Burning Money Again – ATC Rejected, Delayed, Pulped
“The Anarchist’s Tool Chest Revised Edition” was on track to ship this week. All the book’s components were printed and ready to go to the bindery. They just needed a couple signoffs from the quality control department.
And what happened next explains why we are loyal to our printer of 18 years.
They used too much ink on press. The text looks great. The photos are a bit dark. Most printers would approve it for binding. But our job was rejected by the quality control department. The entire 5,000-copy press run (printed on the most expensive paper available to the printer) was sent to be recycled.
It was a $30,000 decision, and they made it without even trying to pressure us to approve it.
So the good news is that people still care about quality. The bad news is that the book won’t be out until August.
If you want to be notified when it’s released, you can do that here. (I promise we don’t spam anyone. You’ll simply get an email that says: The book you want is available.)
For once, the money being burnt isn’t ours.
Goodwill goes a long way with us. And with other businesses who see the world beyond the next financial quarter.
I bought a softcover edition of "The Workbench Design" book printed in China and published by the firm that bought out Chris's former employer. Photos were awful, too dark, and made reading painful. So kudos to the printer who binned their run of the ATC book for that reason. Quality approach is rare nowadays.
Vendors like that are true partners. That 30k isn’t wasted, it’s an investment in the relationship. It all but guarantees future business and continued business when mistakes are made or prices increase.