I think I just shocked a Staples employee (about cardstock)

I tried to get mine done at Staples and was not impressed. They quoted me a price that was way higher than I had been led to expect and the cuts weren't great. It was a while back. I decided not to bother in the future and cut it myself sheet by sheet at home. I can't remember the price that Staples told me but I'm pretty sure it was more than $10. They ended up charging me less than they quoted me but it didn't seem like the guy knew what he was doing.

The library I used to work at had a cutting machine that could've done it in a jiffy but I never managed to figure out how to use it. I should've gotten one of the PR/graphics people to show me, but since it was for personal use I didn't think I should waste their time.

Kristie Marcotte buys boxes of cardstock reams and has them cut, maybe at a professional printing service. I don't think they'd be surprised (unless they found out it was for handmade cards). Staples shouldn't be surprised but I suspect their staff are very young and under-trained.

Well good to know some of these chain office supply stores aren't necessarily going to do a good job. Seems very sloppy for something that should not be an unusual job for them.

I buy 12x24 size black 110 lb weight card stock from Staples in 144 sheet amounts and they have always cut it to 12x12 for free for me. For the last 18 years. My guess is the employee didn’t know what you wanted or understood weights of card stock and the high fee may be because you are bringing in from outside?

I brought in a ream of Neenah to have Staples cut into quarters. I copied Jennifer McGuire and drew the lines on the top piece of paper, exactly into quarters. They did a terrible job cutting it - it was uneven and off-centre. I can't remember the price, I just know I won't bother having them do it again.

I learned my lesson, and I never use Staples, Office Max or any other big box office supply store. All of these shops in my area use a laser cutter and it cuts at an angle, so the further down through the stack you get the more off the cuts of paper. The only place I take it is to FedEx/Kinkos.

Very interesting. In my department at work, we have an in-house print shop. The supervisor of that unit is a scrapbooker, so I’m sure she’ll let one of the team members do a cut or two for me. It never dawned on me to do this until reading this thread. Thanks everyone!!
And I have seen the cutting machine. It looks like it can cut through 3 reams at a time. And it holds the paper super tight, so it doesn’t move. When we go back to the office (sometime after January), I’ll give it a try.