Why I Switched to 4imprint for Custom Lanyards and Lapel Pins (and What I Learned About Transparent Pricing)

The Day the Lanyards Arrived with the Wrong Logo

It was October 2022. Our annual sales kickoff was five weeks out, and I had placed what I thought was a straightforward order with a vendor I'd used before: 800 custom lanyards for name badges. The price looked solid—about $1.60 per lanyard, or so I thought. They showed samples with our logo, and everything seemed fine.

When the box arrived, I felt that sinking feeling you get when you know something's off before you even open it. The logo was misaligned—like it hadn't been centered properly during printing. Worse, the snap hooks were a different design than the one in the sample. I called the vendor, and they blamed it on "a printer calibration issue." They offered a reprint at 40% off, but I'd miss the event deadline. I ended up scrambling to buy stock lanyards at a local store and had a friend with a heat press fix them after hours. The whole ordeal cost roughly $400 extra and about 12 hours of my life I'll never get back.

That's when I started taking vendor reviews more seriously. And that's how I found 4imprint.

Starting from Scratch: My Vendor Audit

When I took over purchasing in early 2020, I inherited a list of about 12 vendors for different needs—promotional products, office supplies, print materials. I was processing roughly 60-80 orders a year, and the top complaint from our VPs was inconsistency. One vendor's "custom" would look professional; another's would look like a DIY project. I had zero time to baby-sit each order.

After the lanyard fiasco, I decided to consolidate where I could. For promotional items—things like lapel pins, custom lanyards, notebooks, tote bags, and occasionally 4imprint custom footballs for client giveaways—I needed a supplier that could handle multiple product types without making me re-explain specs every time.

I started looking at reviews online. That's when I noticed a pattern: 4imprint reviews kept popping up for custom lanyards, name badges, and even those little lapel pins that HR loves for service awards. The reviews weren't perfect—some mentioned longer-than-expected turnaround on certain products—but they were specific. People talked about pricing, customer service response times, and whether the finished product matched the proof. That specificity told me the reviews were real.

The 4imprint Custom Lanyards Test

I placed my first small order: 50 custom lanyards with our logo, plus 100 lapel pins for a department recognition event. Honestly, I was nervous after my last experience. I double-checked every spec three times.

What surprised me wasn't the quality—which was fine—but the pricing transparency. When I got the quote, there was a line for "setup fee" and a line for "shipping." That was it. No hidden charge for "artwork review" or "digital proof." I compared it to a competitor's quote for the same spec, and the competitor's base price was about 12% lower, but when I added up all the fees, 4imprint was actually cheaper overall. That's when I realized the value of the advice I'd heard: The vendor who lists all fees upfront—even if the total looks higher—usually costs less in the end.

To be fair, there are situations where a cheaper online printer makes sense. For example, if you need a massive run of standard business cards and have a long lead time, some discount printers can save you money. But for custom promotional items with logo work? The hidden costs eat you alive.

Project Consolidation: My 2024 Vendor Reduction

Last year, our VP of Operations asked me to cut the vendor list from 12 to 5. I had to consolidate orders for about 400 employees across three locations. That's a lot of different needs: custom lanyards for building security IDs, lapel pins for five-year service awards, branded journals for new hires, and yes, some 4imprint custom footballs for a client appreciation event.

Using 4imprint for as many of these as feasible simplified my workflow significantly. Instead of sending specs to three different vendors and waiting for separate proofs, I had one portal, one account manager, and one set of expectations. The ordering process dropped from about 2 hours per vendor per order to about 40 minutes for a consolidated order. Our accounting team saved maybe 6 hours a month on invoice reconciliation.

There was one hiccup. On a batch of custom journals, the color came out slightly darker than the proof. I called customer service, and they offered a reprint with a priority turnaround at half price. I accepted, because the deadline was manageable. Honestly, I'm not sure why some vendors consistently match proofs and others don't. My best guess is it comes down to how they calibrate their printers and whether they check against Pantone values. But the fact that 4imprint owned the issue immediately—instead of blaming "monitor variations"—made a difference for me.

What About Those Specific Needs? Lanyards, Lapel Pins, Name Badges

Let me talk about a few specific products since people search for these a lot.

Custom Lanyards: For everyday use, a standard polyester lanyard with a safety breakaway and a metal hook holds up well. For high-traffic events like trade shows, I'd recommend a wider, more durable material. 4imprint offers both. I've ordered about 600 lanyards from them over the past year, and the quality consistency is good. Not perfect, but good. The print alignment is reliable, which is my baseline.

Lapel Pins: These are tricky because they involve metal, enamel, or soft enamel finishes. And if you're using them for service awards, employees notice the details. My tip: pay for the hard enamel option if you want them to look professional. The soft enamel has a slightly recessed finish that some people dislike. 4imprint's ordering process for these is straightforward—you upload a logo, choose the size and finish, and they send a digital proof. Turnaround was about 10 business days for my order, which was fine.

Name Badges: This might be the most undervalued product category. For internal use, magnetic backings are a must if people wear dress shirts. I had no idea until I heard complaints about pin holes in silk blouses. 4imprint lets you select magnetic backings at checkout. Simple, but a game-changer for employee satisfaction.

The Bigger Lesson: Transparent Pricing Builds Trust

If I could redo that decision with the first vendor, I'd invest more time upfront understanding their pricing model. But given what I knew then—which was essentially nothing about the hidden fees—I was choosing based on the lowest visible price. That's a common mistake.

It's tempting to think you can just compare unit prices, especially when you're on a tight budget. But identical specs from different vendors can result in wildly different outcomes because of setup fees, shipping costs, and rush charges. I've learned to ask, "What's not included?" before asking "What's the price?" More often than not, the vendor who's upfront about everything ends up costing less in total.

4imprint isn't the cheapest option on the market, but their pricing is transparent. You see the breakdown, and you can decide if it works for you. That's worth something. Actually, it's worth a lot when you're managing a budget and don't want surprises.

So, if you're sitting in my chair—an office administrator or event manager looking for promotional products—I'd say start with reviews. Look for specific experiences, not generic praise. And when you get a quote, compare the total, not the per-unit price. If you do that, you're already ahead of where I was two years ago.

Pricing as of January 2025; verify current rates. This is based on my personal purchasing experience; your results may vary depending on product specs and quantities.