Waiting on Delivery
Designing a set of custom coins is an exciting experience. Our customers use them in all sorts of different scenarios and create any number of unique designs, but the one thing most orders have in common is a set deadline. Sometimes the events and ceremonies where our clients use custom coins come up last minute, and it’s for this reason Signature Coins puts so much emphasis on turnaround times and shipping methods. We want to make sure that all of our clients can eagerly wait for their coins, feeling confident that everything will be delivered with time to spare.
So, what is the typical production time for Signature Coins?
On most orders, delivery takes approximately 14 days or more. We include overnight shipping with every purchase at no additional charge, so as soon as a set of coins goes through quality control at our production facility, they will be delivered the following day. While this is our typical window for delivery, we can cut down production and delivery times even further in certain cases.
What’s the Deal With Rush Orders?
Publix Supermarket ordered the coins pictured below on July 11, 2018, and they were shipped just two days later! When customers are upfront about their deadlines, we can make rush orders like this work. Our art team can have multiple proofs of artwork completed on the same day, and our production team can take over once everything is approved.
For some other challenge coin companies, production time combined with standard shipping means that coins can take up to 12 weeks to deliver. A customer can pay for rush service, but prices go up exponentially when someone wants to get their coins in a reasonable amount of time. At Signature Coins, our standard shipping of 14 days or less is faster than the rush services of most coin suppliers. We are committed to getting our customers their custom coins as fast as possible without sacrificing quality or thoughtful design.
We treat every project as a rush order from the beginning, but there are still ways to make the production process move even faster, just like the Publix coins pictured above.
Designs Suited for Rushes
If you are looking for ways of speeding up the process, the best things to consider are a few crucial aspects of coin construction. The more complicated a design is, the more time it will take to develop. This can best be illustrated in the difference between 3D and 2D designs. 3D coins are going to have more intricate details on the coin face with both raised and recessed edges all over, so creating the digital CAD file of a 3D coin mold takes more time. Once a set of 3D coins are produced, they also need to go through the deburring process, where the rough edges and ridges are smoothed.
2D coins are easier to machine molds for, but still offer plenty of opportunity for detailed artwork. If getting a set of challenge coins fast is a priority, settling on a 2D design is the perfect place to start. Check out the comparison below to see the difference.
The next thing to consider when thinking about making production move along without delay is the inclusion of color in your design. The amount of color is not going to slow down production, so don’t feel guilty about making extra vibrant challenge coins. The number of individual colorfill areas is what slows down production. Take another look at the 3D Samurai above. Those intricate black lines in his red armor required careful attention to detail to get right during the color filling process. The last thing we want is for colors to bleed together or look inconsistent.
With that being said, we can move much faster when there are numerous colorfill areas but only one color because we do not need to worry about colors mixing.
A third consideration is coin size. There is really no difference in the time it takes to make any of our standard size coins (1.5” up to 3”). When a customer orders oversized coins, the minting process takes more time. As an example, when we made a 9” coin for the Marine Corps, our production team realized that the coin mold needed to make deeper impressions than normal for the details to stand out. It took several adjustments to get it just right.
How to Shorten Delivery Time
We have the best turnaround time in the industry. Our sales team, art team and production team all work together to make your ideas for design come to life as quickly as possible. No matter what kind of design a customer decides on ordering, our team will make sure the execution is perfect. But if you want to find ways to make production move faster, these are the important things to consider:
- Let us know your timeframe ASAP and we’ll take it from there!
- Choose a 2D design as opposed to a 3D design.
- Avoid complex designs with small areas that need to be colored individually.
- Choose a coin within our standard sizes of 1.5” to 3”.
- Keep a steady flow of communication with our sales team.
This last piece of advice may save more time than all the others. Crafting artwork relies heavily on input from each individual client, so one of the easiest ways of speeding up the process is making sure to provide consistent feedback on revisions. It’s our goal to have all artwork revisions completed within 24 hours, but sometimes our team gets a little backed up. Customers can let us know when they are in a rush, and our sales team will move their project to the front of the queue. We can have multiple revisions completed in the same day to get a project finished in as little time as possible.
Maintaining a steady stream of communication with our staff can save numerous days before production even starts. Our friendly sales team will always be happy to offer (and listen to) suggestions on how to make the process run smoother and faster as well. By following the simple suggestions listed above and being open about deadlines with our sales team, any customer can cut down the time it takes from ordering coins, to holding a finished product in their hand.
