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Argonaut is a major postcard printer (and supplier of postcard and greeting card display racks ) located in Madison, Wisconsin offering production services for your full-color, high gloss projects. As one of the first digital postcard producers in America we've been operating a 100% digital pre-press since the technology came on-line in a practical form for commercial use in 1989. The same color and imaging expertise that we've developed to reproduce the highest quality photographs through the offset litho process can be put to use in your project. Whether you are an artist or a marketing professional or a small business owner or a charitable organization, your project can benefit from our solid and extensive ability to reproduce and/or manipulate color in the digital domain. QUALITY: These are the highest quality, commercial grade (The same ones that wholesale souvenir distributors supply to their retail accounts) custom postcards, greeting cards, business cards and bookmarks for marketing and promotional uses. All products on this page are printed on a very sturdy, heavy-weight 14pt. commercial postcard stock, in full color and finished with an ultra-gloss UV plastic resin surface coating. Prices include full pre-press design and preparation and 4 color printing on front AND back at no extra charge. Your original photo is laser scanned and printed at 200 line screen to attain the highest resolution and reproduction of your image. Don't let the low prices fool you - all of our products are printed in America. PRODUCTION TIME: Normal total production time is 20-25 working days from receipt of your materials - depending on press scheduling at the time you place your order. "Proof out" days and customer alterations extend production time further. Rush service is available for $75.00 per card design and production time is reduced by approximately 5-10 working days. Working days are days in which the plant is open and operating and do not include weekends, holidays or time materials or proofs are in transit to or from the plant. You must add these days in to figure the actual approximate delivery time. Delivery time is for approximation purposes only and does not imply a guaranteed delivery by any specific date. Production prices are at the bottom of this page. We also have a great selection of display racks. Please see: Postcard Racks,   Greeting Card Racks,  Bookmark Displays   and   Merchandise Racks

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR IDEA FOR REPRODUCTION or PUBLICATION: #1, MAKE A MOCK-UP: On an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper, make a simple outline drawing that represents the image to be used for the front of the card - even a crude drawing is okay but try to make it approximately the actual size of the card you are ordering. Use this drawing to show us how you want the image placed and any cropping you want. If you want a title on the front, show the placement of your title and approximately the actual size of the typeface you want the title to be in. Click here to see samples of typefaces available for titles on the front of your card. Please refer to the type face by its name. Determine whether you want the image to bleed off the card edge or defined by a border ...and how thick that border will be. Choose a color for your title and/or border. Make notes of all these decisions in the margins around the image area of your mock-up. That's all. #2, SENDING ORIGINAL MATERIALS: (Unless sending digital files - see below) Send materials (original photo, print or slide, along with your mock-up, Logo or any other graphic materials to be used in your design) to us by U.S. Mail or UPS along with your deposit listed in the price tables for the product you are ordering. PRESS-READY DIGITAL FILES: Press-ready digital files should be prepared as CMYK (4 color) files in TIF, Photoshop or JPEG formats at 360-400 dpi. All files can be sent to us on disk (Zip 100, CD ROM) or by e-mail attached to your message file. When we receive your materials we will assemble your design from your mock-up instructions and send you a proof by e-mail or regular mail. After you approve the design it will be sent to press and shipped to you when ready. Click here to see back-side layouts (not ready - under construction) We will work from your sketch or mock-up or camera ready artwork. BLEED: When preparing electronic image files for submission please keep in mind that Image files need to have a 1/8" trim on all sides that are intended to bleed off the edge of the paper. If you want to preserve the entire image without cropping the image it is best to "clone" picture area and extend it into the border trim area if you have the ability to do so with photo editing software such as Adobe Photoshop. Another option is to simply size the picture to be 1/8" larger than the final trimmed size on all bleeding edges. This method will require a small part on the edge of the picture area to be lost to trimming however.

What's Included? Production prices below include the following for all products: FRONT: One (1) laser scanned full-color photo from your color print or transparency. For multi-photo cards; add $40.00 each additional photo.   One (1) title in black, white or full color. A picture border in full color or black or white. Ultra gloss UV plastic resin finish coating. A color proof will be mailed or e-mailed to you for approval. BACK: Printed in black ink (full color backs available at no extra charge) with Approx. 50-75 words of copy and a standard postcard layout which consists of a main text block of copy with headline, a stamp box in the upper right corner if desired, centerline with your name and address, and photographers credit and/or card code number in the lower left corner. Complex back designs will incur additional costs and will be quoted but seldom exceed $25.00. You may also supply us with "camera-ready artwork" or finished digital artwork for your back-side in order to create an extensive or complex back at no extra charge. Halftones for use on the back may be up to 150 line screen. We will keep your digital files archived for 5 years minimum. What's not Included? Only a few things: CHANGES made by customer after work has commenced. We will quote the cost of any chargeable changes before making them. SHIPPING from our plant to you. We ship by UPS regular ground service unless you specify otherwise. SALES TAX only for orders shipped to Wisconsin addresses are taxed at 5% - 5.5% unless goods are for resale and your sales tax exemption number accompanies your order. Over/Under DELIVERY - IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ: Because of the complex nature of color press work, standard industry practice allows for 10% variance in the final delivery of color printed products. The actual quantity of cards delivered to you may vary by 10% (either over or under the quantity ordered). Delivery within this 10% variation shall constitute acceptable fulfillment of all orders and your final invoice will be calculated based on the actual amount delivered.   Postcard prices include banding by 50's unless you request "no banding". Postcards are packed 1,000 Ea. to a box. Master shipping cartons contain 4 boxes of 1,000 (4,000 cards). . Master shipping cartons weigh Approx. 44 lbs for standard 4" x 6"" post cards) Greeting card prices include scoring but do not include folding or envelopes. We may be able to help locate wholesale envelope suppliers for you when you place your greeting card order. Reproduction rights for many of the images used in ARGONAUT cards at this site are also available for your custom publishing projects. Our Artcards section has many whimsical images that easily convert into creative communications. If you have found an image that "works" for your project and you want us to produce it in any of the products listed on this page, simply use the price column: Total price if using our stock photo This price includes all production costs as well as the photo use rights. Please inquire about the image you want to use before ordering because most, but not all, of the images are available in this program. For more information about purchase of photo use rights, click here. The "Continental" postcard (4-1/8" x 5-7/8") is the largest size card that can be mailed in the USA at the low "post card rate" (currently $.23) for first class delivery. This card size is a very popular way to send an image of a product. The card also fits into a #10 mailing envelope.

     Continental Postcard: 4-1/8" x 5-7/8"                 Product code #CP

Quantity	Your price	Cost Each	Deposit required at time of order
1,900*	$335.00	17.6 cents Ea.	$200.00 - Balance COD +freight +overage +sales tax
3,750	$393.75	10.5 cents Ea.	$200.00 - Balance COD +freight +overage +sales tax
7,500	$517.50	6.9 cents Ea.	$270.00 - Balance COD +freight +overage +sales tax
15,000	$720.00	4.8 cents Ea.	$370.00 - Balance COD +freight +overage +sales tax
30,000	$1,020.00	3.4 cents Ea.	$520.00 - Balance COD +freight +overage +sales tax
60,000	$1,740.00	2.9 cents Ea.	$900.00 - Balance COD +freight +overage +sales tax
* 1,900 Quantities must be ordered in minimum of 2 different images/orders of 1,900 Ea.
See: Postcard Display Racks

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     Bookmark: 2" x 9"                                             Product code #BM9

Quantity	Your price	Cost Each	Deposit required at time of order
1,900*	$310.00	16.3 cents Ea.	$175.00 - Balance COD +freight +overage +sales tax
3,750	$398.75	10.6 cents Ea.	$200.00 - Balance COD +freight +overage +sales tax
7,500	$466.75	6.2 cents Ea.	$250.00 - Balance COD +freight +overage +sales tax
15,000	$770.00	5.1 cents Ea.	$400.00 - Balance COD +freight +overage +sales tax
30,000	$1,095.00	3.6 cents Ea.	$550.00 - Balance COD +freight +overage +sales tax
* 1,900 Quantities must be ordered in minimum of 2 different images/orders of 1,900 Ea.
See: Bookmark Display Racks

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For ways to display your cards, please see: Postcard Racks,   Greeting Card Racks,  Bookmark Displays  and  Merchandise Racks