Buying custom t-shirts online vs local companies
Buying custom t-shirts online vs local companies. The benefits of ordering your t-shirts from a local company far outweigh purchasing them online. This isn’t our opinion because we are a local screen printing shop in St. Louis. This is a mere fact due to the number of new rush order clients we serve each month. Are you wondering why I used the term rush order clients? That’s because a few times each month we get a call mid to late week from local people who placed orders online and realized that their custom t-shirts won’t arrive in time. It is a an occurrence that happens each month. They design there shirt online, get it just how they want it, pay for their order, and then learn a week later that their time sensitive order will not be arriving in time. So they come to use to see if it’s an order we can squeeze in over the next couple of days. Most of the time we can make it work, but sometimes we just can’t. Not to mention they paid more for their shirts online than they would have locally. Typically they don’t even speak with a live person and then there are shipping costs. One thing that many people don’t understand is there is no such thing as free shipping. UPS, FEDEX, and USPS do not offer people the service of shipping their items free of charge. It doesn’t matter if it’s an infomercial, a high end online retailer, or a custom t-shirt shop. Shipping is not free. When something is advertised as free shipping the cost of the actual shipping price is just built into the cost of the product. it’s a practice most companies use including us. At the end of the day it’s just an easier way to show the customer the actual cost of their item without them having to add up the shipping and divide to get their true cost. However when ordering local you can pick up your t-shirt order, you don’t need to pay for shipping. So right there you are saving money. Especially when shipping averages about $1 per shirt.
The benefits of local t-shirt companies
Local is nice, you can visit them, call them, see and feel the shirts and get excited about your t-shirt order. You can discuss the graphics and the layout and go over any concerns you may have in person. Generally you just get a more personal experience. Most of all your are supporting a business in your community whose taxes go to the local schools and other resources and it’s what being a community is all about. Generally local companies have shorter turn around times and they aren’t geared so much as a 9-5 job. I know for my company, if we can help someone out and get a shirt order complete to meet a tight deadline, we’ll work later to get the order finished. Buying your custom t-shirts online vs local companies means you’re saving money with a more personal experience and you can pick your order up saving additional money by eliminating shipping costs. Your supporting your own local community and you can build a relationship. These are things online companies simply can’t offer.