From: TomCrouser@aol.com
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 20:08:29 -0400
Subject: Favorite Vendors
Content-Length: 11952
X-UIDL: 838690253.000

Distributed to the Crouser Report OnLine  July 29, 1996 
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Hotline Newsletter #23
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Hotline newsletter is a free periodic newsletter from Cy Stapleton, Helene s
Hotline. The newsletter expands on Hotline questions, covers questions of
interest to the graphic arts industry, and offers a forum for readers to ask
questions, make statements, and respond through the newsletter. Helene s
Hotline is a free source resource provided by the PTN Graphic Arts Group -
Quick Printing, Southern Graphics, Printing News East, and Printing News
Midwest magazines. If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, send an
e-mail message to hotinfo@printer-net.com and in the Subject or Topic area
type the word UNSUBSCRIBE. Infoserver ignores anything in the message area.
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My Favorite Vendors & Trade Show Attendance...

davearrow@aol.com hit me with an interesting question that normally I would
not touch with a ten foot pole. As 

Helene

 of Helene s Hotline I recommend
trade sources across the country and I attempt to be as fair as possible by
making suggestions in a rotating order. But, when asked a direct question I
believe in responding with a direct answer.

Dave wanted to know what my short list of outstanding vendors would be for
someone wanting to get started or expand their presence in the wonderful
world of outsourcing. The below list is comprised of companies I have known
or dealt with for a very long time and for the most part let me make a great
deal of money over the years. They pretty much cover the vast majority of
areas a new outsourcer would be interested in.

Business Cards - West Texas Printing - 800-255-5484 - I ve been doing
business with these folks for over 30 years and our relationship has been
outstanding. They also have a nice line of business stationery.

Labels - Flamingo Label - 800-535-6399 - Prices and delivery have always been
excellent. The couple of times they blew a job over the years they reprinted
immediately.

Screen Printing - Stouse Sign & Decal - 913-764-5757 - These folks are real
pros in the area of screen printing - signs, political printing, etc. Prices
are pretty good, too.

Business Forms - Ennis Business Forms - 800-443-6647 - This is one of the
industry s premier vendors with a very large line of stock and custom forms
and much more.

Continuous Forms, Short Run - 800-798-2011 - An outstanding vendor for short
run continuous forms. Fast turnaround and great prices. Really nice people,
too.

Snapout (Unitset) Forms - Reliable Business Forms - 904-252-0807 - Pricing,
delivery and quality has always been outstanding. Very helpful CSRs. The have
done some pretty complicated forms for me over the years and I have yet to
have a screwup on a job they produced.

Magnetic Products - Archer Products - 800-843-6703 - Truly outstanding
pricing and quality. On one of the last jobs I sold before selling my
printing company, these folks produced. I was low bidder on the job and
turned a $650 cost job into a $3,800 sale.

Advertising Specialties - CHS, Inc. - 800-872-5329 - The ad specialty
industry can overwhelm you, but these folks have a nifty illustrated catalog
with a wide range of products that will let you get your feet wet in the
industry, plus make a 100% profit on the sale.

Booklets - Whitehall Printing - 800-321-9290 - I only have used these folks a
couple of times over the years but their price, quality and turn around time
was always excellent.

Calendars - Keith Clark - 800-333-1125 - This is one of the industry s
premier calendar manufacturers and really nice people to work with. I ve made
a lot of money off their products.

Process Color Printing - One Stop Color Printing - 800-638-8892. Not the
easiest people in the industry to deal with sometimes, but their quality and
prices are superb. You can knock the competition dead if your job falls
within their capabilities.

High Speed Copies - Copies Tomorrow - 800-733-5247 - I love dealing with
these folks. Many times I could have them run my jobs faster and less
expensive than I could on my own high speed copier.

Well, there you have it. There are literally thousands of other outstanding
vendors across the fruited plain, but that was not the question. These are
ones I have dealt with. Hopefully my many friends in the industry who have
competitive firms will understand.

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Trade Club Attendance

Some time back I did a piece in Southern Graphics magazine about the
declining attendance at trade clubs around the country. I had a number of
responses which were mentioned at one time or another. Below is a response
just received from my old friend, Dr. Allen Fousek of Houston. The question I
presented was why was attendance declining.

Cy:
Many months ago you wrote a piece about the attendance at printing club
meetings and you mentioned my name. Unfortunately I have spent this time
looking at my crystal ball, and I do not have an answer. But I have a few
thoughts that might help answer your question.

I don t believe that one single event has led to the lack of membership and
attendance at printing clubs. If they were meeting the needs of the members
there would be a greater interest. But with so many diverse activities, the
interest has waned. Below are some of my thoughts.

It has been said many times that many shop owners were craftsmen, not
businessmen. They learned their trade and then saved some money and went into
business for themselves. What would it cost for an individual in the 1920 s
to buy a used Gordon, a few type cases and some furniture? If he needed more
type he would go to a composition house. Binderies could handle those chores.
He was in business.

How much would it cost for an individual to buy a Multi in the 1950 s? The
printer would have some form of prep house do the work, including making the
plate and he was in business.

When we study printing in the past we must remember that very few companies
acquired the facilities to operate a printing plant. This was especially true
when letterpress was the primary method of printing. In the 1960 s Multi had
a slogan about letting your secretary be your printer. It was not wholly
successful, but it planted an idea. Then along came the copy equipment. It
was clean and fitted in the decor of an office. What skills are essential in
operating a copy machine?

The costs of starting a printing business from scratch make it almost
prohibitive for the young person to acquire the funds necessary to start a
business. The quick printing business appears to be operated by those who are
very familiar with a balance sheet and an income statement. They are not
really interested in a new type of fountain solution, ink, or any other facet
of the industry unless it can show them how they can make more money. I am
not saying this is wrong, but rather what I have observed.

A number of years ago I was involved with a local quick printing group. The
group met monthly and almost all of their meetings revolved around a balance
sheet and an income statement. During one of these meetings a craftsman and I
were discussing a problem and we shared ideas on how to overcome the problem.
This individual s employer suggested that he should no longer attend meetings
if he was going to give away 

secrets.



How many basketball stands were in yards during the 1960 s? How many biking
trails or running paths were available at this time? How many people did you
see 

walking the mall?

 Most fraternal organizations are facing the same
problem. Few apply for membership, and many do not attend after becoming
members.

I realize that I have not given you a solution. It may be that what we
enjoyed in the past will now disappear. Those of us who were involved had the
opportunity to enjoy the good times and we will miss those. But, all good
things must come to an end, and this may be that end.
	Allen Fousek
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Allen s observations are pretty much in line with what I have observed. Those
entering the industry now are quite different from those I saw in the 1950 s
and  60 s. In those days, the high point of the month was when the Craftsmans
Club or Litho Club met and you had the opportunity to visit with fellow
industry members and share knowledge.

Today, as Allen noted, the vast majority of new small shop owners appear to
be far more interested in tweaking this or that to increase their bottom line
than are they interested in experimenting with a new process, ink, fountain
solution, or whatever. Many do not even fully understand exactly what makes
the offset process work or the difference between offset and letterpress.

I have talked to more than one small shop owner who lost his pressperson and
had absolutely no idea what he was going to do until he found another one.
His knowledge of the actual running of the press is many times elementary, if
that - but they are pretty good at maintaining a decent level of profit -
until such time as they lose that pressperson.

Like Allen, I fear that the old days where printers got together with the
idea of sharing their knowledge are, for the most part gone forever. Our
craftspersons are being replaced with button pushers.

I recall a meeting in Houston some 30 years ago where had a letterpress job
that required justified type to be set inside a circle and a line of type in
a circle around that justified type. I had spent hours trying to get that
type set and locked up and it still wasn t right. Several of the old timers
at the meeting shared some of the tricks they had learned. When I went back
to my shop and tried them, they worked. That was a typical meeting - not an
unusual one. The sharing of experience was every bit as important and
rewarding as was the social intercourse. I hate to see.
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Memory Chips

We are still taking orders for the low cost memory chips. If you need to
upgrade your memory, check out the web site of MidWest Memory. They only sell
to authorized dealers, of which I am one. Their minimum order is 20 chips. If
anything hits your hot button, fax your order to me. We are combining orders
for the minimum and I will be placing the order on July 22. Add $5 for
shipping and if you are putting your order on a credit card, add 2.5% to
cover my merchant fee. Fax your order to (409) 637-7475. This is the best
dealer cost on memory I have found.
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Commercial

The PTN Graphic Arts Bookshelf has introduced the new Business Forms
Encyclopedia on CD. There are over 600 ready-to-go business forms in
PageMaker format. If you do not have PageMaker, there is an editor on the CD
for you to use. You can modify the forms, move lines, change words, etc. then
drop in your customer s logo and company information and you are ready to go.
The CD is dual media - both Mac and PC and comes with a reference book that
illustrates each form. Forms in the reference book are indexed to the form on
the CD. A bargain at $89.99 plus $5.00 shipping and handling. You can fax
your order to (409) 637-7475 or mail it to: PTN Graphic Arts Bookshelf, Box
151107, Lufkin, TX 75915. MasterCard, VISA, Discover, or American Express are
accepted.
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