If I haven’t posted in awhile it is because we are very busy working on our Open House next week.  It sounds easy, when you come up with the idea of an Open House but there is a lot of work involved.  We are very blessed to have the support of International Paper Company who is providing co-op support for our project.  Also thanks to Xpdex Paper and Gordon Wright for making this all come together.  Why have an Open House?  One picture is worth a thousand words.  You can tell potential customers and current customers what you do and they will forget it before long.  We all do, we have busy lives and if you are like me, it is just what is going on at the moment.  However, we are hoping that if they tour our facility, eat some bar-b-que and register to win a Kindle Fire they will remember us when they place that next print/mail project.  We also want to say thank you to our current customers who have been so loyal to us over the years.  We feel that a great deal of them have become part of our family.  We also hope to see some customers that we haven’t seen in awhile.  I was recently at a Chamber function and ran into someone that I did business with 22 years ago.  She is coming to our Open House. I can’t wait to see all of our friends/customers for some bar-b-que, bluegrass music and oh did I forget to mention.  The folks at Burns Mailing & Printing are making home made desserts.  YUM!

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We have recently been doing annual reports for several non-profit organizations.  We suggested that they make their annual report a 6×10.5 size, thus qualifying them for letter rate postage.  The annual report is a booklet style and if it does not go over 3 ounces stays a letter rate for postage.  No need for an envelope, just leave a mailing panel on the back and the annual report can be tabbed and mailed as a single mail piece. Configuring the annual report this way saves the printing of an envelope, the labor of inserting into an envelope and it can be machine addressed and tabbed. If an annual report is the usual 8.5×11 size the postage is double.

Let the experts at Burns Mailing & Printing, Inc. work with you on your next project.  We know how to save you money and get attention with your print and mail projects.

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I have always wanted a digital press that would print, personalize and address..all on one pass of the press.  That dream came true when we recently purchased a Konica Minolta biz hub digital press.  The press is awesome but what is more awesome is the print shop mail software.  We can now accept a customers database, run it through our mailing software to sort in mail stream order and then print four color on both sides and address for mailing..all on one pass of the digital press.  The biggest sheet size is 13×19 so we can print multiple post cards on that sheet.  If it is a 5.5×8.5 post card we can get four of them on the 13×19 sheet.  Imagine addressing those four post cards as it is printed and them multiply that by say a run of 2000.  Sounds impossible to keep them in mail stream order but with the print shop mail software it prints them in an order that when we cut the post cards as 1-2-3-4 and then stack them back up in that order they are still in mail stream order.  We then put the post cards in trays and they are ready to go to the United States Postal Service.

Print and mail in one day?  Yes it is possible if the press is not too heavily booked.  Political season is nearing again and we will be ready for those last minute push in political campaigns.

If you are interested in seeing our biz hub run, give me a call and we will give you a demonstration.

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In my opinion the mailing list if the most important part of a direct mail campaign. You can have a brilliant design, great copy and a well printed direct mail piece, but if it does not get into the hand of your target market, it is all wasted. The best list possible is the list that you keep yourself. If you are a non-profit organization make sure that you capture the names and addresses of volunteers, donors and others who may have come in contact with your charitable organization.  Those names are of people who know of your organization and the work that you are doing in the community by either volunteering or through donations.  If you want to mail to a larger number of people then use your list and buy some names to go with them.  Your mailer can do a duplicate check and combine the lists.  Over the years, I have had organizations want to mail to several thousand people that they acquire from a list company and then are disappointed with the results.  A good list takes careful planning and attention to capturing the names of people associated with your organization.

If your company is a for profit company and you want to purchase a list, then narrow your demographics to your particular market and then to the area that you want to mail.  Be careful to insure that you can handle the calls or business that the mail piece may generate.  If you intend to mail 25,000 then it might be a good idea to drop them 2000 at a time and see how much interest is generated and if you can handle the business that is brings.  If your not getting enough response with 2000 then drop 3000 on the next mailing until you hit the right number.  That is the good thing about mailing vs media, that it is trackable and can be targeted.

I

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This just released from the USPS

Mobile Commerce and Personalization Promotion

Building upon last summer’s mobile barcode promotion’s success, we are offering it again from July 1, 2012, through August 31, 2012. In our final rule Federal Register posted today on Postal Explorer, we describe the conditions for eligibility for the promotion and the revised mailing standards to implement it.

 Here is information to help you take advantage of this revised special offering:

 Qualifying mailings are Presorted and automation mailings of First-Class Mail cards, letters, and flats and Standard Mail (including Nonprofit Standard Mail) letters and flats with a mobile barcode inside or on the mail piece. The mobile barcode must lead the recipient of the mailpiece either to a webpage that allows the recipient to purchase a product or service on a mobile device, or to a personalized URL, which leads to a web page that is unique to an individual recipient.

• ·         Qualifying mailings may receive an upfront price reduction of 2 percent of the eligible postage.
• ·         Participation requires electronic documentation.
• ·         Commingled, combined and co-mail mailings are allowed, but a separate postage statement is        required for pieces with mobile barcodes.

 Using mobile barcodes is a great way to integrate direct mail with mobile technology. Get more information, including updated FAQs, on the RIBBS website or by emailingmobilebarcode@usps.gov .

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Knoxville Utility Board and TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) have been helping me solve a mystery that we are having here at Burns.  We have a very expensive piece of equipment that is not running very well.  The manufacturer seems to think that it is power surges coming into the building.  For weeks it has been up in the air about what is causing our problems.  Thanks to KUB and TVA, that question will soon be answered.  At KUB’s request, TVA had a power utilization engineer come to our facility today for an evaluation of the power.  They have put monitoring devices in several places within the building.  They will leave them in place for about 10 days and then make an evaluation.  Thus the mystery will be solved.

It is nice to know that KUB and TVA care enough to help a small business with a big problem.  Thanks.

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My customers are always looking for ways to get their mail opened and read.  After all, that is what direct mail is all about.  It seems that the advisors such as advertising agencies are of the opinion that somehow a first class stamp is better.  Do you look at the postage on your mail?  I know that  some donors receiving non-profit mail think that money is being wasted if a first class stamp is used.

My opinion is that Standard A mail is a bargain and has several benefits.  The first being the lowest postage and second the delivery time.  I am on several mailing list that we actually print and mail here at Burns.  I receive the mail that was dropped the next day. I really think that the contents of the mailing is what drives the success of the mailing and not the postage.  Again, that is just my opinion.  If in doubt a test mailing can be made to measure the success.  That is a good thing about direct mail, it can be tested.

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I just received an email from the USPS.  It reads; “This is to inform you of operational changes that will be taking place at the Indianapolis Processing and Distribution Center to accomondate planned activities associated with Super Bowl XLVI and necessary security requirements. The Indianapolis facility is located directly right beside Lucas Oil stadium, site of this year’s Super Bowl.”

The essence of the directive is that they are essentially moving the operation of the Post Office for the Super Bowl.  Their closing statement was; “We are working diligently to ensure these disruptions have minimal impacts on our customers.”  I believe that moving postal operations would have a big impact on their customers. It has been my experience,  that the USPS is really not that big on customer service.  They don’t think like a business, they certainly are not customer oriented like the businesses that I know and they very much have the attitude of, we will do what we want and you will like it.  After all, where else can you go to mail?

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I have wanted to have the capability to print, personalize and address for mailing all on one pass of the press for some time and in 2011 that wish came true.  We went in the mailing business in the early 1990′s to offer our customers something that would set us apart from other printers in town.  That has worked well for us over the years and most of the printing trade magazines are now telling printers that they need to be in the mailing business.  We feel that with the installation of our new Konica Minolta bizhub press and the software that we purchased that gives us the capability to print, personalize and address for mailing, all on one pass of the bizhub, helps once again, to set us apart from other printers in our area.  Printing a job and mailing all in one day seemed impossible just a few years back but now is a reality at Burns.  During the last election, we were printing and mailing political collateral in one day.  Again at Christmas, when companies had not printed Christmas cards but decided last minute to send them out, we were able to quickly turn the project for them.  The color is great, we are applying the intelligent bar-code, all postal regulations have been checked out so what is not to love?  If you don’t believe me, call me for a time to come over and see for yourself.

We are a printer who knows mailing and a mailer who knows printing.

Happy New Year!

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