#454 do over

During the past few weeks, we discovered a couple of small mistakes in our office.  A Shutterfly book with a caption that doesn't correspond to a picture.  A  batch of routine letters that were barely smudged during printing.  An order of note cards that came in with an ink color that is a few shades off from the official tone.

All these scenarios introduce the need for a judgment call:  do we save the time/money and "let it go" or do we utilize scarce resources to redo something that would probably be insignificant to most people?  And where do you draw the line: fixing things that are seen by an external audience?  Paying extra attention to items directly related to your branding? Leaving alone mistakes that do not alter the substance of the message?  Putting environmental interests above reprinting for perfection?

I guess as a general rule of thumb, if I catch a mistake, I take steps to correct it.  Reprint the book rather than have a year of visitors wonder what else we are sloppy about.  Use the note cards as scrap paper rather than let the brand standards become muddled.  

It is inevitable that mistakes will happen that you never see so you can't correct.  With that in mind, when you have the opportunity to do it right, fix the ones you catch.

-- beth triplett
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