Best Last Minute Merch Available for Rush Orders
Key Points:
- Last-minute branded items help you stay prepared for events with fast turnaround and ready stock.
- These include items like keyrings, yoyos, frisbees, stationery, stickers, toys, and calculators.
- Keep it simple and choose quality items to ensure your brand still makes a strong impression.
An event date does not move just because the merchandise order was forgotten. Maybe a conference was organised at short notice. Perhaps attendance suddenly increased. A sponsor joined late, or somebody realised three days before an expo that there was nothing to hand out. In these situations, the smartest approach is not to search the entire promotional products catalogue. Start with merchandise specifically available for rush production.
What merch can you order quickly?
Cubic Promote currently has more than 700 products listed within its Rush Orders category, although availability and turnaround times vary by item. The best last-minute choices are usually products with local stock and straightforward decoration requirements.
To help you, we created a range of our items available for rush orders to help you find the options.
The fastest product is not always the simplest
Urgent does not necessarily mean you are limited to a cheap plastic pen.
The more important question is whether the exact product, colour and quantity you need are already available locally. Cotton calico tote bags, for example, currently have an express version with 24-hour dispatch available on request. To qualify for that fast-ship service, the order and artwork proof must meet the specified approval cut-off.
This is why checking stock first is more useful than spending hours choosing the perfect product and discovering afterwards that it cannot meet the deadline.
Simplify the artwork
Complex branding can add unnecessary risk when there are only a few days available.
For an urgent order, consider:
- One clear logo instead of several sponsor logos
- One-colour printing where appropriate
- Standard product colours already in stock
- Existing vector artwork rather than requesting a new design
- One branding position instead of decorating several sides
- Standard packaging rather than individually customised boxes
Even though you’re on rush and we need your approval as soon as possible, double-checking the mock-up we provided is still important to avoid errors.
Allow time for freight
This is one of the most important things to understand about rush merchandise. Dispatch time and arrival time are different.
A product advertised with 24-hour dispatch still needs to travel from the production location to your address. Cubic Promote notes that urgent locally stocked products can commonly be produced and sent within short timeframes, but delivery may take longer for locations outside major metropolitan areas or on the west coast.
If your event is in Perth, Darwin, Hobart or a regional location, tell the supplier immediately. Your location can change which rush products are realistic.
What should you send when requesting an urgent quote?
When time is short, send all the important details in the first enquiry:
- Required quantity
- Event date
- Delivery postcode
- Preferred products
- Logo artwork
- Brand colours
- Required print position
- Budget
Also make it clear whether the date you provide is the event date or the date the merchandise must physically arrive.
That information allows the account manager to eliminate products that cannot meet the deadline instead of quoting options that look good but arrive too late.
Need your merch urgently?
Aside from our rush order range, we also offer 24-hour and 48-hour production options on selected items. If your deadline is close, tell our team the quantity, delivery postcode, and required arrival date first. We can then recommend locally stocked rush products that have a realistic chance of reaching your event on time.
