by William Kenny

You see fast delivery canvas prints advertised a lot. But how fast is fast? Can some of the most impressive claims really be true?

With so many different claims made online, it’s hard to know who to trust. As an online canvas printing service who pride ourselves on our quick service, we wanted to shed some light on the issue.

The most important question is this: are the canvas prints mass-produced or are they unique personalised items?

The production model is different in each case. We’ll explain why personalised prints take a bit longer to reach your door.

And we’ll also discuss claims of “24 hour turnaround” for canvas prints, and whether you should be sceptical.

In this article:

• Mass Printing vs. Custom Canvas

• "24 Hour Turnaround" – Too Good to Be True?

• Shipping Times

• Delivery for Christmas

Mass Printing vs. Custom Canvas

All the canvas prints sold online can be divided broadly into two categories: mass-produced or customised.

Before you believe any claims of “fast delivery canvas prints”, you should think about which category the prints fall under.

Mass Printed Canvas

If you want a canvas print showing a famous painting or a film star, these prints will be mass-produced. There’ll usually be multiple prints waiting ready in the warehouse even before you place your order.

That means that the time it takes for your print to arrive depends mainly on the time it spends in transit. So fast delivery canvas prints are certainly possible if you’re buying a ready-made item.

Then again, if getting your hands on your print as soon as possible is your main priority, the quickest way might be to avoid the online market completely and simply buy your canvas on the high street!

Custom Printed Canvas

A custom or personalised canvas is a unique item. And before it can go anywhere, it needs to be made to order – more or less from scratch.

MYPICTURE is an example of a custom canvas provider. We sell personalised canvas prints: instead of using images from professional photographers, we print photos that our customers upload to our shop.

To give you an idea of how it’s done, here’s a brief run-through of our production process:

• Step 1: Image Processing. Once your image has been uploaded and you complete your order, our software analyses the image data and generates a print file which will decide all the details of colour gradation and ink saturation in your finished product.

• Step 2: Printing. Using state-of-the-art HP latex inks, we reproduce your photo on a pure-white sheet of real canvas material.

• Step 3: Framing. The printed canvas is trimmed and then wrapped over a pine stretcher frame so that it’s perfectly taut. This is done by hand.

Any high-quality custom print provider will need to go through this multi-stage process. So if you’re buying a custom canvas print with “fast delivery” claims, take this with a pinch of salt and do some research. Because you might find that the delivery isn’t as quick as they make out – or, even worse, that they’re compromising on quality during production.

But there are online providers who prove that you don't need to cut corners to achieve quick production times...  

Should You Believe Claims of a “24 Hour Turnaround”?

”Turnaround” doesn’t mean the time it takes for your print to arrive, but the time it takes before it’s ready for dispatch. If you’re ordering a mass-printed canvas, your print should indeed be ready to go within 24 hours. But could a custom print provider really have your order ready within 24 hours? 

Yes! Here at MYPICTURE we proudly offer a 24 hour turnaround as part of our custom canvas printing service.

With tens of thousands of custom prints produced every day, we combine the personal service of a cottage industry with the clockwork efficiency of a business juggernaut.

Here’s how we do it:

• Automation. Your photo is processed and sent to production automatically. That means our master craftsmen only need to finesse your print with the finishing touches.

• Streamlined production. Our state-of-the-art machinery is humming from first thing in the morning till late at night, and any delays and logjams between the different production stages have been cut to an absolute minimum.

• Reliable supply chain. We rely on an international network of material suppliers to make sure our stocks of HP latex ink, canvas material and pine stretcher bars never run too low.

To our knowledge, we’re the only custom canvas provider who can reliably make this 24-hour claim.

Shipping Times

Whether a canvas is custom-made makes little difference to how it’s delivered. Realistically any provider will choose one of two methods for getting prints to your door: either local mail services or a courier service. Any print provider promising fast delivery should use a respected courier service for your peace of mind.

At MYPICTURE, shipping for nearly all our canvas prints is handled by UPS.

Our production and delivery times are as follows:

Production time: 1 working day

Shipping time: 3-5 working days

Total delivery time: 4-6 working days

Canvas Print Delivery at Christmas

A word of caution. We all know that the Christmas period is special. And that doesn’t apply just to rules about mistletoe, it applies to delivery services too!

If you’re ordering canvas prints in December, you can expect things to take a bit longer. So the usual advice applies: if you want to make sure your prints arrive by Christmas, order early because of the festive rush.

​

How early, exactly? Well, both the production and the delivery team will be working at full capacity, so it’s best to be cautious and allow for a few days of delay both in the factory and in transit. And if your print arrives very early, no harm done!

Responsible providers should help you out here by stating a guaranteed delivery deadline. You can check the MYPICTURE deadlines here. Order on or before the date shown and you’ll be able to breathe easy!

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