GotPrint vs. Local Print Shops: A Comparison From Someone Who Uses Both

I manage purchasing for a 45-person company—roughly $8,000 in print materials annually across three vendors. After five years of juggling online printers and local shops, I've developed pretty strong opinions about when to use which.

This isn't going to be one of those "it depends on your needs" cop-outs. I'll tell you exactly where GotPrint wins, where local shops win, and the one dimension where the answer genuinely surprised me.

The Comparison Framework

I'm comparing across four dimensions that actually matter for business ordering:

• Pricing (including the hidden stuff)
• Turnaround time and flexibility
• Print quality and consistency
• Service and problem resolution

For context: I order business cards, letterheads, #10 envelopes, flyers for events, and occasional posters. If you're doing specialty work—embossing, unusual substrates, Pantone-critical brand colors—your math might look different.

Pricing: Online Wins, But Watch the Fine Print

The Raw Numbers

Let me just show you what I actually paid last quarter:

500 business cards, 14pt cardstock, double-sided:
GotPrint: $28 + $7 shipping = $35
Local shop: $85

1,000 flyers, 8.5×11, 100lb gloss, single-sided:
GotPrint: $95 + $12 shipping = $107
Local shop: $220

That's not a typo. Based on publicly listed prices I've tracked through January 2025, online printers typically run 40-60% cheaper for standard jobs. GotPrint specifically hits the budget tier—I've seen business card runs as low as $20-35 for 500 cards before shipping.

The Hidden Cost Reality

When I first started managing vendor relationships, I assumed the lowest quote was always the best choice. Three budget overruns later, I learned about total cost of ownership.

Here's what catches people:

Shipping. GotPrint's product prices are competitive, but shipping adds $7-25 depending on speed and weight. Local shops? You drive over and pick it up. For a single order, this narrows the gap. For 60-80 orders annually like I process, it adds up to maybe $600-800 in shipping costs.

Rush fees. Rush printing premiums vary significantly—next business day typically runs +50-100% over standard pricing. I've seen same-day requests quoted at 2-3x the base price. Local shops have more flexibility here, in my experience. My guy has squeezed in emergency jobs at maybe +25% because he knows I'll be back.

Setup fees. Many online printers eliminated digital setup fees—GotPrint includes setup in their quoted prices for most products. Local shops sometimes charge $25-50 for file prep if your artwork isn't print-ready. Though I might be misremembering the exact figure from my last quote.

My verdict on pricing: GotPrint wins for planned, standard orders. Local wins for rush jobs and when you factor in the relationship discount you'll eventually get.

Turnaround Time: More Complicated Than You'd Think

Standard Turnaround

What most people don't realize is that "standard turnaround" often includes buffer time that vendors use to manage their production queue. It's not necessarily how long YOUR order takes.

GotPrint's standard turnaround runs 5-7 business days on most products, plus shipping. So realistically, you're looking at 7-10 business days from order to desk.

My local shop quotes 3-5 business days for the same work. In practice, it's often faster—I've gotten business cards in 2 days when they weren't slammed.

The Flexibility Factor

This is where local shops pull ahead, and I didn't fully appreciate it until I needed it.

Last September, our VP surprised me with a conference sponsorship—needed 200 posters, 18×24, in four days. Online turnaround plus shipping? Not happening. Called my local guy at 2pm, picked up the posters Friday morning. Cost me an extra $80 in rush fees. Saved me from looking incompetent to leadership.

That unreliable supplier (a different online vendor, to be fair) made me look bad to my VP when materials arrived late for a previous event. I only trusted the "always verify turnaround time" advice after ignoring it and eating that embarrassment.

My verdict on turnaround: Local wins for flexibility and emergencies. Online wins if you plan ahead—and I mean actually plan ahead, not "I'll order it Monday for Friday" plan ahead.

Print Quality: Here's Where I Was Wrong

My Initial Assumption

I used to think online printers cut corners on quality to hit those price points. Made sense, right? Something's gotta give.

I was somewhat wrong about this.

The Actual Quality Comparison

For standard CMYK work on standard substrates? Honestly, the quality is comparable. Industry standard color tolerance is Delta E < 2 for brand-critical colors—Delta E of 2-4 is noticeable to trained observers; above 4 is visible to most people. Both my local shop and GotPrint stay within acceptable range for our corporate blue.

I've run maybe 200 orders through GotPrint. Maybe 180, I'd have to check the system. Quality issues on fewer than 10. That's a better rate than I expected.

Where local shops genuinely win on quality:

• Pantone matching. Pantone colors may not have exact CMYK equivalents—Pantone 286 C converts to approximately C:100 M:66 Y:0 K:2 in CMYK, but printed results vary by substrate and press calibration. Local shops can pull physical Pantone books and do press checks. Online printers can't.
• Unusual paper stocks. Want that 130lb uncoated with the subtle texture? Local shop can show you samples, maybe even do a test print. Online, you're guessing based on product descriptions.
• Die cutting and specialty finishing. Die cutting setup runs $50-200 depending on complexity. For custom shapes, I'd rather see a proof in person.

My verdict on quality: Tie for standard work. Local wins for brand-critical colors and specialty projects. This genuinely surprised me—I expected online to lose here.

Service and Problem Resolution: The Real Differentiator

When Things Go Right

Both work fine. Seriously. You place an order, it arrives, everyone's happy. Not much to compare.

When Things Go Wrong

This is where the comparison gets interesting.

Online printer problems I've dealt with:

• Color shift on a poster run (filed a ticket, got a reprint shipped, added 8 days total)
• Damaged envelope box (filed a claim, got a credit, reordered)
• Wrong quantity shipped—1,000 instead of 500 flyers, actually (they let me keep them, which was nice)

Local shop problems I've dealt with:

• Color didn't match proof exactly (walked over, looked at it together, they adjusted and reprinted same day)
• Paper stock was out, they substituted without asking (called me, I picked a different stock, slight delay)

See the difference? Online resolution takes days and involves tickets. Local resolution takes hours and involves humans.

To be fair, GotPrint's customer service has been responsive when I've needed it. The issue is geography—they can't hand you a corrected proof across a counter.

My verdict on service: Local wins decisively. The relationship matters. My local guy knows I order letterheads every quarter. He flags it if I'm late. Try getting that from an online platform.

The Decision Framework

After five years, here's my actual decision process:

Use GotPrint (or online printing) when:

• You're ordering standard products—business cards, flyers, basic posters
• You have 10+ business days before you need the materials
• Budget matters more than relationship
• CMYK color accuracy is acceptable (not Pantone-critical)
• You're comfortable with file prep and can submit print-ready artwork

Standard print resolution requirements: 300 DPI at final size for commercial printing, 150 DPI acceptable for large format posters viewed from distance. Make sure your files meet specs before uploading—online printers won't catch errors a local shop might flag.

Use local print shops when:

• Turnaround is tight or unpredictable
• You need Pantone color matching or specialty finishes
• The project is complex or unfamiliar
• You want to see proofs in person
• Something might go wrong and you need fast resolution

What I Actually Do

Roughly 70% of my print orders go through GotPrint or similar online printers. The savings are real—around $3,000 annually, give or take a few hundred.

The other 30%—rush jobs, executive materials, anything where I can't afford to be wrong—goes local.

I recommend this split for most office administrators. If you're dealing with higher-stakes materials or tighter timelines consistently, you might want to flip that ratio. And if your company requires specific invoicing formats or purchase order processes, verify that your chosen vendor can accommodate—the vendor who couldn't provide proper invoicing cost us $2,400 in rejected expenses back in 2021.

In my opinion, the right answer isn't picking one channel. It's knowing which tool to reach for based on the specific job.

That said, if you're currently using only local shops and want to reduce costs, GotPrint is a reasonable place to start testing. Their coupon codes are worth searching for—I've seen 20-30% off promotions fairly regularly. Just don't bet your deadline on your first order. Run a low-stakes test first.