(Free) Custom Printed Crown Caps

[Chippy_Tea]

The image I've put on has come out really well, although they may be off centre slightly, but overall I like them.

This email was posted by Covrich earlier in the thread.

Delivery Times

This one effected almost everyone. We opened a Royal Mail account to make posting the packages easier, however there was an issue with some of the documentation on the account. Instead of telling us about it, Royal Mail decided to wait until we found out about it from our customers asking where the orders were. Once we enquired it was a quick fix for the paper work and the orders came out of Royal Mails vortex and were delivered. We can only apologise for this and can say that it was simply a problem that won't happen again.

Alignment

This is one of the things we've had the most problems with, when printing in bulk we have found that the movement of the printer is moving the caps and the initial jigs we had made were unable to keep the caps steady. We have ordered a multitude of different jigs at great expense to fix this issue. We currently have a jig that has almost completely fixed the issue, however we are continuing to invest in better jigs to completely sort the issue and will have this fixed by the time we launch at the end of October.

Stickiness/Blurriness/Smudging
Some people found that the printed design was either blurred/smudged or they had a sticky texture to the top of the cap, this issue is completely our fault and is down to our order processing procedures. These have now been changed and the issue will not happen again. To explain, we trialled a gloss on some orders to increase the durability of the print, however this was not given enough time to fully cure and the pressure placed onto the caps from the packaging caused the images to blur and the gloss adhere to the paper liner in between layers. Again, one we realised what was happening we were able to fix this easily.

Image Size
We made an error with the sizing of our online order generator allowing people to believe we would print right up to the very edge of the crown cap. Again this is entirely our fault and has now been addressed to better manage expectations of the design. We are able to print up to the very edge of the caps, however as with any design process we need a "bleed" area. Normally with paper this is there to get rid of any alignment issues caused by the printer by having an extra area around the design that can be trimmed off to re-centre the image. Obviously this is impossible to do with a crown cap as we can't cut anything away. As we refine our process and get better jigs to make sure alignment is perfect every time, we will increase the size of the printed area gradually to the edge of the caps.

Packaging
We trialled a few different types of packaging on the sample orders and had the biggest problems with the "Amazon Style" cardboard wraps. These were used as the it allowed us to send the caps as a 'Large Letter' with Royal Mail (Our attempts to keep costs down for you), however as mentioned above these caused issues with a protective layer we used and also several people ended up with "cap bombs" as they ripped open the packing to find the caps flinging all over the place. We'll go with other packaging however it may mean a slight increase in postage costs due to having to send them as 'Small Parcels'. We'll look at this and have it fixed by the time we launch.

Durability
This caused a few issues as mentioned earlier. We sent some caps out with a coating on and some caps without. We've tested the caps ourselves and found them to be very durable with sterilisation and washing techniques that we've tried. We're well aware that if you take a knife to the image it will scratch (though we don't believe this is a common occurrence most people will face). We haven't found issues whilst capping and our images have been fine with our tests, but we welcome your feedback over the coming month so that we can address any issues ready for launch.

Colours
Some people have raised concerns that colours are not the same on the print as they are on screen. This is due to your screen (whether its a computer/laptop/phone or tablet) being displayed using RGB (lots of small red, green and blue dots). All printers use CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black/key) the difference in ink use means that exact reproduction of on screen colours is impossible. As stated on the design page we recommend that you click the download button and print off your design at home so that you can see how it looks once printed - this will also allow you yo see if any text is legible.

Again, if anyone has experienced any of these issues then we are more than happy to refund your costs - simply get in touch and speak with us - we're not monsters!

We are aware that several people have voiced their concerns in the many home brew forums and Facebook groups, that is entirely your choice and we welcome any and all feedback both good and bad, however we would like to say that these sample orders were there to route out these problems before we launch so that we can ensure they don't happen going forward.

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[BeardySi]

Quick update, mine arrived today despite not being updated on the site. Caps look good at first look but I haven't had a chance to look too closely.
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I also ordered labels and they look great. They're self adhesive so we'll see what they're like coming off again in a few weeks.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

[jceg316]

I've not tried using them in star San yet, but hopefully the paint issue has been resolved.

I'm not bothered if it's that centered, right now it's good enough and it's not like I'm selling my beers for money, it's a nice touch on my brew for bottles I give away to friends.

 

[Leon103]

I ordered some more of these. The quality is better but still various marks etc on them.

They lack consistency. I suppose they are ok if you want to pimp up your homebrew but not for commercial breweries. I will use a few on each brew for giveaways etc.

The thing that pissed me off most is they failed to live up to their promise of free caps. Originally I ordered extra but after the poor print I sent an email and they offered a refund, I said they could keep the money but could I have free caps if I ordered again. So they improved their print, I emailed reminding them and they said if I paid postage they would send 100 caps, I was to email them my order number which I did but I have only received 50 caps.

 

[Badseed1974]

I ordered some more of these. The quality is better but still various marks etc on them.

They lack consistency. I suppose they are ok if you want to pimp up your homebrew but not for commercial breweries. I will use a few on each brew for giveaways etc.

The thing that pissed me off most is they failed to live up to their promise of free caps. Originally I ordered extra but after the poor print I sent an email and they offered a refund, I said they could keep the money but could I have free caps if I ordered again. So they improved their print, I emailed reminding them and they said if I paid postage they would send 100 caps, I was to email them my order number which I did but I have only received 50 caps.

I've had two batches off them and the 2nd one I couldn't fault.

They're a new company ironing out some teething problems, considering that they cost buttons, is it really worth kicking up a fuss for a few free caps?

 

[Leon103]

I've had two batches off them and the 2nd one I couldn't fault.

They're a new company ironing out some teething problems, considering that they cost buttons, is it really worth kicking up a fuss for a few free caps?

Not really kicking up a fuss just sharing my experience. The new ones are perfect, some have marks on, some are blurred, some are off centre etc. I was happy just to put it down to experience but they offered my free caps. At £6 for 50 caps they aren't really peanuts either.

 

[Badseed1974]

Not really kicking up a fuss just sharing my experience. The new ones are perfect, some have marks on, some are blurred, some are off centre etc. I was happy just to put it down to experience but they offered my free caps. At �£6 for 50 caps they aren't really peanuts either.

Fair enough, I just wouldn't like new customers to be put off as I think the new caps they're making are really good and good value for money.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I have just linked to this old thread from one posted earlier today, out of interest did anyone else order some and how was the quality?

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[Leon103]

I had a second batch for free after they made all those changes. A lot better and this time I added an image which came out well. I believe they have now put their prices up so I am not sure I will order again.

 

[Leon103]

Hi Guys,

Apologies about the lack of response on here - i try to make sure i stay within the rules of forums and don't post self promoting posts.

I appreciate all the feedback here and i do read it (i just don't get much time to reply!).

In response to a few things quickly:
- We are a new business and we are ironing out all of our teething problems, we are getting better every day, but if theres ever a problem then contact us and let us know!
- We have recently put our prices up slightly but we also started a loyalty scheme so anyone who wants to use our service regularly and not just for one offs will potentially be able to get their printed caps even cheaper than they could before.
- We also introduced tiered pricing so that the prices go down witht he more you order and allowed for very low volume numbers of labels to be bought for those special gifts you may want to give.

We've got other things on the horizon but i won't go into them as i don't want to promote.

Regards,

Lee
Your Brew

It is good to hear about the loyalty scheme, that will help a lot. Really happy with the second lot of caps. Will have to have a look at your labels. :thumb: