The Printers, inc.

Think Customers

2010-02-08T09:33:00.000-06:00

I found this article from 1 to 1 Media to be very interesting. Whether you are a for profit business, a non-profit organization or a political candidate, you will find ideas to increase participation. We may not always see those we are trying to motivate as customers, but aren’t they. Whether you want someone to perform an act or buy something from you, is that not selling? I think the message applies.

Think Customers

The 1to1 Blog

Guest Blogger James Castellano: The Truth About Motivation, and What You Can Do About It

Motivation as a topic is quite popular. Whether in sports or in business, we talk about motivating others to perform better, to work better, or to help us accomplish our goals. But the best way to motivate can be quite elusive. We try all sorts of different programs and philosophies to get others motivated, but in the end, we are right back where we started. There is a very simple reason why this happens. The reality of motivation is this: We cannot positively motivate anyone but ourselves.

We can absolutely spawn negative motivation in others, which can be considered intimidation, but this only lasts for a short period of time before we have to do it again. Positive self-motivation must come from within each one of us and can only be applied to ourselves by ourselves. To be clear, true and effective motivation must come from the inside; it's not forced on us by someone else.

So the next question is, "How then can I build a team of self-motivated individuals?" Before we get to the answer, let's examine why the problem exists.

Many of us are motivated by fear of loss rather than the joy of gain. According to published studies, 80 percent of us will usually react much quicker and much stronger to prevent losing something important, such as our job, than to performing over and above for a possible bonus.

I don't know the exact reason behind this for everyone else, but for me this behavior relates to when I was younger and would get grounded if I did what I wasn't supposed to. My parents never said, "Act properly and you'll get a reward"; it was always, "Don't do that or you'll get in trouble." And it worked, at least for awhile, and then they had to do it again and again.

In the workforce things are not much different. If you tell your people that when they achieve certain goals they will get rewarded with a pay raise, bonuses, or promotions, about 20 percent will respond positively. The other 80 percent don't , because they are motivated by fear of loss. They will do just enough to not get fired, plus complain about the lack of pay raises, etc. We then begin to wonder why we are not achieving the results we want.

http://www.1to1media.com/weblog/2010/02/guest_blogger_james_castellano.html?utm_source=1to1%20Magazine's%20Weekly%20Digest&utm_medium=H&utm_campaign=02-08-2010-3027

10 elements every direct mail piece should have!

2009-06-09T09:38:00.001-05:00

Don’t want your direct mail to end up in the trash with the rest of the unread mail? These 10 tips will help you get the results you want:

1. A clear, bold headline.

On the front of the mailer there should be one clear message. The best way to achieve this is a bold headline that is not cluttered up with other text. A good guideline is to have the headline fill up at least 15% of the front of the mailer.

2. A picture or graphic that supports your message.

An understandable graphic adds to the message the headline is trying to convey. For instance, if you are trying to get people interested in your Dental Practice you could have someone with a bright smile clearly visible out front. This graphic reinforces your message. Remember that a picture is truly worth a 1000 words. Make it a GREAT one!

3. Color that pops.

Make the headline and other text stand out by using a color that stands out from the background color. When you look at the card, ask yourself, “What do I see first?” If your answer isn’t the headline and picture, you might want to tweak the colors.

4. Subheads that lead into text.

If you have text with no lead in, there is nothing to lure people to actually read the copy. A subhead entices people to start reading. A subhead is a guidepost directing the reader.

5. Benefits that entice

One of the biggest errors people make in advertising is stating features, rather than benefits. You know what the benefits are but does the person you are mailing? As in the dental example, you might talk about better overall health or making the person more attractive.

6. The offer.

An offer is always a good idea and should represent a specific reason to call NOW, such as “Limited time offer” or “Offer valid for a month.”

7. Your company name and logo.

Although this needs to be on the mailer, it shouldn’t overshadow the offer. Customers care most about what you can do for them.

8. Call to action.

Tell prospects exactly what you want them to do. “Call today for more information” or “See us online” are two of the most common desired actions.

9. Contact information.

Provide your name, phone number, and Web address (if you have one) directly following the call to action. Whatever you ask prospects to do, make it easy for them.

10. Return address.

A return address with the proper postal endorsement ensures you will get returned mail from the post office for free if you mail first class or for a fee if you mail with standard or bulk mail rates. Your return address sends a message that you’re an established professional in the community. People feel better knowing the company they’re dealing with has an actual location. If you use a post office box, include your street address as well to insure the connection.

Looking for Mr. GoodPrint - By Noel Ward on February 5th, 2009

2009-02-06T15:34:00.003-06:00

(This article was posted on the blog of Digital Nirvana and I just felt it was worth sharing)

This article original appeared at WhatTheyThink.com.

About a dozen years ago I was at a trade show in San Jose, California, eavesdropping on two printers who were peering at prints from a big full-color digital press.

“You can tell it’s toner,” said one.

“Yep,” sighed the other, shaking his head with resignation, “It behaves like toner.”

Unimpressed, they wandered off.

I wonder what those two guys are thinking today. If they are like many of the people Gartner talked with in the course of its latest research on print quality, they may be saying something quite different.

Gartner has just completed a study of some 443 production print managers in the U.S., France, Germany, and the UK that provides convincing evidence that, for the first time, long-held preferences for offset printing have been up-ended. The companies contacted included financial services, insurance, utilities, communications carriers and retail enterprises, as well as print service specialists. Respondents were production print operation managers, senior-level managers overseeing an operation, or had responsibility for production print hardware and/or software purchases. The documents their operations produce encompassed bills and statements, direct mail, insurance documents, and book, magazine and newspaper printing. In the estimation of these print professionals, offset’s dominance has been superseded by digital printing’s quality and value for the money. As Peter Basiliere, a Gartner research director closely involved with the study, said to me over breakfast when we discussed the study, “2009 officially marks the beginning of offset printing’s long decline.”

The study was designed to provide unequivocal evidence about the perceived differences between the four main printing technologies. In one of its primary questions, the telephone survey asked respondents to rate the image quality of toner (dry ink), liquid ink (HP-Indigo), ink jet, and offset printing on a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 was “Poor Quality” and 7 was “Excellent Quality.”

Overall, the data show survey respondents think toner not only provides better image quality than offset printing, but offset comes in last among the four technologies.

Toner: 5.68

Liquid Ink: 5.40

Ink Jet: 5.24

Offset: 5.17

“With 443 respondents, differences of as little as 0.10 are statistically meaningful,” explains Basiliere. “The much smaller sample sizes commonly found in other surveys require a much greater difference in order to make a valid statement about the results.”

“The difference between toner (and, to a lesser extent, liquid ink) and offset is particularly significant,” he continues. “Ink jet is preferred over offset, but only by a slight margin, so those two are basically on a par. This means ink jet technologies still have a ways to go before there is a significant perceived quality difference compared with offset printing.”

There were some notable differences by country. France, for instance, preferred liquid ink over dry toner and had the least affection for offset printing. German respondents on the other hand — perhaps predictably– had a different take, preferring offset over digital printing by a wider margin than other respondents’ preference for digital over offset. Gartner thinks the difference may be in part attributed to the legacy of German print service providers using locally manufactured offset presses such as Heidelberg, Manroland or KBA, all capable of producing very high-quality printing.

But Basiliere thinks that perception may shift before much longer. “Germany is very environmentally conscious,” he says, “They are concerned with recycling, limiting waste, and reducing costs. And they’re interested in more color. I think we’re going to see a shift in Germany toward greater acceptance of digital as run lengths get shorter, and the capability of digital to print on a wide variety of substrates continues to improve. The quality is already there, it just has to be accepted by German printers and their customers.”

Image quality may be the most obvious measure for print providers, but value is a close second. Using the same 1 to 7 scale, respondents said digital printing, particularly with toner, provides the best value for money.

Toner: 5.58

Liquid Ink: 5.29

Ink Jet: 5.23

Offset: 5.13

Perhaps predictably, this trend was reversed in Germany, where the offset preferring respondents had a much-lower regard for digital printing’s value.

On average, color accounts for about 40% of all pages printed in respondents’ operations over the past two years, a share they don’t expect to change during 2009. Because of the mix of documents that the responding companies produce are biased towards transactional and direct mail, color growth may in fact be flat in this time of economic uncertainty. Whether this is true for graphic arts, where color is expected, is a deeper question that doesn’t seem to be addressed in this study.

In my opinion the data, with a sample of 443, is pretty much bulletproof. However —and this is a fairly big “however”— the companies surveyed are more involved with high volume production print than the “graphic arts” types of applications targeted by iGen, Indigo, Xeikon, and NexPress owners. This means the data does not necessarily reflect the opinions or experiences of users of those machines. But when you consider that many print providers with such devices have come to use their digital and offset presses interchangeably based on press availability, turnaround times and internal economics, it would seem that while Gartner’s data does not specifically address the graphic arts side of the market, it certainly confirms that the tide has turned and that offset is merely on the mountain, not at the top.

Younger Demographics Prefer Direct Mail

2008-08-15T14:32:00.003-05:00

Excerpted from Even Younger Demographics Prefer Direct Mail, Chief Marketer Online, by Peter Meyers

Meyers says younger demographics prefer direct mail citing a recent survey conducted by ICOM Information and Communications of 1529 households.

The survey results suggests:

Young professionals ages 18-34 communicated a strong preference for receiving information in the mail over electronic options. Privacy was pegged as one of the main reasons for this surprising partiality.
In the survey, conducted in February, those respondents in the 18-34 year old demographic proclaimed nearly a two-to-one preference for receiving product information by direct mail over e-mail or online, across all categories.
57.7% of 18-34 year olds preferred information by direct mail, as opposed to only 27.3% preferring e-mail and online combined. In another key category, over the counter medication, 55.8% preferred mail to 29.3% opting for online methods.
Perhaps most interesting is that the 18-34 year olds harbored nearly the strongest preference for communication by direct mail of all the groups surveyed. Respondents were segmented into the following age breakdowns: 18-34, 35-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69 and 70+ years old. As expected, those 65 and older also overwhelmingly chose mail as their preferred information source.

The power of Variable Data Publishing

2008-07-30T20:19:00.007-05:00

Until recently, designing and producing customized messages was a time- and cost-prohibitive task. Developments in key areas of the publishing market, however, are converging to make personalized communications a reality. The availability of databases, publishing tools and high-quality digital output systems all combine to make Variable Data Publishing (VDP) more automated, economical, and accessible than ever.

Also known as data-driven, targeted, or one-to-one marketing, VDP has emerged as a key enabling technology that automates the production of unique, relevant communications that resonate with recipients and motivate them to take action. Whether used to acquire leads, increase sales, or secure customer loyalty, VDP is being leveraged by a growing number of communications professionals to achieve unprecedented results.

VDP applications

Where are VDP solutions being applied successfully today? The flexibility and scalability of VDP yields a broad set of applications, from basic data merge for business correspondence to highly complex, customized promotional pieces — with recipients ranging from one to one million.

Business correspondence

Business correspondence incorporates name, address, and simple product information to produce a unique piece for each recipient.

Simple one-to-one marketing

Simple one-to-one marketing incorporates some graphical elements and variable text that are included based on a simple set of rules to produce a unique composition that is customized for each recipient.

Custom publications

Custom publications are business applications that enable a customer to drive specific content into an existing template for immediate publishing or for inclusion in a newsletter or periodical.

TransPromo

TransPromo combines targeted and graphically rich promotional or sales information with transactional documents (bills, statements, portfolios, invoices).

Variable Data Publishing (VDP) is more than just mail merge. In today's economy, every dollar counts and VDP gives you more power for your marketing budget. We have the tools and the know-how to assist you in utilizing the infinite possibilities of VDP.

Excerpted from Adobe's VDP Resource Center

What a Great Vacation

2008-07-09T13:18:00.020-05:00

With The Printers, inc. closing again for the week of the Fourth of July, Carol and I decided to go camping at Gooseberry Falls State Park on the north shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota.
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/gooseberry_falls/index.html

I thought that you might like to see our pictures from this wonderful locale. I cannot adequately describe the beautiful scenery, the well-kept campground (especially the bathrooms), the hiking trails or the overall relaxing time that we had.

To view all of our pictures click on the url below. When you get to that site, there is a view slide show notice to click on in the upper right portion. Click on that and sit back and watch.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28236411@N04/sets/72157606054411080/

10 Essential Blogging Tools

2008-06-27T16:14:00.007-05:00

Add these tools to grow your blog readership
By John Jantsch
Founder of Duct Tape Marketing

So, you finally decided to take the blog leap. You heard all about the marketing and search benefits, so you stepped up to the plate and signed up for a TypePad, MovableType or WordPress blog software package. Now you're a blogger. (At The Printers, inc., we use Blogger, a Google product.)

What next? Add the 10 essential blogging tools listed below and you will be well on your way to creating and promoting a blog that is also a powerful marketing tool. I'll explain the use of the tool and offer some suggestions, including the tools I use on my own blogs.

Feed reader

The best way to learn about blogs and blogging is to read or at least scan lots of blogs. One of the wonders of blogs is that you can have every new post from every blog you want to read delivered to your desktop or to online location so you can easily read and scan the posts of many blogs in a very short time. Newsgator is a good online choice and also has a version that integrates with Microsoft Outlook. I use a free online service know as Bloglines.

Subscriber center

You need to make it easy for your blog visitors to subscribe to your blog's RSS feed - so they can read your blog in their favourite feed reader. The best way to do this is to go to FeedBurner and burn your own RSS feed there and use the tools they provide to set up automatic subscriber links. That way people who want to use Bloglines, Google Reader, MyYahoo or Pluck can click on one button to subscribe. Tech types can figure this out on their own but the buttons make it easy for anyone to figure out. You might also look at a free add-on called Add This. It creates a one button subscribe feature.

Side note - subscribe to each of these yourself and you will force some blog spiders (a search engine's robot that patrols the web for new content) to visit your site.

Email subscription option

A lot of people will never get the whole feed thing, but everyone gets email. Create a way for people to subscribe by giving you their email address - they will simply receive your blog posts like an email message. FeedBurner offers this service for free. FeedBlitz is another option or, if you already have an autoresponder email list service, they may offer this service. AWeber offers this and helps me integrate these blog email subscribers into my other mailing lists.

Blog and RSS directories

There are hundreds of blog and RSS directories, and getting listed in many can be a good thing. I use a piece of software called RSS Submit, but you can also visit Robin Goode's frequently updated list and submit your blog and feed by hand.

Hint: subscribe to the RSS feed he offers and you will be notified when new directories are added.

Ping service

Pinging is a term used for letting the various blog and RSS directories know when you have posted new content. Again, FeedBurner offers this as an automatic option called PingShot and you should activate it. PingGoat and Ping O Matic are other options, but they require that you visit and update your record each time you post new content.

Bookmark manager

As you surf around the web or hop from blog to blog, you may find sites that you want to point out to your readers. Online bookmark managers allow you to bookmark and categorize web and blog pages as you collect them and are a great tool for managing all of the stuff you find on the web. I use del.icio.us but BlinkList does a fine job as well.

Blog stats

I like to track a few key stats in real time because it shows what other blogs might be linking to you or posting about your blog. A lot of people just like to track this kind of thing for fun and frequently visit sites like Technorati. I like to track it for networking opportunities. I use a tool called MyBlogLog because it allows me to see where traffic is coming from but also tracks what links on my blog visitors are clicking on. It's amazing how this data can help you write more effectively.

Desktop posting

With most blog software you must go online and post using a set of tools provided by the blog software. Many bloggers like to use a desktop application to create and submit their posts as it gives them some extra tools and allows them to more easily integrate content and files on their computer.

I use w.bloggar but also like Performancing, with the Firefox extension, Windows Live Writer and ecto (mac folks).

Tell a friend script

My blog software has a feature that allows a reader to click, link and send the post to a friend. This tactic brings me lots of readers. You might try looking here for some simple scripts that do that same.

Republish feed headlines

The ability to republish your blog posts on other web page, sites you own or sites of strategic partners is a great way to expose folks to your blog content. One more time, we turn to FeedBurner for a painless way to republish your blog post to any web page you choose with something they call BuzzBoost.

About the Author:

John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide published by Thomas Nelson. He is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing system. You can find more information by visiting http://www.ducttapemarketing.com.

It's Vacation Time

2008-06-17T15:58:00.008-05:00

Take a vacation, for your health's sake
By Alina Tugend

Gas prices are going up, the economy is going down, and it seems hard to justify a vacation when many of us are glad just to have jobs. But now, more than ever, we need to take a break — a real break, not just a long weekend — from our stressed-out lives.

But, it turns out, even before the downturn, a lot of Americans were working through their vacation time, taking fewer and shorter holidays.

Well, vacations are not simply a luxury. There is increasing evidence that they really are necessary for good health.

Using information from the Framingham Heart Study, which started in 1948, researchers looked at questionnaires women in the study had filled out over 20 years about how often they took vacations. Those women who took a vacation once every six years or less were almost eight times more likely to develop coronary heart disease or have a heart attack than those who took at least two vacations a year, said Elaine Eaker, a co-author of the study and president of Eaker Epidemiology Enterprises, a private research company.

The study, published in 1992, was controlled for other factors like obesity, diabetes, smoking and income, Eaker said, and the findings have been substantiated in follow-up research.

"It shows how the body reacts to a lifestyle of stress," she said. "This is real evidence that vacations are important to your physical health."

Another study, published in 2000, looked at 12,000 men over nine years who were at high risk for coronary heart disease. Those who failed to take annual vacations had a 21% higher risk of death from all causes and were 32% more likely to die of a heart attack.

The trick, these days when going on vacation, is not only to physically remove yourself from your normal routine, but mentally as well. Checking your BlackBerry every few hours or rushing to the nearest Internet café doesn't cut it.

For 10 years, the Faculty of Management at Tel Aviv University has conducted a study looking at what is called "respite effects," which measure relief from job stress before, during and after vacations.

Professor Dov Eden, an organizational psychologist who has conducted the study, found that those who are electronically hooked up to their office, even if they are lying on the Riviera, are less likely to receive the real benefits of a vacation and more likely to burn out. Here's one trick. My neighbor Mark had a colleague who was a workaholic. But when he went on vacation, he made sure to go where there was no cellphone or Internet service.

Edited from Vacations Are Good for You, Medically Speaking, New York Times, June 7, 2008. For the full article go to

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/business/yourmoney/07shortcuts.html
(if it is still online).

---

For your information-

The Printers, inc. will be on vacation the week of the 4th of July. We will be closed from Monday, June 30 through Monday, July 7, 2008. We will reopen on Tuesday, July 8th at 8:00 am.

Carol (without her Blackberry) and I (sans laptop) will be away from it all camping and hiking at Gooseberry Falls State Park on the north shore of Lake Superior. We'll post some pictures in future blogs!

Buy None, Get One Free!

2008-06-10T13:35:00.004-05:00

Sometimes you get what you don't pay for.

If you know where to look, you can get some pretty cool stuff for free—and with the price of gas these days, "free" may be just what your budget calls for.

Free Education
Get your geek on with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT offers a comprehensive selection of free online courses that includes nearly its entire undergraduate and graduate curriculum. Downloading materials takes minutes. A newsletter highlights new offerings, from Quantum Physics to American Women Authors. The catch is, users can't enroll, take classes on campus or earn degrees. But if you're looking to broaden your horizons, you can find these free courses at ocw.mit.edu.

Free Photos
If your digital camera is full but you need some good old-fashioned prints, visit websites Adorama, Dotphoto, Kodak and Snapfish. In addition to photo sharing and online albums, these popular services provide 15 to 50 free prints when you register. You have to pay for shipping, but that's usually not more than a few dollars. Get more details at www.adorama.com, www.dotphoto.com, www.kodakgallery.com and www.snapfish.com.

Free Tech Support
Need your own personal help desk? The next time you have a tech issue, don't spend your hard-earned cash for someone's expertise—at least not right away. Protonic.com is an online community that provides technical support to computer users around the world for absolutely nothing. To date, the website has provided over 160,000 answers to computer-related questions. On the site, you can browse through other people's questions and answers or simply ask a Protonic.com technician for help with the tech troubles you're facing. Find out more at www.protonic.com.

And the next time you need a phone number, dial 800-FREE-411. Instead of dialing 411 and getting charged 50 cents to $1.50, call this 800 number for free nationwide directory assistance. You'll have to listen to a 20-second ad before receiving your number, but you won't have to pay a thing.

Consider Statement-based Marketing

2008-05-31T07:29:00.005-05:00

5 Reasons It Works

Because other marketing channels are plagued by spam filters and do-not-call lists, statements are becoming an even more valuable component of the overall communication mix.

Unrivaled Openability. Statements and invoices are expected — they contain important financial information and usually require action. So it’s not surprising that more than 95% of transaction documents are opened and read each month — far more than any other type of direct response effort.
High Involvement. Bills and statements receive more attention than any other form of communication, including television advertisements. The average customer invests between one and three minutes for statement review.
Trusted Media. While e-security and telephone fraud continue to make headlines, nearly everyone trusts the Postal Service to send and deliver mail — including highly important documents.
Functionality. Not only do statements command more attention when they are initially opened, they are often viewed more than once. The paper-based nature of transaction mail is valued by consumers as they pay bills, submit expense reports, prepare taxes and file documents.
Greater Returns. As statements are already in the mailstream today, marketers are finding TransPromo* to be one of the most cost-efficient communication channels. Statement-based marketing is also more effective simply because of the target audience: current customers. A five percent increase in current customer business can translate into as much as a 50% increase in bottom-line profits.

From Mailing Systems Technology - March-April 2008

*TransPromo is the combination of personalized promotional messages with must-read transactional documents such as statements, invoices, explanations of benefits, policy notifications and other customer-facing documents including receipts and point of sale/purchase documents.

Fun Facts

2008-05-22T15:43:00.003-05:00

Wood fiber for paper - Where does it come from?

You may be surprised to learn that about one-third of the raw material used to make paper in the U.S. is residue - wood chips and scraps left behind from forest and sawmill operations. These “leftovers” would probably be burned or discarded if not used by the paper industry.

Another third of the raw material is recovered paper. Although some papers contain 100 percent recycled fiber, papermakers often combine various amounts of recycled and new fiber to produce the desired quality and grade of paper.

Only about one-third of the fiber used to make paper in the U.S. is from whole trees, which the industry calls round wood. It is not considered economical to use large logs for paper when they could instead be used for lumber. For this reason, only trees smaller than 8 inches in diameter, or larger trees not suitable for solid wood products, typically are harvested for papermaking.

From - TAPPI - The Leading Technical Association for the Worldwide Pulp, Paper and Converting Industry

Effective Direct Mail for Non-Profits

2008-05-15T11:00:00.003-05:00

Donor RETENTION
• First priority
• Maintain Top of the Mind Awareness (TOMA)
• Targets the person who has already invested in you

Donor DEVELOPMENT
• Continue to educate about the mission of the organization
• Your donor learns about the successes and continuing needs of your organization

Donor RECRUITMENT
• Prospecting
• Identify similar groups of people or businesses that have an affinity for your organization

Don't forget to provide an opportunity for people to contribute to your cause! That remains consistent whether you are trying to retain donors, recruit donors or develop donors.

Postcards Work!

2008-04-01T13:53:00.007-05:00

What's one of the best values for your buck? Postcards!

Why?

They cost you LESS to produce and give you great exposure.
Postcards are a great marketing tool for businesses, individuals (i.e. elections, sales), you name it.
Immediate impact - no envelope to open; they HAVE to see your message.
Get them to call you! Give them the info; don't get too detailed; be visual; grab them; make them an offer. The card generates the lead but you must finalize the deal/close the sale when they respond.

Whom do you target?

Present customers first. They know you; they already have a relationship with you; they like you.
Seize the opportunity to introduce other products or services. Expand their commitment (loyalty) to your business. It is easier for you to generate new sales with current customers than get new customers in your door. Spend most of your effort with those you already know.

What's next?

SEAL THE DEAL!
Be prepared for questions.
Take care of their needs.
Fulfill your promises.
Can't close the deal when they call? Then follow up. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!

Postcards Work!

Paper Costs Increasing

2008-03-19T15:52:00.007-05:00

Over the past year, we have seen the cost of paper from our suppliers increase significantly. The increase varies a bit from paper manufacturer to paper manufacturer. Here are a couple of snippets from articles specifically talking about price increases and some of the reasons why. With the cost of energy and the weak dollar, increases are to be expected unfortunately.

Prices take another step up
July 1, 2007 12:00 PM , By Jim Tierney
Mulichannel Merchant Online

It's not a great time to be shopping for coated freesheet paper. Nine major paper companies — Domtar, Sappi Fine Papers, NewPage, West Linn, Verso, PineBluff, Appleton, Bowater, and Myllykoski — have announced price increases of $3 per hundredweight (cwt) price for the grade. A tenth, Stora Enso North America, announced a 7% increase on coated freesheet.

Paper prices continue to climb
Jan 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jim Tierney
Mulichannel Merchant Online

If you thought 2008 might bring relief from rising paper prices, think again: Industry watchers say reduced demand, several mill closures, along with rising energy and manufacturing costs, have rendered paper markets extremely tight.

At the moment, Maine says, “nobody is canceling any orders — even if they don't need the paper, which could lead to some inventory building in January and February. If the market doesn't open up by February, it won't open up at all in 2008 — and paper availability will be an issue all year. We expect LWC prices to rise 14%-17% year-over-year in 2008, and the risk is that they might rise even more than this.”

Let us work together to help keep your printing costs down!

Making the World a Better Place

2008-03-09T14:23:00.002-05:00

Congratulations Carol!

What do we hope to accomplish with this blog??

2008-03-07T12:04:00.000-06:00

“The principal goal of education is to create people who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done.” - Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Swiss cognitive psychologist

Like many industries today, printing is experiencing a technological revolution. The modes of reaching customers, prospects, and employees are not the same as they were several years ago. Together we are trying to make sense out of what works best. We look to educate about our company and our industry with particular attention to our specific areas of expertise. We hope that you will tell us what you need. With a greater understanding, we can serve you better. Together we are capable of doing great things, not simply repeating the past.

Please share our blog with co-workers and friends. We hope there is value for everyone and they too, can be part of our family.

Happy blogging!!

The Printers, inc. Blog

2008-02-28T16:12:00.008-06:00

To stay in touch with YOU, our customers and prospective customers, we are starting a blog! We’re not going to post daily but plan on posting every week or two. Blogs are fun. Blogs are interactive. Our goal is to include you in The Printers, inc. family.

So what would a printer blog about??? Printing! Our community! A blog is a work in progress. It’s never complete. It’s a dialogue. We hope that you’ll tell us what you need. Ask questions. Comment. Share your ideas.

In your busy world, we know that whatever time you spend on our blog is valuable, and we thank you. Keeping our posts short will be a priority. If we cannot sufficiently cover a subject in a short amount of space, we will have a continuation at another date or a link for more information.

To be notified when we post, just click on subscribe by email. (You may also set up an RSS feed if you prefer.) We want this blog to be valuable to you so you will look at it often. Thank you for your confidence in us. We are both thrilled, and hesitant, to start.