A few weeks back I had a phone call here at the shop that started out a little ominous as the first question was “How much are business cards?” The answer clearly is “That depends.” After a few more questions and answers including me explaining what letterpress is and his declaring that he needed 2000 cards for his business I told him the price. To which he replied “What the F@&k? I can get 500 business cards for ten bucks at Vista Print!!!” My retort just happened to be “then you should go there.”
If cost is your issue then you should go somewhere that declares their costs to be the main selling point. I don’t eat Little Caesars pizza and haven’t in years. I have bought it for the kids cause cost is an issue with them and they are not going to enjoy the pricey delight that an artisan pizza maker is going to give us. I will happily spend $25 on a pizza that has given some thought to quality and ingredients and makes pizza like they care. (In fact, I would probably spend twice that if I wanted to impress my date.) But then I care about quality and realize that cheapness is just one selling point and not the be all end all.
So why would you craft a letterpress business card and hand that out when each one may very well cost you as much as a dollar or more? Because you know that you get one chance to impress and as you wouldn’t take your date to Little Caesars, why would you give them the equivalent in a business card? But if you would be okay with bad pizza, you should go there. Leave the good stuff for the rest of us.
