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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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 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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Having knowledgeable print buyers is an idea customer.  Understanding the process of printing can be crucial to actually getting a good printed piece.  Now, I am not advocating that you take a course on printing but I am suggesting that you get your printer involved in the beginning or planning stages of your project.  If your printer is also a mailer even better, you can bring experts to the table that will save you hours of research and will insure that your mailer meets USPS specifications.  This can save you money on postage and sometimes determines if the mailer will mail at all.  How disappointing, not to mention costly, is to print 45,000 post cards and when they get to the USPS suddenly find that they do not meet specifications and they cannot mail at all. We have had that happened to organizations, who after making this mistake, seek our help. How much better it would have been to get the advice of a professional before making a costly mistake?

At Burns Mailing & Printing, Inc. consultation is free to our customers.  We will sit down as a team to discuss a project with our customer.  Sometimes we can make suggestions that save both time and money and our customers  know that when it goes to the post office, they are getting the lowest postage possible and with bar-coding a speedy delivery.

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These days I am all about making things easier.  Maybe it is because as I get older things are a little harder to do.  For instance, due to my husband’s illness, I am doing things that I have never had to do before.  Ken always took care of grilling, that was his thing.  I did not light the grill, I did not cook on the grill.  It seemed like something that just might be a little dangerous if you did not know what your were doing.  At least, that was my story and I stuck to it. Now that I am charge of grilling things are a little more complicated.  Did you know that propane tanks weigh 40 pounds?  They have to be loaded up and exchanged or refilled, who knew. Actually, I did know but hubby was taking care of that.

I have also found that there are ways of making things easier.  Today, I am having a natural gas grill installed.  No propane tanks, no running out of gas in the middle of cooking a steak, it is going to be wonderful.  That is what got me to thinking about having someone else make the problem go away.  That is why a lot of our customers come to us, because we make things easier for them and we make their problem go away.  If you have ever stuffed envelopes with a group of volunteers and tried to sort mail yourself you know what I am talking about.  My point is that sometimes it justs pays to let a professional handle the problem.  You may be surprised that it may even save you money in the long run.

Call the mailing professionals at Burns Mailing & Printing, Inc. and let us make mailing and printing easier.  866 288-5618

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Yes, direct mail can be scary.  Even being in the mailing business it is a little scary dealing with the USPS and all of its ever changing regulations.  However, that is my business and we do know what the regulations are for mailing, we know how to design for mailing and we even know how to print for mailing.  When printing, paper thickness, height-length ratio and size  are all important.  Knowing postal regulations can mean the difference in the amount of postage that is paid or in some cases if the direct mail piece will be accepted by the USPS at all. Some times it just pays to let professionals handle a project.  At Burns the project moves from one knowledgeable department to another.  There is no need to run all over town for a graphic designer, a printer and then a mailer.  We are a one stop convenience for all three.  So I have given you three good reasons to let Burns handle your project.

O.K. so today I have just made an unashamed pitch for using my company.  It must have been the goblins who made me do it.  Happy Halloween!

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Is paper getting a bad rap? When you look at the facts you may think that it is not such a bad thing to use paper.

Paper Facts

• Paper is Sustainable, as trees are a renewable resource and paper waste is fully recoverable.
• There are currently 10 million more acres of forestland in the U.S. than there were 20 years ago according to the Society of American Foresters.
• The seven electronic data center servers that power the Internet use more than twice the energy as the entire paper industry.
• When people use paper, landowners plant more trees. Remove the profit incentive for maintaining forests and they will be cut down and the land put to other use.
• Making a computer requires the mining and refining of dozens of minerals and metals, including gold, silver and palladium, as well as the extensive use of plastics and hydrocarbon solvents.
• Only 18% of all electronic devices are currently recycled, and 1.84 million tons of these devices were disposed of in U.S. landfills in 2006.  In addition 30 to 40 million PCs will be ready for disposal in each of the next few years according to IP Down to Earth Insights.
• E waste now constitutes our single largest toxic waste export according to IP Down to Earth Insights.
• 45 million tons of paper and paperboard were recovered from recycling in 2007, which represented 57% of all paper and paperboard waste according to American Paper and Forest Association.
• On average it takes 500 kilowatt hours of electricity to produce 440 lbs. of paper, the average amount consumed per person annually in the U.S. That is the equivalent of powering one computer continuously for 5 months according to IP Down to Earth.
• A Swedish study found that the environmental impact of reading a daily newspaper for one year is less than reading news online for 30 minutes a day. The comparison was made based on the carbon footprint required to execute, host, protect and back-up on-line media programs according to Printweek November 2007.

At Burns Mailing & Printing, Inc. we recycle all of our paper waste.  We recycle our aluminum plates for the press and even our empty soda cans. It is for certain that print and computers are here to stay but we can all do our part to protect the enviroment.  Don’t forget to unplug those phone chargers and other chargers when not in use.

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A couple of years ago, I was thinking about mailing a calendar to our customers but I was a little worried about how much the postage would be for each calendar.  We were working on a 6×11 post card at the time and it hit me that if the calender was a 6×11  it would mail out at a letter rate. So that is how our 6×11 yearly planner came to be.  Since it qualifies for presorted standard letter rate the postage is only between .196 to .273.  The same rate you would pay for a #10 envelope mailing as presorted standard.

If you would like a 6×11 calendar/planner for your customers, Burns can customize it for your company, including using you photographs and copy.  To get started call us today at 865 584-2265 or toll free at 866 288-5618.  It will be 2012 before we know it.

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I am still excited about printing and mailing after all these years.  I am like a kid with a new toy.  We recently purchased a Konica Minolta biz hub digital press.  Along with the press we purchased Print Shop Mail software.  The combination is awesome, at least to this country girl.  What is so exciting to me is that we can now print, personalize with variable data and address all on one pass through the digital press.  My customers are asking for faster turn around and excellent quality.  This gives us the capability to deliver both.  Imagine a retailer who wants to send a post card wishing their customer a happy birthday.  We print a post card with a picture of a birthday cake and written on the cake is happy birthday to the person receiving the card.  Does that not get your attention?  It would mine because everyone like to see their name in print, it is just human nature.  For us it means fast turn-around because we can print and mail some jobs the same day.  Now that makes me happy and our customers happy. 

If this is something that you would like to do for your next direct mail, give me a call. 865 584-2265

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