Seattle Bindery Newsletter: Issue No. 47. We welcome your comments.

1. Customers Should Be Your #1 Priority. According to a recent article in Adweek (August 13, 2001), how a company treats customers is much more important to consumers than other qualities, like innovation. In a study by Ipsos-Reid, 57% of respondents said that customer service mattered most, while only 29% cited innovation. Though this was a consumer study, the results are very similar to what our friend Dick Gorelick found when he asked printers the question, "What are the characteristics of the print companies likely to survive and prosper in the next five years?" At the top of that list was the same thing, "Good customer service."

2. Are eBooks the Next Big Thing or Not? For now, it seems they are "not." About a year ago, we heard book publishers forecasting that eBooks were the next big thing. But so far, we haven’t seen that claim materialize. While with any new invention, there’s always a slow adoption rate, with ebook technology in particular, the advantage it holds is hard to recognize. For instance, when it comes to price, eBooks can sometimes cost more than paperback books. eBooks are also difficult to read on small hand held screens. And now, concerns over Napster-like copyright infringements have made them even less available. Because book publishers have insisted that eBook software be modified to prevent unauthorized duplication, most publisher’s books can no longer be displayed on hand-held readers using this "new and improved" software.

3. Tip of the Week. What may work best for the printer isn’t always the best solution overall. When a job is bindery intensive, sometimes the next-best printing option is the one to get the job done more efficiently. This is another reason why it’s so important to consult your bindery early on. For example, say you have a job that’s easier to print one-up. But at the bindery, the layout turns out to be too small for automated production. Short of starting over and reprinting the order, the job would have to be finished by hand-gathering, hand-stitching and then hand-trimming every piece. As a result, production has slowed and costs have gone up. It all could have been avoided, though, if the job had been laid out two-up to begin with.

4. Patch-Edge Reinforcing. For customers who prefer the "patch" approach versus whole edge taping to reinforce holes, we offer patch-edge reinforcing. Patch-edge reinforcing uses less plastic and the 2-mil patch reinforcing is four times stronger than the 1-mil full-strip edge reinforcing. Furthermore, our equipment handles numerous hole patterns and it automatically punches and reinforces holes simultaneously. In some cases, it may provide quicker turnaround than whole edge taping. (On a side note, we’re running a 300,000 envelope job on it now.)

5. Peer Networks. You may remember a few newsletters back (Issue #40), we mentioned industry peer groups. Well, PIA has just announced that they’re forming new groups, as well as recruiting new members for existing groups. Call PIA for an application

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