communication and an efficient business strategy. Being aware of the increasing need for these services, printing establishments have expanded the scope of their postcard printing services.
Most people give little thought to aspect ratio when ordering postcard printing services. Aspect ratio is the length of the postcard divided by the height of the postcard. This result is the aspect ratio. In order to receive lower automation compatible postage rates for your postcards, the aspect ratio of the postcard must be 1.3 or greater. You can see that by not considering size when making your postcard printing selections, you can end up paying a lot more in postage to mail your postcards.
The type of paper stock where the postcard is printed on can be a particularly confusing postcard printing selection. For postcard printing services, there are two aspects of postcard stock to give consideration to when making your printing selections. These aspects are the thickness of the stock that the postcards will be printed on and the finish of the stock the postcards will be printed on. When making your postcard printing selections, you often see this referred to as 4/1 color postcards.
The term “bleed” is used by postcard printers to describe an effect that makes a postcard image appears as if it flows off the edge of the postcard. Postcard printers create this affect by over-sizing the postcard by an eighth of an inch in each direction. The images on the postcards are stretched out to this extended boundary. Then during the process of printing the postcards, the postcard printers will trim off this extra eighth of an inch. This restores the postcard to the original size. Using a bleed during postcard printing, particularly when printing full color postcards with colorful images, makes for a great professional looking direct mail piece.
Another consideration when selecting the postcard printing services to avail is the type of proof you’ll receive. The proof ensures that what the postcard printer is going to print matches the postcard design. One last thing to consider when making your postcard printing selections, the quantity of postcards you order. Some postcard printers will ship fewer postcards than the number of postcards ordered. These postcard printers have policies that allow them to ship up to 10% less than the quantity of postcards ordered. If they do this they should only charge you for the percentage of postcards they actually delivered.
Want to avail of postcard printing services? It’s now available in most printing presses at very reasonable rates. Want to avail an effective postcard that will work for you? Consult the local printing company in your area now!