Staples Invitation Printing Review

Once a week at least, someone at Staples would request custom invitations, and were shocked when they heard that Staples didn't exclusively print them. They also hated to hear all the extras associated with printing and creating these invitations that in the end, most of them left. Let's look at what Staples offers you, the customer, in terms of invitations and if you would still like to print from them.

Number one, there are many companies that offer stock invitation layouts and quotes, so you don't have to think of any words. Or, at the very least, have no design charge for them. With Staples, you need to either have your own invitation created and sized correctly, or have to pay a design charge (It would be submitted to Staples Design Service for $20 per side. So if you wanted a double sided invitation it would be $40 before even one was printed, not to mention that this would take at least another day until you saw the invitation). While the designs did usually turn out good with appropriate clip art utilized, the extra time and money turned many customers off.

Next, a lot of customers were looking for invitations that could be folded. Some Staples offer this paper, but very few. Not to mention that the folded paper was a full 8.5x11 sheet (take a normal piece of printing paper and fold it in half, it's rather large), and that the price was about $1.49 per side printed, regardless of color or B&W.

The paper Staples normally offered was card stock. While a little thin for regular invitation stock, the card stock does actually hold up rather well. It cannot be folded well (as it will crease very badly), and it will cost about $1.09 for color and $0.15 for B&W, per side.

Since I have been mentioning sides so much, let's discuss double sided invitations as well. Now, while the prospect of a double sided card may seem good to you, you have to consider the cutting process. Staples only had 8.5x11 card stock (if you want them to print on other paper it doesn't matter, the machines can only take 8.5x11 or bigger), meaning that to get it to the normal 3.5x5 or 4x6 invitation size, the paper would have to be cut. The Staples cutter is regularly unreliable, and cuts poorly. Combined with the printers that would rarely synch up the double sides, you will usually find that both sides do not come out centered. Also, this cutting is an extra charge ($2 per side, not per sheet. Usually an extra $8).

With all these maladies combined, you can see why Staples isn't ideal for printing your invitations. My suggestion, find somewhere more competent who can really print invitations, and not just pretend to.