Has anyone experienced receiving paper from the customer and never knowing when it will arrive? It's hard to demand to a customer to call for a delivery appointment. It's also difficult to receive 30-40 skids without knowing it's coming. Before I set a procedure and address the sales staff, I would appreciate any feedback from others who deal with this dilemma as well.
Wow! 30-40 SKIDS of paper is a REALLY BIG print order. It would seem to me that factors in your Contract Review would include
- the due date of first proof (typos, font, etc.)
- the due date of the first assembled package (binding, hole punching)
- due date of each shipment
so, why not include
- due date of delivery of customer's paper
- criteria for acceptability of paper to meet requirements for printing
with the explanation that inks and press time must all be coordinated with paper to fulfill customer's requirement for delivery dates of proofs and finished print job?
In my entire career, I only had to buy one print job which even approached something this big or complex - we contracted with Thomas Register (TR) to have two full page 4 color inserts for our contract machining company. Turns out we were required to have the inserts printed and delivered to TR for assembling and binding. Time tables were very tight and required contracts with ad agency, art designer, paper manufacturer, printer, TR (which had additional contracts for bookbinder, warehousing, shipping, etc. etc.)
Our printer gave us a 3 day delivery window to have paper on its dock. Bookbinder gave us a 2 day delivery window to have printed pages on its dock. Each and every contract between all parties had very tight delivery windows, with a late delivery at any stage causing the whole deal to abort for that year.
We were fortunate in having an ad agency experienced in dealing with TR and able to clue us in on the risk factors and advise us to have time table clauses in plain language with financial penalties (covered by a bond) for failure. The ad agency was very careful to insist that all the contracts include a requirement for real time communication on the progress status, naming primary and secondary contact people. We absolutely got our money's worth for the "middleman" services of the ad agency. The experience permanently etched in my brain the truth and validity of my grandfather's business credo:
"A workman worthy of hire is worthy of pay" which I first saw [and could read] on the wall of his office in the late 1940s.
