Comments from survey participants:

"Suppliers do not have to be on our list of approved vendors, however, it does make things easier if they are - so that terms and agreements do not have to be set up before a job is printed."  Cameron Mart, Director of Production, Punch Integrated Communications

"It is often used as an excuse not to talk to salespeople that did not research before calling."

"Unfortunately, right now more clients are more interested in price than in preferred vendor. Budgets are being cut, and vendors will be added to an approved vendor list if the price is right."  Rick Dumas, Project Manager

"It's often as much about politics as it is price for a printer to achieve 'preferred' status when that status is highly influenced by people other than those actually managing production."

"Especially the major players." Print Supplier

"Although we have our regular suppliers, we don't have a specific supplier list and are able to choose anyone who is capable of doing any specific job."

"However, we do bid work to non-approved vendors if there is someone we feel can provide a better price or perhaps a unique service. If that vendor does well, we forward their name to our central sourcing organization for consideration to be added to the list."

"We do pre-qualify each printer we work with, but it's not as formal as a list."

"For Marketing, I determine the list of pre-approved print suppliers. Packaging is purchased by product production buyers. Their list is more limited, but changes are approved by Marketing."   Cheryl Peterson, Marketing Services Manager Deli Express / E.A. Sween Co. 

The views expressed by our members are not necessarily the views of Print Buyers Online.com. We feel that it's important to share diverse opinions, even if we do not agree with all expressed viewpoints.