Mug Quality issues - anyone else noticed a decline?

[galerion]

Thailand make their mugs differently to the Chinese so I would be really surprised if they switch the way they coat them to copy the Chinese.

[arthur.daley]

Hi All

I must admit that I had rather expected some of the suppliers to pitch in but so far only BMS has done so to promote a sales offer they were running - may have been deleted before most people saw it.

Ok, here we go. Rightly or wrongly the annecdotal results so far are that

Listawoods Durhams are now coated the right way up and suffer with over spray and in conversation with them I have been told 'thats the way they are going to be from now on' which is a real shame on many levels. I have been an advocate of Listawoods from the first mug I printed. Excellent company, so helpful even to amateurs who are never going to hit huge sales. The Duraglaze mugs were excellent quality, that said there has been the odd hiccup in supply and a few rogue mugs have slipped into circulation - but that happens to every supplier sooner or later and to give Listawoods credit if I have had a duff box of mugs they have replaced them without making a fuss. However, back to the current mug situation, I personally can't sell their new coating system Durhams to 90% of my clients. Even though there may be nothing actually wrong with the mug per se, as soon as you put your fingers in the mug to lift it up, it doesn't feel good, its not the old shiny finish they used to supply. It may not stain, but it has that surface texture that feels like its going to! As I have said before its all about perceived quality. Given that I get a lot of work by word of mouth recommendations I really don't want a single customer to pass on a negative comment especially regarding quality.

Coralgraph have been reported by one other forumite as having mugs that are not glossy inside but that they were quite matt. I have used Coralgraph in the past and apart from having quite a few breakages the mug coating was very good. Nice and even on the outside and no overspray on the inside.

The Magic Touch. I have some TMT orca durhams. They are nowhere near as bad as the Listawoods duraglaze. The inside is quite matt, but I don't think that is overspray, I think that is just the glaze on the body of the mug. Personally I wouldn't want to supply any of my commercial, repeat customers with the TMT mugs, they expect the same finish and quality that they have always had. I would use them for conference mugs. This does rather sound like damning them with feint praise which would be a bit unfair! However, TMT have close ties with Listawoods. Its no secret that TMT market some mugs that are supplied by Listawoods. I have heard anecdotally that TMT are considering moving to Listawoods for the supply of their Durhams - ie TMT would be selling duraglaze complete with the issues of the overspray. TMT said they still have or at least had orca coated durhams in their warehouse when I spoke to them a couple of weeks ago. They didn't say so but the implication was that they will not restock with orcas. I have a lot of time for TMT and have nothing but praise for Paul B, Nathan and Carl who just like Kris at TMT have the patience of saints when it comes to dealing with newbies wanting to make sure that the 100 quid they are about to spend is not going to be wasted. I don't know for sure that TMT hadactually seen the 'new' duraglaze mugs in the flesh when I spoke to them, I have no doubt they have seen some now and will be looking at them very carefully.

I can make no comment about any other suppliers and the quality of what they are offering, with the exception of Raja. I have just been to collect 10 boxes of their Wycombe sublimation mug - their equivalent to a durham style mug. So far they look like a good product, the body of the mugs looks good, no skew whiff handles, no breakages in the boxes (so far). The ones I have printed seem to be pretty straight top to bottom, certainly not enough to cause any problems with wrapping the paper around and keeping it parallel top and bottom - if you have never tried to print mugs with a taper on them, its a nightmare if your design has straight lines top and bottom, you can get away with a simple logo splashed across the middle of the mug but thats about it. A gross exaggeration would be trying to wrap a straight print around a Latte mug - try it! The Raja mugs seem to print well. I have no complaints about the quality or finish of the Rhino coating - only time will tell how well they last but at this point in time I have no reason to believe that they are likely to be 'short lived' due to sun exposure or going through a dishwasher. The price was also good. The downside to Raja was that they are not the same kind of supplier as Listawoods et al, in so much as they are more of a trade supplier. They are really geared up to shift mugs by the pallet rather than single boxes and you cant turn up on the doorstep clutching your 30 quid wanting to take a single box away there and then. They might have a box of mugs kicking around the office - in Sheffield but the stock is in a warehouse not far from Tamworth on the way to Burton, and it is just a warehouse operation. You have to have paid in advance, got the release documents before you turn up at the warehouse door - its not a spur of the moment thing when you find yourself passing by like it is with LW, TMT etc. Obviously they will deliver, they will deliver a single box if you REALLY want them to but carriage is not cheap - hence my collecting 10 boxes in the car when I went up to Grafityp in Tamworth.


So after all that rambling......................

So far there has been little evidence that ALL mug coating will move over to being done with the mug the right way up and consequently getting overspray on the inside, although I have to repeat that I was told that this would categorically be happening across the industry.

The only advice I can give you, regardless of who your supplier is and how good your LAST delivery was you still need to be concerned about the possibility of of your NEXT delivery being affected. There will be old stock of mugs all over the country plus abroad. However, we have no way of knowing what is in the next shipment coming in to the UK or in one case at least being coated in the UK. Should there be any truth in the rumour I have no doubt that a few opportunist salesmen will use this as an opportunity to sell you mugs with a pristine interior but that are actually B grade or seconds.

So you really should ask the question of your supplier "Will the mugs I am ordering now be the same quality as I have previously had from you, ie 'A Grade' mugs not B or seconds and that there will be NO overspray inside the mug, they will be nice and glossy inside, not matt?"

If in doubt ask for a sample from current warehouse stock - NOT the office sales stock unless they can categorically guarantee they are one and the same product with the same finish, ideally from the same shipment.

I have tried to be as fair as I can in this whole process and not to let any prejudices or favouritism sway any conclusions that I have drawn. I stand by everything I have posted.

I really hope that this all turns out to be rubbish and that production will carry on just as it always has but then again I also hope for world peace and to win the big one on the Premium Bonds. All are possible but ..................

It really would be nice if some suppliers would step up to the mark now - without trying to slip in a sales pitch that will probably just be deleted anyway, and to tell u s all exadctly what their situation is, what they know about future stocks and coating processes.



regards


Arthur

[Quinsfan]

Edit: Also wouldn't there be a health and safety issue or something with them being sprayed on the inside? I thought there was some issue with using plates to eat off which is why they are sold as decorative.

If the coating is not fit for human consumption then all our mugs would be an issue as they are coated up to the rim whether they are sprayed upside down or not.

[bms]

It really would be nice if some suppliers would step up to the mark now - without trying to slip in a sales pitch that will probably just be deleted anyway, and to tell u s all exadctly what their situation is, what they know about future stocks and coating processes.

To add to this debate I can confirm mugs are sprayed upside down, tooled in such a way as to prevent spray getting inside and mugs are smooth inside. Last batch delivered approx 7 days ago and confirmed as such. Production process also verified with suppliers to be the same as normal.

[arthur.daley]

thanks to BMS for a speedy reply

be interesting to see how many more replies there may be on Monday morning!


Arthur

[galerion]

If the coating is not fit for human consumption then all our mugs would be an issue as they are coated up to the rim whether they are sprayed upside down or not.

I had the impression that the reason mugs were different to plates was because of cutlery coming in to contact with the plate running the risk of the coating being damaged and consumed. So although a spoon is less likely to damage the coating than a knife it would be still possible over time with wear, also as it would be flaking of into your drink you would be far less likely to notice it and avoid consuming the fakes than if it was flaking on the outside.

[KathG]

OK been reading this with interest. We are only small producers of printed mugs buying a couple of boxes at a time.
But here is a rather simplistic question .....why on earth are they supposedly changing a system that worked to obviously a system that will provide an inferior product. I cannot see that spraying the mugs the other way up would save them anything in production costs....baffles the mind ��

[pisquee]

I cannot see that spraying the mugs the other way up would save them anything in production costs....baffles the mind ��

It's quicker, so more mugs per minute, so more mugs per $

[KathG]

Hi Pisquee sorry this brain of mine is getting old. How is it quicker? Not having ever seen the manufacturing process of the mugs I'm having a hard time understanding why. :biggrin: