I'm always amazed at what a well oiled machine like UPS can do.

I ordered some new business cards yesterday about 2pm, and put it for a next day delivery figuring that I'd have the cards on Monday (have a meeting Tuesday and needed some special cards made up).

Low and behold, by 5:41pm, UPS was already picking up the finished business cards and by 8:44am, the package is already on the truck and to my house.

My UPS guy is usually here by 10am, so within the hour I'll have the new cards I ordered. That's only about 20 hours from the time of placing an order and getting it at my door!

I'm astonished at the speed of the pricing company to get their package out the door, but it's crazy how UPS works and gets my little box half way across the country in just a few hours!

Location Date Local Time DescriptionWhat's This?
OMAHA, NE, US 12/03/2010 8:44 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY
12/03/2010 7:34 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
12/03/2010 6:47 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
SIOUX FALLS, SD, US 12/03/2010 6:03 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
12/03/2010 5:08 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
LOUISVILLE, KY, US 12/03/2010 3:55 A.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
12/03/2010 12:27 A.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
MIDDLETOWN, PA, US 12/02/2010 10:51 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
12/02/2010 8:55 P.M. ARRIVAL SCAN
CHAMBERSBURG, PA, US 12/02/2010 7:45 P.M. DEPARTURE SCAN
12/02/2010 5:41 P.M. ORIGIN SCAN
US 12/02/2010 6:15 P.M. BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

And for those wondering what pricing service I used with the killer turnaround times - 123print.com

Only the second time using them, but I'm impressed!

UPS went from PA to KY to SD to NE in 20 hours? Not enough time to get jet lag! The ink should still be fresh on the cards.

Always been impressed with UPS and FedEx capabilities.

This case is no exception! Lucky you. Unfortunately, the postal service is pricier in Canada for obvious reason, which makes UPS and FedEx rather expensive to ship with. I just shipped a gift (a phone) recently to someone in Ontario with Canada Post (not UPS) - it ran $25 with 1-day signature delivery.

If you really take a minute and think about it, it is amazing what these companies get done and in a timely fashion. Just think about all the packages that run throughout the world every day.

It takes one amazing system to keep everything in order and get these millions of packages delivered on time. My hats off to these delivery services.

For some reason my keyboard interpreted "printing" as "pricing" - sorry if my posting was a little confusing to people!

The cards arrived just before 11am. I bitched at my driver to tell him he was almost an hour late and he blamed me for it as I hadn't yet shoveled the snow off the sidewalk and the address numbers so he could see the house hehe He told me to get off the computer and go shovel snow for an hour - so I guess that's what I'm headed to do!

(cards turned out perfect!)

Btw, where do you order the cards from? And who designs them?

Usually I'm using overnightprints.com but this time I used 123print.com and was very impressed with the final result.

As for the design, that's all internal here. On this run I needed a special card highlighting PCI Compliance as I'm speaking with the local chamber of commerce to small businesses regarding security on their sites and credit card transactions.

The nice thing with business cards is that it costs less than $50 to run a batch of 250 cards with full gloss etc and then get it shipped overnight. Each of the different speaking engagements that I go to, I usually do up a different design for the back of the card showcasing that individual product/service.

So in many ways, I treat my business cards the same as I do with a landing page for SEO. I tailor the cards specifically to the niche market that I'm meeting with. And for $50, I've got a very targeted market that google only wishes it could provide to me!

Funnily UPS, Parcel Force, Fedex and the like are such well oiled machines, due to the outstanding software backend tied to their operation, that there are almost no books related to software engineering, project management or business operations lack a reference to at least one of them.

Makes for good reading , it's surprising which companies or types of companies are responsible for software or techniques within software, project management and business based on their day to day operation.

As to delivery I've had two Alienwares delivered from Germany (to the UK) via UPS in the past .. both arrived within 24 hours of shipping bother before 12:00 ... and given the box was the size and weight of the adverage child Id agree that they deffently amazing.

I need some new business cards myself. I think I'm going to try 123print.com, they have nice prices and free shipping.

Not UPS related but I have used Vistaprint.ca in the past with very good results.

Yep, I used to use VistaPrint quite a bit, but their checkout process is awful - as bad as GoDaddy with all the upselling they try to do! When just trying to get a pricing quote it's like pulling teeth!

I've used VistaPrint for mugs before too and was happy with the results there, but because of the checkout headache I just couldn't be bothered ordering the business cards through them this time.

Two thumbs up to UPS and the other delivery services that deliver quality and timely service. Good luck during the holiday. It's getting to be that time of the year. Employment should be up right now.
ladesignancoding

And that's what I always emphasize - the power of your local market, and Conor's strategy is spot on.