Llewellyn's Poor Cutting

[OracleOfLight]

Honestly I'm quite surprised you had such an issue! Though I did have my own issue when I got my Shadowscapes deck, though not relating to how they cut the cards.

With a couple of the cards in my deck, you can see they didn't print RIGHT inside the border, as there is a very thin line of white between the art of the card and the silver boarder. When I pulled my deck out of the plastic they were HORRENDOUSLY warped as well, bent with a very significant curve, as if it were collapsing in on itself. Took me a long time to straighten them out using a rather harsh force, pulling along the edge of a table. A friend of mine who bought the same deck had the exact same problem as mine.

Unfortunately I guess that's what you get with mass produced decks. Not as much attention to those little details.

 

[GoldenWolf]

My boyfriend commented that he had this issue with my Tarot of the Sweet Twilight. Although I bought it quite awhile back, I just recently started using it as a deck of the week. I thought he was imagining it, but I guess not!

 

[canid]

I was confused as well but as I've worked for & with many printers I can guestimate what happened. It's not the publisher's fault at all, it's the printer, although they ARE ultimately responsible. It's up to the buyer ie publisher to do press checks on whom they've hired to print their work, throughout the entire process. Whoever did the trimming at the printer wasn't perfectly consistent & this is usually a last stage thing so even if press checks were done during printing for color, calibration, etc., you assume someone could cut properly after all that. And these cutting machines are so exact it's unbelievable. Whoever ran the cutting machine didn't program it properly so each 'batch' (however the run went, whether it was courts printed together, suites printed together, etc.) weren't cut consistently so they don't fit together because they're different sizes. When anything is offset printed, it's ganged up. The paper sheets are very large; there may be 20 to 50 cards (images) per sheet that go thru the press, then they need to be cut out. It's really not brain surgery to program the cutter but someone obviously screwed up at the printer. Sounds like at least they're trying to fix the problem, but so many thousands of dollars have been invested already it's gonna be a tussle between them to place blame on who did what & who's gonna take financial responsibility.

 

[iAmRiotEyes]

I was confused as well but as I've worked for & with many printers I can guestimate what happened. It's not the publisher's fault at all, it's the printer, although they ARE ultimately responsible. It's up to the buyer ie publisher to do press checks on whom they've hired to print their work, throughout the entire process. Whoever did the trimming at the printer wasn't perfectly consistent & this is usually a last stage thing so even if press checks were done during printing for color, calibration, etc., you assume someone could cut properly after all that. And these cutting machines are so exact it's unbelievable. Whoever ran the cutting machine didn't program it properly so each 'batch' (however the run went, whether it was courts printed together, suites printed together, etc.) weren't cut consistently so they don't fit together because they're different sizes. When anything is offset printed, it's ganged up. The paper sheets are very large; there may be 20 to 50 cards (images) per sheet that go thru the press, then they need to be cut out. It's really not brain surgery to program the cutter but someone obviously screwed up at the printer. Sounds like at least they're trying to fix the problem, but so many thousands of dollars have been invested already it's gonna be a tussle between them to place blame on who did what & who's gonna take financial responsibility.

Definitely. I realized it was the printer's problem. They should really make adjustments in whatever inspection process they have. The Steampunk deck's cutting was just plain terrible and it's a wonder it got past them. If I was angry, I can only imagine them as a company having to lose all that money because of someone's incompetence or because they were lazy.

"Measure twice, cut once." :/

 

[gregory]

Well - thank goodness I have never had this problem - and specifically not with Steampunk (or Sweet Twilight). I guess you can't blame the PUBLISHER though - and any issues I have ever had with a deck or set, the publisher has replaced the product or the cards involved anyway... - it is quality control by the printer.

 

[Debra]

... If I was angry, I can only imagine them as a company having to lose all that money because of someone's incompetence or because they were lazy. ...

I wouldn't assume incompetence or laziness on the part of workers.
Aren't most mass-market decks these days printed in China?

I read one professional estimate that for books, including the cost of shipping from China, the total cost still comes in at 35% or so less than printing in countries with decent wages and worker protection.

It's much cheaper to produce goods in sweatshops. Publishers sell cheap and still make a profit.

If the publisher doesn't send a representative to oversee the process and inspect for quality all along the way, it's on them.

 

[gregory]

The Steampunk box says printed in the USA. There's no suggestion anywhere on there that the cards weren't...

 

[canid]

I wouldn't assume incompetence or laziness on the part of workers.
Aren't most mass-market decks these days printed in China?

I read one professional estimate that for books, including the cost of shipping from China, the total cost still comes in at 35% or so less than printing in countries with decent wages and worker protection.

It's much cheaper to produce goods in sweatshops. Publishers sell cheap and still make a profit.

If the publisher doesn't send a representative to oversee the process and inspect for quality all along the way, it's on them.

You're right, the publisher IS responsible for any printing problems; after all, they've hired them to do a job. Still, the printing process is the same no matter the country. Since it's happened with multiple decks, it has to be in the cutting process. It COULD possibly be in the original design, if the artist/designer didn't position crop marks properly for the person who's using the cutting machine, but the fact of different decks, different runs, points to whoever is doing the trimming. Which is the last process before collating & packaging. When you hire a vendor/printer it's YOUR responsibility to make sure it's being done properly; you have to keep your customers happy whether you're saving a dime here or there on printing. So yes, they are ultimately responsible for it, of course they are. Which is why they seem to be trying to rectify the issue.

 

[ghost271]

The lady I spoke too seemed very proactive. She said they were holding a meeting with the printer to see what the issue was. They were also going to see if continual shuffling helped at all.

 

[AJ]

I wouldn't assume incompetence or laziness on the part of workers.
Aren't most mass-market decks these days printed in China?

If the publisher doesn't send a representative to oversee the process and inspect for quality all along the way, it's on them.

Debra, Llewellyn uses a publisher in Texas, to my knowledge, always have. One reason being so they can keep close watch on quality through the entire process.

there is probably a statement somewhere on their website, too bad it is so user unfriendly.