My late husband and founder of Burns Mailing & Printing, Ken Burns, loved to walk and find money that folks had thrown away. The most he found was $20.00 along side the road and the least of course was a penny. Some people won’t pick up a penny but Ken and I had known days when we did not have a penny so nothing was too small to pick up. Now when my daughter and I see a penny and pick it up, we think of Ken. I was cleaning out some old files today and there was a penny in one of the folders. It reminded me of Ken and his walks everyday and how proud he was when he came home with a hand full of change. If you have never been without, it seems a small thing but should remind us that we should take care of even a penny. They add up and you never know when you might need one.
Month: June 2015
Window Envelopes
June 19th, 2015
The dimensions of the window on a window envelope is very important these days. The window should have a slightly larger window than previously used with the PostNet bar-code.The larger window will meet the requirements for the Intelligent Bar-code, that the United States Postal Service requires in order to qualify for postal discounts on Standard A mail. Before ordering large quantities of envelopes, it is a good idea to let your mailer check to make sure that the envelopes you are ordering meet USPS specifications and that they will run on the mailers equipment.
If Burns Mailing & Printing is processing your statements and invoices, we will keep an inventory of all your envelopes and notify you when they a certain level is reached so that a new order may be placed.
Window Envelopes
June 19th, 2015
The dimensions of the window on a window envelope is very important these days. The window should have a slightly larger window than previously used with the PostNet bar-code.The larger window will meet the requirements for the Intelligent Bar-code, that the United States Postal Service requires in order to qualify for postal discounts on Standard A mail. Before ordering large quantities of envelopes, it is a good idea to let your mailer check to make sure that the envelopes you are ordering meet USPS specifications and that they will run on the mailers equipment.
If Burns Mailing & Printing is processing your statements and invoices, we will keep an inventory of all your envelopes and notify you when they a certain level is reached so that a new order may be placed.
Doing What is Required
June 16th, 2015
Winston Churchill said “sometimes it is not enough that we do our best; we must do what is required”. That got me thinking about a lot of things that happen in our life. My husband Ken had a stroke in 2010 and was in a wheelchair and required 24 hour care. He passed away in 2014 from leukemia. I cared for Ken and ran our family business for 4 1/2 years. Several people stated, “I don’t know how you do it”. I did it because it was required and I loved him and wanted to take care of him.
Sometimes life throws us a curve, either in our personal life or in our business life, but the survivors do what is required.
Printing Has Changed Since I Started 25 Years Ago
June 15th, 2015
When I started in printing, the type was being set on a Compugraphic machine, then it was waxed onto a board and then an image taken with a camera that was as big as my desk. Film was developed and then the film was stripped into flats and finally an image burned on a metal plate. Talk about labor intensive and it required a lot of skill. Today everything is controlled from our graphics department. They control not just design and specifications for Postal standards but also several pieces of our equipment, such as the computer to plate, our digital press and our paper cutter. Everything is programmed in the graphic department and sent to the various machines. It still requires a lot of skill but not as many people and it is much faster. It truly is golly, gee technology, or at least, it is to me.
Every time we are able to add a new technology in our business, it amazes me what all the equipment will do. I am still wowed by our new NeoPost DS-1200 inserter/addressing machine that runs a speeds of 12,000 per hour.
Bad Data Files Can Cost You Money
June 11th, 2015
A customer asked me one day, what is the biggest problem that you have in mailing. That was easy to answer, it is receiving bad data files from the customer. It is important to have a separate field for first name, middle name, last name, street address, state and zip code. Bad data will end up costing you money, if the mailer has to fix the data files. If the mailer has to fix the files, then the mailing could also be delayed.
If you are a non-profit organization, it is not a good idea to let volunteers enter data, because of the inconsistency. Having one person entering data correctly can save time and money.
Digital Printing and Offset Printing Do Not Look The Same
June 10th, 2015
Don’t make the mistake of comparing apples to oranges. Digital printing, for small runs under 5000, and offset printing on a conventional press do not look the same. Digital toner sets on top of the paper and is more vivid, while printing ink is absorbed by the paper. So if you run a small job on a digital press and the next run is a larger number, do not expect them look the same.
Coating Applied To The Addressing Area Of A Postcard
June 9th, 2015
I was reminded today of a problem that we come across occasionally, and that is applying a coating on post cards, brochures etc. in the addressing area of the mail piece. We had a post card delivered to us from another printer and it had the coating in the addressing area. If applying a coating it should not be applied to the addressing area because the inkjet cannot lay down a barcode that will pass USPS standards. The ink beads up and that is a problem because all mail going into the bulk mail unit must pass a Merlin test. If the barcode fails Merlin, the postage will increase. How much? We do not know why the increase will be until it has been tested by Merlin standards.
However, if Burns is printing the post cards etc. we make sure that all USPS specifications are met before printing.
National Donut Day
June 5th, 2015
It is Friday and National Donut Day. My greatest pleasure in my childhood was to go with my Mother to downtown Knoxville and get a donut. Doesn’t sound like much these days but we lived in the country, it was West Knoxville, but in those days very much in the country. Trips to town were infrequent and even then I did not always get a treat, so maybe that is why it was such a big deal to me. Another treat was to go to the dime store and get a small bag of peanuts. They had a machine that kept them hot and they were oh so tasty. I still love donuts and peanuts to this day. It is hard for me to turn them down when they are in the house.
Back To Work After A Beach Trip
June 1st, 2015
I don’t know how I got blessed to have two beach trips in 2015. In March, I went to Tamarindo Beach in Costa Rica with my daughter and her family, and today is my first day back from a girls beach trip with my sister and my nieces. I had never been on a girls beach trip as I had been married for 52 years and loved going to the beach with Ken. I loved the girls trip as we only did what, well, what girls want to do. That is lay on the beach with a good book, do some shopping and eat lots of seafood.
There is just something about the ocean that does the soul good. I came back rested and happy and ready to get back in my routine. As Dorothy, in the Wizard of Oz says, “there is no place like home”.
My trip was made even better because I have a great staff of employees who took care of everything and made relaxing every sweeter. Thanks Burns crew.