This morning a customer came to me to ask if I could make a couple of rubber stamps for him. I told him sure and in the course of our conversation it came out that he actually needed two. One was for a STD Mail Indecia permit and the other was for a postal service endorsement.

We had just printed a fairly large order of flyers for this customer and without discussing it with us at all he decided that he was going to mail about 7500 of them. The poor guy went out and got several paper lists and proceeded to start addressing them in long hand!

After about 500 he then went to the post office to mail those he had completed.  That’s when he found out about the need for a permit etc.

Had he come to me first I could have saved him oodles of work. 

• We would have suggested printing some of the flyers as a self mailing post card and eliminated the expense of the envelope.
• We would have procured the list for him in an electronic format
• We would have walked him through the mailing process or partnered with a mail house to address and mail his piece.

Fortunately we had the conversation this morning and we were able to at least print some envelopes for him with everything required for the mailing. At least he won’t wear out his wrist with the rubber stamps.

As has been said so many times by so many experts, please give your printer the information he needs to achieve your goals.

 A Laypersons Guide to Graphic Design: Observatory: Design Observer.

Chinese Printers Play Dirty in Stealing US Customers | Talking Through My Hat.

This is a really good common sense article about Twitter and preserving your good name. Some could assume a lot about you based on your followers.

It’s a very timely follow up to my newsletter being sent today.

This article is both a wake up call and an indication that forests will be protected. If you use wood products in any way, paper, building, fuel you should take the time to read it.