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- Verified Buyer
These postcards (Avery 8386 Matt White Postcards) do the job well. From the other reviews, I've noticed some people having trouble in ways which may be user-error.First, I'd like to point out that the product listing may include other versions, so this review does not apply to them. There are variations which are glossy, sized differently, or position the post card differently. Be careful of which one you are looking at.Second, these post cards are finely perforated, but you have to follow directions. When viewed from the side labeled "Front Side," fold the perforations away from you first, then towards you after you have fully flattened the perforation. If you do that backwards, you may end up with some tearing which makes the edges look more ragged. These are do-it-yourself postcards so you shouldn't expect the edge to look like it was cut with a razor, but at least use it correctly so it doesn't look like a torn coupon.Now, on to what I like about this particular version...The print quality on these when using my Brother laser printer is good and complete. Some paper types (glossy, for example) may result in printing variations which don't look good because the toner may not adhere well to glossy pages. This paper is not glossy and does not have this problem.The postcards are arranged so there is a half inch between them. This allows you to print over the edge of the postcard so it does not have to have a margin. This is a super nice touch which isn't available in most other versions. The down side is that only two postcards fit per page. If you want four per page, you have to go with a version that doesn't allow for edge-to-edge printing.These postcards are fairly heavy at 230 g/m2 (around 155 lbs). That's much thicker than premium copy paper but not as thick as a standard business card. It feels like a typical thickness for a postcard. There are other versions (even by Avery) which are thinner, so keep this in mind when you're shopping! You can get cheaper cards but they might be thinner and feel flimsier.Okay, now for the not-so-great...I can't fault Avery for this because their card measures exactly 4"x6" according to my ruler, but I had to adjust where I print on a page in Microsoft Publisher to treat the top edge of the top postcard as being an eighth of an inch higher than it should be and the lower edge of the bottom postcard as being an eighth of an inch lower than it should be. This treats the postcards as if they are actually 4 1/8" x 6" rather than their true dimensions. Otherwise, the graphics on one postcard print lower than the other. I'm not sure how this happens, but I assume there is some sort of scaling going on (even though scaling is disabled). I print arrows along the edges of the page where I believe the breakaway lines should be so I can confirm that what's on my screen will match what's on the page and I recommend you do the same. If you put the alignment arrows close enough to the edge of the page, you won't see them on the postcard anyway. Keep in mind that every printer will print some pages a little higher or a little lower, so these alignment marks really just help you confirm the relative dimensions of everything. Always allow for about an eighth of an inch of variation from page to page, depending on your printer. This is the case even with professional printing services.Update (7/7/2020): I discovered the printer issue was the result of using the default printer driver from Microsoft. The size is now accurate after installing Brother's raster printer driver. This is only a problem people might run into if they avoid installing printer manufacturer bloatware. I didn't need their full install package, just the raster printer driver.So far that's it, I'll update this review if I think there is something worthwhile to say.Definitely pleased with purchase.I’ve used Avery products for a LONG time, with cheap printers to expensive office printers, never had a problem except about 6 months-1 year ago, the “cardstock” type products were not feeding through correctly on my home (cheaper) printer. I was having to feed 1 sheet at a time. The new package I got in had an insert (I’ll include the picture of it) stating they fixed the “feeding” issue. I was shocked that it actually worked, I did nothing to my printer and I can now fully load it and it feeds and prints multiple sheets at a time, no more single feeding pages so it prints correctly! So excited! Thank you Avery!!I have an old 3x5 card file jammed with my mother's 'family' recipes; most of which are really good. I wanted to pass them along to my daughter and granddaughter so needed something to be able to transcribe what I have. These are perfect; after playing around with font, font size, etc. Once done each set will be a wonderful Christmas gift legacy. I found a cute wooden recipe box to hold them with some room for them to add their favs as well.For several years I've used these cards for advertising. They are perfectly smooth and I've never come across a sheet of blanks that had any imperfections - every card has been perfect. They hold inks well and colors appear bright and smart looking. They cleanly separate from the four-up page and the perforations do not show at all.Just two things:-They do meet postal office regulations for mailing, but I believe the card weight just barely meets the minimum specification for .007" thickness. The card weight is not specified on the box or the website. Either way, they are mailable.-The associated Avery template is easy to use but it only has a few designs that you may want to use. The template dumps you into your word processor and if you want to create a sheet of four cards, you have to create each one separately or attempt to copy the design of one onto the other three. The template does not give you the option of replicating a design onto a full sheet of cards and that's not particularly easy if you are using graphics as we do.Overall, I am pleased with the cards and will continue to use them.The postcards are of good quality & great for mailing. However, I don't like that both sides have a matte finish. The cards would be much nicer if the front was glossy.I can't really say the product was defective, I am assuming that somehow my product became damp even though it was shrink wrapped in plastic. When I took my postcard stock out of the box the paper was wavy like it had become damp and dried maybe on it's side so there was some give which caused it to become wavy. This is all conjecture, I really can't say what happened. But because of this, my stock did not go through the printer well when printing more than 1 or 2 at a time, at the most.If I just talk about the print to edge feature, I loved it. It perforated easily with nice clean edges. But because of the issue with the stock not being completely flat, I think when it was pulled through my printer (if I printed say 8 at a time) it became misaligned. The image and text I used printed a bit over the top edge and left a white gap at the bottom.I use this to create recipe cards. Love it and the avery website lets you set up an account and save your completed templates plus you can download them as PDF. Just note, when you use the templates pay attention to your printer settings. My self adjusted the template and then the result didn't print right but I set it to full size and all was perfect. Maybe do a test run on regular paper firs.tI have been searching a long time to find a heavy enough postcard cardstock that I like and will still feed through my printer, these are perfect, I sell my artwork on postcards on my Etsy site. Great quality cardstock and the print quality is absolutely perfect too. I recommend this product and will continue buying it.Will do very nicely for my wedding program fans and table number cards.Très bon produit. MerciExcellent produit.
