True, this is not something that can always be controlled, but remember that printers or bureaux aren’t lifeguards either – it’s not their job to save lives when people are in trouble.

Apart from testing the patience of prepress operators, ringing prepress people every ten minutes to see if the artwork is ready to collect does not make it go any faster. If the artwork does have a specific deadline, contact the production manager in the printer or bureau (not just the sales representative or receptionist) in advance and make sure that they can have the job done by the deadline. This is worth doing in case their machinery is down or if they are inundated with work.

Also, make sure once the artwork is submitted that it unmistakably clear on the order form the time it is required by (some bureaux have a two hour turnaround policy, but it is normally two hours from the time that the prepress operator begins to output the file, not two hours from when the file was submitted).