Why Producing In-Region Beats Shipping Through Customs

When printing and distributing content for your customers outside the country, you have two options: One, you can produce in your current country and ship through customs, or two, you can produce in the region where your clients are located. While it may seem that production in your current country is a surefire way to guarantee quality, the fact is you enjoy many great advantages by routing your content for production in the region where it will be disseminated. From cost benefits to quicker distribution and less paperwork, there are plenty of reasons you should produce in-region, not ship overseas.

So before you print in town and mail all that important content internationally, consider directly printing in your clients’ country. Here’s why:

Customs Requires a Lot of Documentation

Your labor can be better spent on keeping the business running efficiently rather than on filling out forms. Shipping a package overseas in today’s world is aggravatingly time-consuming, and you first have to make sure the contents can clear your customs, as well as the receiving country’s customs, and this can require filling out two forms. Note that each country has specific requirements, so you will have to do research beforehand.

Additionally, depending on what you are shipping, you may have to fill out special documentation. Doing all this can be tedious because you have to handwrite or type names, addresses, package details, package weight and more. Sending production to the destination country can cut out this whole process.

Things Get Lost When You Ship Internationally

Even with all the technology being employed in the shipping industry today, you still can’t completely trust that your documents, ads or other materials will reach their destination safely. Although the percentage of mail lost by major postal services, is hard to ascertain, there is a reason why online blogs and forums are full of information about how to find lost mail. There is also a reason why respectable postal service companies have a lost package claims process. Simply put, while the very high majority of packages make it on time to the international destination, not every piece does, even some with tracking. And that’s a risk you don’t have to take.

Delays Are Common and Deliveries Aren’t Predictable

Services like priority mail express international from the United States Postal Service guarantee delivery to major international destinations in three to five business days; however, the parcel carrier is actually not bound by this guarantee, especially if customs wants to take another look at the package before okaying it for final delivery. It’s not just the receiving country’s customs that inspects the package, either; yours does too. That means double the chance for a delay.

On top of that, uncontrollable factors, such as weather, political issues in an area and holidays in either country, can cause a delay in delivery. If your company depends on getting word out quickly, the option to produce in region is often available. With time-sensitive materials, the decision to move production to the targeted market’s region is a no-brainer. You can remove any chance of your package getting stuck in transit. You simply forward the job to a producer in the region, and it handles the task.

It’s Typically Cheaper to Produce in Region

The actual cost of printing varies based on a number of factors, including printer quality, ink type, color and paper. For instance, when calculating the cost of materials, the printer’s life span and average page coverage, it costs $0.028 to print a tabloid-size sheet of paper on the HP Enterprise LaserJet M806. This may not seem like much when just looking at the price per page, but this can add up to a pretty hefty sum over time, especially when you’re producing huge amounts of marketing materials.

Then, you have to add in shipping costs, which are determined by where you’re shipping the package, the weight, and additional charges and fees. This can easily get into the three-digit price range if you are mailing thousands of brochures from New York City to Tokyo. Instead, directly print in Tokyo, and use local distribution channels to market your product or services. Even if printing in the targeted market’s region isn’t cheaper, you still save on shipping and remove risks, and those are clearly great benefits.

Printing in the region where your materials will be marketed carries huge value for your business. Not only can you eliminate all the risks and headaches that come with printing in your office or at home and then shipping internationally, you can also save cash.

To help your company get the most out of its overseas marketing plan, think about hiring a service to route your production to the destination. Mimeo PrintX can route printing orders to printers all around the globe, from Brazil to Singapore. Best yet, communication is handled seamlessly online, and delivery is as quick as overnight.

[Free Guide] How to Gain Control Over Your Global Brand’s Print Materials

Where is your marketing content heading? You may need a passport, but your content doesn’t. Learn how Mimeo PrintX routes your content files to be produced and distributed in-region.