10034 Staying in touch

Have you ever been out somewhere in Italy and met some nice expats and wished afterwards that you'd swapped contact details?
Or do you get tired of having to spell out your name and address for Italian bureaucrats?

Business cards are a great idea, and [url]www.vistaprint.it[/url] will send you 250 simple ones free (well, you pay €6 postage and taxes, but still). They also exist in the UK - [url]www.vistaprint.co.uk[/url]. (Before anyone asks, I'm in no way affiliated with vistaprint!) You could just print your own - cartolerias have the blank perforated sheets, although this would cost more.

Despite never managing to get rid of very many in the UK's more electronic communication culture, I find them really very handy here, where you tend to bump into interesting folk unexpectedly.

Category
Culture & Entertainment

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 09:13

And to also carry a wee note pad in case you need to write down something like an address or product details/some event advertised /whatever. I know you do Sue and thanks for that tip.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 13:03

You can always write on the back of the business cards, I leave the back of mine blank for just this purpose.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 13:19

Vista have been going for a while & they are excellent. We used them as a quick & easy to get our name known we we started TuscanHills & have kept using them since or other work.

Fast in efficient (in the UK, anyway!)

There are other, similar offers out there, but they tend to be UK based.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 07/24/2008 - 08:00

You can also get a local print shop to print them for you for about the same price, plus keeps the money local. I have designed my own using basic photo software that came with my digital camera and taken them in on a stick and had them done in a day or two in full color. Many shops will do some design for you if you need.

I used Vista before with good results though they came from Germany and had one box lost in the mail (what a surprise!)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 07/25/2008 - 19:25

Strongly disagree with above. Google "vistaprint" and "ripoff" before sending them your moolah...

[URL="http://villacasale.net/"][B]No Bidet[/B][/URL]

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 07/26/2008 - 03:50

For those in the Garfagnana/Val di Lima area, there is one of those DIY printing machines for cards just next to the escalator that gives access from the carparking to the shopping centre at the Leclerc/Conad hyper in Gallicano. It is quite possible that there would be similar facilities in other commercial centres. I remember that about 100 cards cost some 5 or 6 euros.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 07/26/2008 - 04:46

If you want to print your own, then you can get templates from the following places:
[url]www.office.microsoft.com/en-gb/templates/CT102532231033.aspx[/url]
Or this one which you may find even better and free!!!
[url=http://www.europe.avery.com/]Avery Europe[/url]

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 07/26/2008 - 11:31

[quote=stefanaccio;93685]Strongly disagree with above. Google "vistaprint" and "ripoff" before sending them your moolah...[/quote]

Worrying reading! I'll be keeping an eye on the bank statements from now on!

They have been good with my orders - when I queried a late arrival they got a replacement in the post double quick, for example, with many apologies.

I'm surprised so many say local suppliers are as cheap - last time I looked into it, admittedly a few years ago, local print shops were expensive for business cards. Will have to revisit them.