Golden Gate Print & Media Services

You found them — you can stop looking now. This is the place to go, and you won’t find better anywhere. These people simply care about quality — you know the kind: the best possible is the only option, like a personal value system. Contact them before you even have the design. They do that too, and well. I was really surprised that their prices could compete with the gigantic online guys with the crazy promotional prices, and their stuff is so much better.

Don and GGP has been great for us. We put on community events with our non-​profit and they have helped us with small to medium print jobs. On time and personable — they really are fantastic.

I recently used this company for my newly designed business cards. They were GREAT! They created more than one proof to be sure the colors came out correctly and I ended up choosing a higher quality color printing that I am very happy with. They seemed to go above and beyond to be sure I knew what I was ordering so that I was happy with it. I will definitely work with them on future printing projects.

My company gets things printed on a semi-​regular basis with Golden Gate Print & Media. Over the last 3 years we’ve always had good results with printing from Golden Gate Print. The quality of printing is excellent, they provide good customer service and timely communications.
When we’ve needed something special, they’ve been there for us.
A few months ago I needed some tickets for a Rotary charitable event and Don Asher, the owner, found me some gorgeous silver stock. GGPM is a large company so I was impressed that he could do that. Everyone commented on how beautiful the tickets were. More recently I needed programs printed quickly because of an unexpected event and GGPM printed them in 1 – 2 days and delivered to us.

I run a local business called Auto Glass Express and started using this print shop based on recommendations I got from other local business owners in my networking group. I had previously only ordered from online companies, thinking that I would get the best deal if I ordered online.
The first job I did with them was a reprint of our carbonless invoices, which they quoted at a significantly lower rate than what I had ordered online. Little did I know that the quote actually included a complete redesign of our invoice (with my permission), which I had previously designed in Word and saved as PDF. They took the invoice I sent them and made it much more professional looking, while still maintaining our «look» and logo. They delivered for free, and really spent far more time with me overall than I thought profitable for a relatively small job.
Service on subsequent jobs has been the same. When I went to them for a quote on what it would cost to get a wrap on our new work van, Scott at Golden Gate made some really useful suggestions, including the idea to add a «QR code» to the vehicle, our print media, etc. This is relatively new technology in the US, but it seems smart to get out ahead of a marketing tool that is already widespread in Europe and Japan.
I realized that I’m getting a lot more than a printing service out of these guys. I don’t know what most people go to a print shop for, but if you’re coming to them as a business owner, they have a much more comprehensive package of offerings than any other print shop I’ve dealt with before.
To sum it up: they’re local, they’ve got good rates, they’re union, they’re green, and all the people I’ve dealt with (Scott, Don, Amy) have been great. I highly recommend them!

I have been working with Golden Gate Litho for around 5 months now on some very large scale projects for a very large retail company here in the bay area. They are very professional and easy to work with. They go above and beyond to meet our deadlines.

These folks have the worst business practices I’ve seen. In fact, I wonder how they stay in business. The worst parts were their tardiness in communication (they take weeks to respond to email inquiries), their consistent billing errors; and the quality they delivered was totally sub-​par. Do not spend your money here.
Initially they were recommended by my designer who’s worked with them before (but no longer does, after my experience with them).
We had a business card order that needed to be ready by a certain date; I needed the cards for a conference. We had asked well ahead of time when they need the final design in order to have the cards shipped to me on time. They needed about a 4 or 5-​day lead time.
We submitted by the deadline, and I got the cards on time. That was the only thing that went right here.
The quality of the cards delivered was well below par and no better than what I could have done in an hour or so with a Kinko’s color printer for less. Their initial quote was $ 98. The overnight shipping (from Oakland to San Francisco) they charged me for $ 40 which I didn’t authorize, and I had communicated to my designer (although I don’t know if that reached Golden Gate Litho) that I would have picked them up myself.
Initially they agreed with us that the quality was unacceptable, but they offered no apology or explanation. They did offer to reprint a similar order for free, or one with a more high quality print technology for a discounted price.
We didn’t move on this for about 2 months, pending some redesign of the card.
All of a sudden they demanded payment, for a higher price than originally quoted, and the offer they extended to us for a free reprint had evaporated.
I told them I wanted a free reprint and would order a bigger order with them, but if they insisted on payment that I’d go elsewhere.
Eventually they agreed to a 50% discount, but the numbers never worked out. My inquiries and requests for a detailed accounting based on the initial quote were never replied to, and I only got emails like «amount such-​and-​such is unpaid and this needs to be resolved.»
No way to run a business. I’ve been very happy with
that we eventually used. Not only were they cheaper, they turned around quickly, quality was good, they’re environmentally friendly in the products they use, and I never needed to get involved.