Selecting a photography printing lab can be extremely cumbersome. The ideal lab would have a varied selection from standard prints to buttons for sports teams. There are many professional printing labs available and I have tried several of them. However, the actual product is not what sets the competition apart as the end result can be extremely similar when comparing between labs.
During my comparisons, I selected Miller’s Professional Imaging as a candidate. According to their website, Miller’s is considered the largest professional lab organization in the United States. They provide professional printing and press products to all fifty states and Canada. They have developed a reputation for having the highest quality products, customer service, and technologies in the industry, all of which have contributed to becoming the preferred lab of professional photographers nationwide.
After experimenting with various labs locally and across the country, Miller’s became my primary lab for three specific reasons: Service, Quality, and Delivery.
Reason 1: Service
From the moment that I registered with Miller’s lab, the customer service began. They provided me with a well-defined help area on their website to understand how to utilize their service. They were patient over the phone when verifying details regarding printing for a team. They are hands on to the point that they offer remote support to help you with their software if needed. The service representative that I was in communication with was extremely pleasant and easy to work with. It felt as if it were natural for her to go above and beyond with the assistance needed which is extremely impressive to me.
Reason 2: Quality
Quality is probably 1a among factors in choosing a professional lab. This is due to the fact that it takes a lot of a photographer’s time to enhance and retouch images from a typical portrait session. Moreover, that time can instantly double when creating composites and posters for a sports team. It can be extremely disappointing to hear from a customer when they receive their order in flimsy packaging causing the prints to be damaged. What I have found with Miller’s is that is not acceptable and would never be a factor from the packaging they use. For example, one of my recent projects involved creating a championship banner for a youth athletic team. The packaging in which the product was delivered was so solid that it would take something short of a catastrophe to damage the product.
This brings me to the actual product. The championship banner was of among the best quality that I have seen if you exclude professional sports teams, including the grommet holes so that the only thing that will concern the team is finding a location to hang the banner.
Not only was the product of the highest quality, the product was packaged with care and delivered to my doorstep as if I placed a rush order.
Reason 3: Delivery
What I really dislike is the “How’s it going?” email. What I have learned is that is a customer’s polite way of asking “Where is my stuff?” When it comes to Miller’s lab, I would argue it is the most popular lab of high volume photographers considering the type of photographers they serve. Plenty of photography organizations that cover school districts use Miller’s which is proof enough to me that turnaround time is not much of a concern.
Through my experience I can say that not only has the turnaround time been exceptional, but Miller’s lab typically delivers faster than the 3-5 days that I’m accustomed to with other labs. Not only are the items delivered as quick as a rush order, they are also packaged with care with zero damage to the actual product.
As a whole, I’ve learned through using various labs that quality can sometimes come at the sacrifice of speed and vice versa. This is simply not the case with Miller’s. There may be times that Miller’s isn’t my first choice, but it will not be due to a lack of service, quality, or delivery. It will only be due to them maybe not having a particular item that I may need to satisfy one of my orders.
