laserable flasks

[Glen Monaghan]

Any suggestions on a good source for laserable black flasks? The place I ordered from sent a box that had about 50% of the flasks suffering from chipped powder coat or light coat (looked shiny gray in bright light rather than matte black). I returned the defective ones and they replaced them, but those had about 30% with chips and/or drips and/or shiny marks on the otherwise matte finish. So I again returned the defective ones and customer service told me that they'd check the replacements this time. Well, guess what... different flasks with a shiny rather than matte finish, but about 50% have drippy finishes!

So I'm looking for a distributor that has better QC because it's silly to take 4 tries to get a good set!

[Mary Geitz]

I just ordered some matte black flasks from JDS and they are perfect. I haven't engraved them yet, but they are as described by JDS.

[Tim Bateson]

I 2nd JDS. All I have ordered have been consistent. About 4 dozen last year - most were Black. Hint - Buy this next weekend & get the Indianapolis NBM Show discount.

[Glen Monaghan]

Perplexing... I didn't mention the supplier I used, but it was the same JDS Mary and Tim recommend as being "perfect" and "consistent" (although Tim didn't actually say what that means to him). My experience has been very inconsistent... I had a box with 50 flasks that were nearly perfect, maybe 1 or 2 flasks with small chips, but I generally found about 20-30 percent of the flasks had chips, runs, blobby inclusions, light paint, and/or significant shiny rub marks in the matte finish. They said they would check the latest replacements and 5 out of 10 in the first box I opened had runs in the paint (example in 3rd picture below)...

Shiny smudges on the older matte finish flasks:
290944
The powder coat paint on this flask got rubbed/streaked before being cured:
290945
Example of a drippy finish in the latest, shiny-finished flasks:
290946
And this one has a drip, plus circled are several inclusions of dirt and fuzz that got caught in the paint before curing, as well as a small chip outlined in the rectangle at right:
290947

Maybe I'm jinxed... one box of replacements they sent me had already been returned to them (the return label had been cut from the box, a new label to me was taped on, and somehow they managed to drop the cut-away return label into the box so I could tell who had returned it and when. Customer service says that should never happen, but it is the 2nd time I am certain that I got someone's returns (I found a note about why a product was returned in a previous order).

[Tim Bateson]

Your post doesn't give your location, but I hope it's a different warehouse than I deal with. About 90% of my stock, including all of the flasks I've purchased came from the Detroit warehouse. In 7+ years dealing with JDS, I have never (knock on wood) had your issues. I've had a few broken crystals as well as a whole box of Rowmark that looked as though it had been impaled clean through, but not someone else's flawed returns.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

While I have not ordered the flasks from JDS, for about 8 years now, I have had a problem with their alder wood frames arriving with scratches UNDER the finish, dents, or loose corners. This means the frames left the Thailand factory that way and it did not happen in transport. While JDS has been great about replacing them, it's really a hassle because often times the "inspected" replacements arrive with flaws. I can't blame the warehouse workers because they are not working with the best lighting to see the flaws. (The scratches in the frames are best-viewed when looking at the frames in natural daylight.) Typically 1/4 to 3/4 of each case of frames arrive with significant enough flaws in such odd locations that I cannot engrave over the scratch to hide the flaw. The 8x10's are the worst and contain the most scratches UNDER the finish, followed by the 5x7's and then the 4x6's. Once again, JDS's customer service has been fantastic about replacing them, but it is very frustrating to have to deal with the same issue on every single order, from multiple warehouses, for all these years now. :(

Here's a picture of some scratches in an 8x10. Resizing the photo for the forum made it not as easy to see. It's much more obvious in person.

[Mary Geitz]

I order mine out of Chicago. I did get some red flasks that had some discoloration and blotches, so I was going to send them back. I took a swipe at them with Novus plastic cleaner and that took the imperfections right off. I'm happy because sending things back is a time consuming pain in the neck for which I do not get paid.

[Glen Monaghan]

Tim, either you're lucky or I'm unlucky because we're pulling from the same warehouse.

[Glen Monaghan]

I'd really like a product that can be taken from the packaging, engraved, repacked and shipped. Wouldn't even mind wiping with a cleaner now and then but that doesn't remove the paint drips, inclusions, chips or scratches.

It is very unpleasant to pre-inspect each and every piece before going to the engraver and finding so many flaws that you begin to dread opening the next box. And I hate complaining and returning the product time and again but I can't sell them either. Thinking that maybe I was being too picky, I engraved and shipped some of the flasks with shiny marks and had to re-do them when I got a complaint that they looked rubbed and worn. Had to redo another because I'd missed a couple of chips on the bottom.

Anybody have any other sources of laserable flasks?

[Ross Moshinsky]

QC is an issue with cheap stuff. It's just a fact. It's not just Chinese stuff. The American produced products have QC issues too. Victory's QC is absolutely horrible and they are a US company. The reality is you just have to anticipate issues.

It's very rare that I don't order an extra of something. I do this being a 1 day ship from almost all of my vendors and will call for 3 of the largest awards/trophy distributors in the industry.

[Tim Bateson]

Tim, either you're lucky or I'm unlucky because we're pulling from the same warehouse.

According to my wife, I am very lucky. :D Too bad that luck doesn't apply to Lottery tickets. :p
The few "minor" imperfections that I have seen (nothing like the drip you showed) were covered/removed by the engraved graphics.

[Martin Boekers]

I have only had a consistent quality issue with just a few of JDS products, mainly the wine boxes and the line of gift
items that has the satin rosewood finish. If I wanted to I could "Pick apart" most of the pieces. The problem is that
my clients love them! They are cheaply priced so a decent mark up... :) It has gotten to the point that I show the client the piece
before I engrave it to make sure they are ok with it. Most are sometimes I think I am too picky. Other times I have to sit back and
say you're only paying so much for this...you get what you pay for....

If you're looking for a different supplier try a vendor that sell promo products, most ASI supplier will sell to you now without a membership.
Most all sell blanks at a good discount.

But, by all means if you ever have consistent issues with a particular product let JDS know... They will work to find out why this is happening
if enough people have issues with it.

[Mike Audleman]

Is this the JDS yall speak of?
www.jdsmarketing.net

[Tony Lenkic]

Mike, this JDS............

http://www.jdsindustries.com/homepage.htm

[Mike Audleman]

Mike, this JDS............

http://www.jdsindustries.com/homepage.htm

Bummer, only sell to retailers.

[Tony Lenkic]

Mike,

I'm one man operation and they sell to me up in Canada. My operation is B2B (business to Business).

[Mike Audleman]

Thats odd. Their site indicates they only sell to award type businesses.

JDS Industries sells only to retail stores in the awards and recognition trade.
Anyway, I am not a business, just a home hobyist. I am probably the guy they want to weed out ;)

I was looking at their wood USB drives. The girls need them for school and I thought I would laser the school logo on it and their names.
http://php.jdsindustries.com/JDS_SITE/site1.php?D3ID=574&D2ID=94&D1ID=11&D1DESC=Gifts%20&%20Engravables&D2DESC=USB%20Flash%20Drives&D3DESC=Wooden%20USB%20Drives&ITEM=4MEM003&SITE=ITEMINFO&MENU2=MENU2

Instead, I just ordered 5 of these (331006278026) off ebay for $8.80 ea. I liked the ones at JDS as they appear to have a keychain loop they could attach to their backpacks. There were cheaper ones direct from China but I need them before the end of the month (school starts) and I couldn't wait for the shipping time.

I may go into the school and talk to the principal about some things, this being one of them. I may see if they want to strike a deal up where I can make the school logo'd USB drives for sale to the students who want/need them and the school can get a cut to help with the budget. Its a private school so it avoids the issues of the public schools' gov run bureaucracy. If they want to do that, clearly not this year, I can order the cheaper ones from China earlier next year and whip up a jig to logo many at once.

I picked up pencils when walmart had them on sale for $0.47 for 20. I put the girl's names on them and the school logo. I also put a mustache on Serena's (she's into mustaches lately as a fad). I have already run batches of pencils for 4 of their friends already so I smell an opportunity here.