One Week To Our Open House

admin — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:14:30 +0000

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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Business Round Table

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:13:17 +0000

About 17 years ago, through the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, I joined a small business round table. It consists of small business owners. We get together each month and have informal discussions about challenges, successes and just general topics that affect any small business owner. When I first joined there were other women in the group. We had a women audio store owner and a CPA and a few others. It was 17 years ago so pardon my bad memory please. Over the years for one reason or another the women have dropped out or sold their business and it is now to the point that I am the only women with 5 men. They let me hang out with them each month and treat me as an equal. Well sometimes anyway. We have seen each other go through some rough times and some good times both in business and in our personal lives. Anything we discuss is strictly between the group, so we feel free to discuss just about anything. Several times, we have taken trips with our spouses, so we have gotten to know the spouses as well.

I treasure this group because of the close business bond that we have developed over the years and the friendship that we share. I recommend to anyone who owns a small business that you find some like minded business owners and form a business round table for mentoring, for sharing ideas and most of all you will form a long lasting friendship if you have the kind of friends I have found in my business round table.

Dale Read, one of our members who owns Read Windows shared a success with us today. His company was awarded the contract for window covering for the State of TN Capital Building. Way to go Dale.

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Printing Annual Reports and How To Save Postage

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:54:41 +0000

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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Printing, Personalizing and Addressing All At The Same Time

admin — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:11:22 +0000

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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Mailing Lists

admin — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:43:42 +0000

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.

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Color Calibration For Digital Printing

admin — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:15:31 +0000

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Paper vs Electronic Are We Really Being Earth Friendly By Going Electronic?

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:41:01 +0000

We all have heard how we should not print an email or send out junk mail because of all the paper that we waste. I just read a report by International Paper about how much E-Waste hurts the environment. We are buying more and more electronic products than ever, me included, and we abandon them faster. I am in love with gadgets. I love my IPhone, IPod, IPad and I recently went all the way with an Apple computer for work. Each new generation brings more excitement. I just received an IPad for Christmas and love playing with it every evening. I was just as happy as could be with it until one of vendors stopped by today and he had the new IPad that just came out. Each new generation bring more bells and whistles and gee whiz technology. Every time a new device arrives an older one becomes obsolete. Next comes the question of how will we dispose of the old? You can find a list of retailers and manufacturers who have plans in place for recycling by going to the Environmental Protection Agency website www.EPA.gov.

Now to emails. Every email sent results in energy use and greenhouse gases. With an estimated 62 trillion spam emails a year, that’s equivalent to the electricity used in 2.4 million homes, with the same GHG emissions as 3.1 million passenger cars. That so called junk mail in your mail box doesn’t seem quite so bad when compared to that.

Bottom line is that only 18% of e-waste is recycled in the U.S. Over 70% of office-type papers consumed domestically was recovered for recycling, and that paper can be recycled between five and severn time.

We all need to be earth friendly and recycle both E-Waste and Paper. No, I am not getting a new IPad just because the screen is so much brighter and the resolution is so much better. I will just wait for the 5th generation and play Words With Friends with my daughter on my new, but old IPad.

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QR Promotion is back with 2% Discounts on Postage for Qualifying Mail

admin — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:26:31 +0000

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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I Am A Fan Of KUB and TVA Today

admin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:11:55 +0000

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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USPS Will Phase Out Its Old Postnet Barcode System

admin — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:42:38 +0000

Below is new information we received that I wanted to share with you.

March 2012

The US Postal Service is now phasing out its old POSTNET barcode system, as it prepares to make its new Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) tracking system standard across its network.

The move was formally proposed in the Federal Register today, after mailers were informed last month that automation letters and flats will need to be using the basic IMb system from January 2013 to qualify for discounts.

From the following year, the requirement will be raised for mailers to be on the IMb “Full Service” system to secure mail discounts.

The phase-out of POSTNET covers automation mail including Business Reply Mail letters that qualify for Qualified Business Reply Mail prices and Permit Reply Mail letters, and also applies to some parcels, though not those using the POSTNET code within address blocks, according to USPS.

The IMb Full Service option offers mailers access to a greater level of visibility and discounts than the Basic option, but requires barcodes to be unique to each mailpiece.

Various additional benefits are currently in development at USPS to further enhance the value of IMb Full Service, including the elimination of permit fees and new easier payment options.

USPS said wider use of its IMb system should also reduce processing costs by increasing barcode recognition rates, helping to keep down postage rates.

Jim Cochrane, the USPS vice president of product information, told Post&Parcel: “We are beginning to provide the incentives to get people to move into Full Service, and by January of 2014 there will be a requirement to be in a Full Service environment – because we believe the power of this technology is too important for mailers to miss.”

IMb

The IMb system combines the data contained within the old POSTNET and PLANET Code systems. Its barcode includes information like the mailer ID number and service type identifier for a mailpiece, along with information like zip code and household sequence number.

As well as allowing detailed tracking for mailpieces, it allows participation in multiple USPS service programmes or promotions without the need for mailpieces to be cluttered by multiple barcodes.

The proposal to phase out POSTNET by January 2013 is now subject to a comment period until April, with USPS telling Post&Parcel that they are encouraging mailers to come forward with their views on the move.

USPS said today: “The Postal Service understands that many mailers currently use POSTNET barcodes. We are committed to working with individual mailers and software providers to ensure that the use of an Intelligent Mail barcode is achievable for all mailing customers.”

Burns Mailing & Printing, Inc. has been using the Intelligent Mail bar-code since 2008. Our Mailing Manager has achieved the Mailpiece Quality Intelligent Mail Professional Certificate issued by the United States Postal Service.

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