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?

Share on Facebook

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.

Share on Facebook

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

Share on Facebook

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.

Share on Facebook

It seems to be the common thought that digital media is the way to go.  Not so fast, it has now been suggested by neuroscience research,  that a greater emotional processing is facilitated by physical material that you can hold in your hand than by viewing virtual media.  The research was conducted by Millward Brown and Bangor University  for the United Kingdom’s Royal Mail.

The research was done using MRI’s of the brain and how the participants reacted to a printed piece of advertising versus a virtual image on a screen.  It suggested that physical material is more real to the brain and better connected to memory.  They also found that physical material involves more emotional response than virtual.  That means that the real experience is better at becoming part of memory.  That is what we want when we send out a message.. we want the recipient to remember the message and remember the sender.

From all that I can read and have studied, it appears that to have a well rounded campaign that you need to use both direct mail and digital media.  Direct mail gives the recipient something to hold in their hand or put aside to look at a later date or put in a drawer so that if they need that service later they know who to call. I have done that myself and actually gone back to get the post card for the number when I have needed the service.

I would like to see how my brain reacts when I am eating warm cinnamon rolls.  It would come up happy, happy, happy.

Share on Facebook

I recently had a death in my family.  It was my brother-in-law who married my sister when I was 12 years old and I had just lost my own Father in a boating/hunting accident.  He did not have any siblings and I was the little sister that he never had.  His whole family immediately brought my Mother and I into their family as if we had been born into it. His parents lived just down the road and when my Mother went back to work, I got off the school bus and stayed with Mamaw and Papaw, as we called them.  He was the one who bought extra things for me in college, the one who bought my wedding dress and loaned me the money to buy my first house.    He taught me to play cards, took me to the movies with my sister and him and countless other things that helped me through a difficult time.  Later in life he taught me much about business and is probably one of the reasons I can run my business today.  He taught me how to treat customers and about exceptional customer service.

He was a very successful, self made business man, and  the community loved him and admired him.  Not as much as I did.  I will miss you Delmar.

Share on Facebook

Do you ever have days where it is Monday all day long.  Well, I have had one of those days.  I sat down to blog about something that might be of benefit about mailing and I just drew a blank.   Don’t get worried that I am going to whine about all that went wrong in my day, because I am not.  I am going to tell you that I am taking the day off tomorrow to spend with my sister because this is my birthday week and that is what my sister and I do.  I am going to shop, eat and enjoy my sister’s company.  On Wednesday I am coming back to the office with a refreshed outlook.  At least, that is the plan. Since it is almost time to go home, the only thing I have to think about is where we are going to shop.  We live near Pigeon Forge TN and The Great Smoky Mountains, that is always a good place to start.  Come to think of it I would like to get some blackberry wine at the winery in Pigeon Forge.  That is about as strong as it gets for me.

Share on Facebook

I know I was born a coal miner’s daughter, I know that I have ink in my blood from being a printer for so long but I didn’t know that I was a WBE until today.  Actually, I did know that I am a Women Business Enterprise (WBE), being certified by the State of TN as such.  However today a company from Richmond, VA called and asked me if I was a WBE (it sounded like Weebie)  and I had to say as we say in the South “do what”.  Now the “do what” thing in the South is another blog all together. It really means we do not understand what you are saying or what you are asking. The person went on to explain that she was looking for a Women Business Enterprise printing company in the State of TN. I am glad that I have been given a chance to be a WBE by the State of TN.  That is the first step but what really counts is that we do a good job for the customer.  That is my number one priority. If you need a WBE printing company in the State of TN give Burns a call.

Share on Facebook

Yes, it is true, we are going digital in two ways.  We have just purchased a computer to plate system that will make our production time much faster with better registration.  We had been of the opinion if it ain’t broke don’t fix it regarding using film and plates but unfortunately it is now broke.  Film and plates are becoming a thing of the past and it was time for us to fix it.  Fix it we certainly have with a new Kodak Computer to plate system.

That is not all that we have fixed, we are installing a Konica Minolta bizhub digital press.  With 1200 dpi it produces beautiful color as well as finishing capabilities such as saddle stitching, nestling and face trimming.  With Print Shop Mail software we will be able to run the mail piece such as a post card or brochure in beautiful color, personalize and address it for mailing all in one pass and in mail stream order.  Beautiful, fast and efficient.  It doesn’t get better than that.  Today’s customer wants quality, good pricing and quick turn around.  Burns will deliver on all three.  Back decades ago my husband had a humorous sign that said good, fast and cheap – pick two.  With today technology it should read good, competitive pricing and fast. It is possible to have all three.

Share on Facebook

Decorating the graves of our loved ones was a big day for me when I was growing up.  We traveled to my Uncle’s house (the childhood home of my Mother) for the occasion.  First we would go decorate the graves with flowers from a big galvanized tub.  Asbury Cemetery had a 5 foot wall around it and we loved to get up on the wall and walk on it.  My Mother knew almost everyone there and she would talk and visit with relatives and friends. I almost thought my name was Irene’s girl because all of my Mother’s relatives would refer to me as Irene’s girl. Let me state, without hesitation, that I am very proud to be Irene’s girl. My Mother is only with me as a wonderful memory and she left a legacy of love to all her children.  After the graves were decorated, we would go back to Uncle Earl’s house for an outside lunch.  I am only calling it lunch so that you would know what meal it was, because in the South it was dinner at noon and supper in the evening.  The men would put up tables made of saw horses and everyone would bring food.  What fun for a kid, lots of cousins, food and fun.

This Saturday, my two sisters and my husband Ken had the honor of decorating the graves at Asbury Cemetery.  We loaded my Buick Enclave with flowers, sisters and Ken’s wheelchair.  We did not walk the walls of Asbury Cemetery but we did walk through some memories of childhood gone by.  As we pulled up there was my cousin Shirley that I had not seen in years.  We all visited and made plans to get together soon with the remaining cousins.

We also went to New Gray Cemetery where my sister Joyce’s in-laws are buried to decorate their graves.  As we were leaving, they had American Flags and we stopped thinking they were selling them and Ken wanted to buy one.  They gave us the flag and I asked Ken where he wanted to put it.  He told me he wanted to put it on his Grand Father’s grave.  Richard G. Burns was the last surviving Spanish American War veteran in Blount County Tennessee.  Quite a man but that is a story for another day.

S

Share on Facebook