Industry Trends

Your GotPrint Questions Answered: Discounts, Foam Board, Brochures & More

Your GotPrint Questions Answered: Discounts, Foam Board, Brochures & More

I've been handling print orders for a 45-person company since 2020—roughly $12,000 annually across 6 vendors. These are the questions I get from colleagues constantly, plus a few things I wish someone had told me earlier.

How do I find working GotPrint coupon codes in 2025?

Here's what actually works (and what doesn't). GotPrint runs promotions directly on their site—usually visible on the homepage or in a banner. I've had the best luck with:

• Signing up for their email list (they send codes pretty regularly)
• Checking their site around holidays—Black Friday, end of quarter
• Looking at the checkout page itself; sometimes there's an active promo already applied

What doesn't work: random coupon aggregator sites. I wasted 20 minutes in January 2024 trying codes from three different "coupon sites." Zero worked. The codes were either expired or never real. Now I go straight to the source.

One thing I learned the hard way: promo codes usually can't be combined with sale pricing. If an item's already discounted, the code field might accept your entry but won't actually reduce the total. Check your cart total before and after applying.

Is there a GotPrint promo code for free shipping?

Sometimes. Free shipping codes do exist, but they're not always available. In my experience, they're more common on larger orders or during specific promotions.

Here's what I've noticed (based on orders from 2023-2024): free shipping thresholds tend to kick in around $75-100+ for standard delivery. Rush shipping almost never gets the free treatment—and honestly, that's fair. The logistics of 2-day turnaround cost real money.

If shipping cost matters a lot for your project, it's worth comparing the total cost (product + shipping) against local options. For a 500-piece business card order, online usually wins. For 50 flyers needed tomorrow? Your local shop might be cheaper when you factor in same-day pickup.

What's the deal with white foam board 20 x 30?

This size is pretty standard for signage, presentations, and displays. GotPrint offers foam board printing, though you'll want to verify the exact dimensions available—"20 x 30" is common, but not every printer stocks every size.

A few things I've learned about foam board orders:

Thickness matters more than you'd think. 3/16" is lightweight (good for temporary displays), while 1/2" has real rigidity. I once ordered the thinner option for a trade show easel display. It warped slightly under the venue's lights. Not catastrophic, but annoying. Now I default to thicker stock for anything that needs to stand on its own.

File resolution is critical. At 20x30 inches, you need high-resolution artwork—typically 150-300 DPI at final size. That's a big file. The image that looked fine on your business card will look pixelated blown up to poster size. (Ask me how I know.)

What does "cup of coffee for your head" even mean?

I'll be honest—I had to look this one up. It's not a printing term. It's actually a reference to a Garbage song from 1998 ("Cup of Coffee"). If you're searching this in a printing context, you might've landed on the wrong page.

That said, if you're designing something music-themed or creating lyric art, GotPrint does posters, canvas prints, and similar products that work well for that kind of project.

How do I create a brochure in Word without a template?

This comes up constantly. Someone in marketing needs a quick tri-fold, doesn't have InDesign, and asks if Word can do it. The answer: yes, but expect some frustration.

Here's the basic approach:

1. Go to Layout → Orientation → Landscape
2. Layout → Columns → Three
3. Adjust margins to about 0.5" all around
4. Add column breaks (Layout → Breaks → Column) to control where content flows

The tricky part is understanding panel order. For a tri-fold that folds inward:

• Page 1: Left panel = inside left, Middle = inside middle, Right = inside right
• Page 2: Left panel = back cover, Middle = back panel, Right = FRONT COVER

It took me three attempts to get this right my first time. I kept putting the front cover content in the wrong panel. Print a test on regular paper and actually fold it before sending anything to production.

The catch with Word brochures: the file you create won't be print-ready in the professional sense. You'll likely need to export as PDF, and you won't have bleed areas built in. For a quick internal piece or draft, it's fine. For 500 client-facing brochures? Consider using actual design software or at least using a template as your starting point—despite the question saying "without template," templates exist because they solve real problems.

What most people forget to check before ordering

This isn't a question anyone asks, but it should be. After processing 60-80 print orders annually for five years, I've built a 12-point checklist that's saved us an estimated $8,000 in potential reprints. The items that catch errors most often:

• Phone numbers and URLs. Actually call the number. Actually type the URL. I once approved a proof with a transposed digit in our main phone line. 2,000 business cards. $340 wasted.
• Color mode. Your file should be CMYK, not RGB, for print. RGB files often look duller than expected when printed.
• Bleed settings. If your design goes to the edge, you need bleed (typically 0.125" extra on each side that gets trimmed off). No bleed = white edges where you didn't want them.

5 minutes of verification beats 5 days of waiting for a reprint. I learned that the expensive way—three times—before I finally made the checklist non-negotiable.

Should I use GotPrint or go local?

Depends on what you're optimizing for. In my experience with 200+ orders, here's how I think about it:

GotPrint (and online printers generally) work well for:

• Standard products—business cards, flyers, brochures, posters
• Quantities from 100 to 5,000+
• When you have 5-7 days of lead time
• Price-sensitive projects where you're comparing across vendors

Local makes more sense when:

• You need it today or tomorrow
• You want to see a physical proof before committing
• The job involves unusual materials or custom finishing
• Quantity is under 50 (shipping costs eat into online savings)

The conventional wisdom is "always get three quotes." My experience suggests that relationship consistency often beats marginal cost savings—but for a new product or large order, comparing makes sense. Just factor in your time. Spending 2 hours to save $30 isn't actually a win.

To be fair, online printers have improved turnaround times significantly. Rush options exist. But "rush" online still means overnight shipping at best. If your event is in 6 hours, that's a local problem with a local solution.