Your 48-Hour Print Questions Answered: From Legitimacy to Label Placement

I manage print ordering for a 65-person company—roughly $18,000 annually across 6 vendors. After 5 years of coordinating everything from business cards to event materials, I've heard every question imaginable about online printers. Here are the ones I get asked most, answered honestly.

Is 48 Hour Print Legit?

Short answer: yes. I've placed probably 40+ orders with them since 2021.

The longer answer: they're a real company that delivers real products. I was skeptical at first too (the name sounds almost too good to be true). But they've been around since 2003, and they actually do deliver in 48 hours for most standard products. Not great, not terrible. Serviceable for deadline-driven work.

What made me trust them initially was testing with a small order—200 business cards for a new hire. Came out fine. Color matching was accurate enough that our marketing director didn't complain, which is saying something.

The caveat: "48 hours" means production time, not delivery time. You're still adding shipping on top. I didn't fully understand this until my first order, when I cut the timing too close for a conference. Lesson learned the hard way.

How's the Quality for Marketing Materials Like Flyers?

It took me 3 years and about 150 orders to understand that "quality" depends entirely on what you're making and who's looking at it.

For standard marketing stuff—flyers, brochures, basic posters—48 Hour Print is solidly mid-tier. Better than office printer output, not quite boutique-level. We've ordered lingerie party flyers for a client event (yes, really) and promotional materials for trade shows. Both turned out fine.

Where I've seen inconsistency: large format items and anything with very specific Pantone matching. For a product launch banner in Q2 2024, the red came out slightly more orange than expected. Not wrong enough to reject, but noticeable if you were comparing to digital mockups side-by-side. (Note to self: always request physical proofs for color-critical jobs.)

For reference, flyers typically run $25-80 for 250-500 quantity depending on paper stock and finish (based on quotes I pulled in January 2025; verify current pricing).

What About Specialty Items Like Vehicle Wraps?

This is where I'd pump the brakes.

48 Hour Print does offer vinyl materials, but for something like a Subaru WRX STI wrap—or any vehicle wrap, really—you're dealing with a completely different beast. The printing is one thing; the installation is another. And installation requires someone who knows what they're doing with compound curves and manual transmission clearances (assuming you're wrapping near the shifter area on a manual).

My honest take: order the vinyl from whoever gives you the best price per square foot, but budget separately for professional installation. We made the mistake once of thinking "how hard can it be" with a fleet vehicle. The answer: hard enough that we paid to have it redone professionally. Almost went the DIY route to save $400, which would have meant a peeling, bubbled mess by month two. Dodged a bullet when our facilities manager talked us out of it.

Where Do You Put a Shipping Label on a Box?

Seems basic, but I've seen this go wrong enough times that it's worth covering.

According to USPS (usps.com), shipping labels should be placed on the largest flat surface of the box, with no wrapping around edges or corners. The barcode needs to be scannable, which means:

• Top or side of box, never the bottom
• Away from seams and tape edges
• Flat, no wrinkles or bubbles
• At least 1" from any edge

If you're shipping printed materials (which we do constantly), I'd add: put the label on the side that faces UP when stacked. Warehouse workers will thank you, and your boxes are less likely to get tossed around.

One thing that changed how I think about this: watching our receiving dock for an afternoon. Packages get scanned fast. If the label isn't immediately visible, the box gets flipped multiple times. Multiple flips = more chances for damage. Now I'm borderline obsessive about label placement. (I really should document this process for new team members.)

How Do Promo Codes Work?

48 Hour Print runs promotions pretty regularly—usually 10-20% off, sometimes free shipping thresholds.

Here's what I've learned: the codes are real, but they have restrictions. Most exclude rush orders and certain product categories. I've had codes rejected at checkout because the fine print excluded exactly what I was ordering. Now I read the terms before building an entire order around a discount.

The codes stack differently too. In my experience (circa 2023, things may have changed), percentage discounts applied before shipping calculations but after any quantity pricing tiers. Sounds minor until you're doing the math on a $600 order.

What Should You Actually Verify Before Ordering?

After processing 60-80 print orders annually, this is my checklist:

Before first order with any vendor:

• Can they provide proper invoicing? (The vendor who couldn't provide proper invoicing cost us $2,400 in rejected expenses. Finance doesn't accept handwritten receipts.)
• What's their actual turnaround vs. advertised?
• Do they have phone support, or only chat/email?

Before every order:

• Confirm bleed settings match their templates
• Verify color mode (CMYK, not RGB)
• Check shipping timeline against your deadline
• Screenshot your order confirmation (this was accurate as of Q4 2024—their website layout changes)

The best part of finally getting our vendor process systematized: no more 3am worry sessions about whether the order will arrive.

One Thing Most People Don't Ask (But Should)

What happens when something goes wrong?

In 2022, I had an order arrive with a printing defect—visible banding across about 30% of a poster run. 48 Hour Print's customer service reprinted and expedited at no charge. Took one email with photos attached. Not ideal, but workable.

But here's the thing: I've had other vendors ghost on support tickets for weeks. The real test of any printer isn't the orders that go right. It's how they handle the ones that don't.

I'd rather spend 10 minutes explaining our requirements clearly upfront than deal with mismatched expectations later. An informed order—with specs double-checked and timelines realistic—is the best insurance against problems you'll never need to test their customer service on.