Quality DOES matter

Oooohhh did I get upset this morning. I stopped in the studio to pick up a computer part, and Aaron (THM Sales Manager) had someone on the phone. (Actually that made me happy as he was 30 minutes early for work - ON A MONDAY!! and Already following up leads)

Anyhow, the lead has 1000 photos to be scanned. We charge about $500 or approx .50 per scan. The customer goes on to explain that this is wayyyyy over priced, she found a company on the internet charging .07 cent or about $70 for the exact same thing.

What upset me was Aaron told OK have a nice day.
What really upset me was that the customer really was not informed and based her decision solely on price. Of course, Aaron's mistake was thinking well we can't compete on price so why bother??

Here is the point of my blog today.

Quality vs Price


Using the above example:

Here is what you get for 0.07 per scan

• a low quality 600 dpi scan
• NO colour correct
• No Cropping
• No cleaning
• They ship by Canada Post

Here is what you get for .50 cents a scan

• a high quality 2400 dpi scan
• Professional colour correction of EVERY photo by a dedicated editor
  
• Cropping of EVERY photo by a dedicated editor
• Cleaningof EVERY photo by a dediced editor
• Guarantees shipping using UPS and Fedex with tracking numbers.

With over 1000 scans a day, I we have already made all the mistakes. (Yea sound bad, but true!) For example. We will never ship Canada Post again unless a customer signs a waiver. Why? Because 3 years ago they "misplaced 13 packages. They all eventually arrived. Last year they only "misplaced 6" and this year -- with a waiver, it took them 5 weeks to deliver Toronto to Edmonton. After 4 weeks a rep from Canada post offered us a lost compensation incurance of $100. I told him if they didnt find the package I would contact every manager and minister and let them know how they had lost one of my customers memories for ever!!


Sorry I'm ranting today.


Long story short. You get what you paid for. If you are a bride and you hire a photographer for $2000 don't expect Excellence Photography. Expect a hack. Expect missing moments, lighting problems, no concept of colour, or composition. Expect the photo on a disk not in order of the day, expect that the quality of the photos will match the $500 camera and $75 lense they bought at Costco. Oh and expect those photo 9 months after your wedding.

Of course, that is if quality is not important to you.

Happy Monday