[PrintOwners] lick and stick

[Jodi Bowser]

Craig:

Glad to see you still have a positive attitude, as does your customer.
Hope you get this resolved.


Jodi Bowser
Pyramid Printing - Missoula, Montana
www.pyramidprintingmt.com
jodib at blackfoot.net
Member NAQP #205787
Member Garden City BNI
406-728-1503
fax 406-728-0505

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Craig Vestal" <craig at portageprinting.com>
To: <printowners at printweb.org>
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 2:05 PM
Subject: [PrintOwners] lick and stick


> ***** This is a PrintOwners List Message *****
>
> We have been in this business for more than 30 years, and every day there 
> is an incredible new challenge to learn from. Today's involved envelope 
> converting. We ran 75,000 4/4 appeals for a  local nonprofit that also 
> needed a reply envelope. I cleverly designed it into the end of the 
> self-mailer and we got approval from the client. We printed all the 
> sheets, and then sent them out to be scored and perfed and the envelope 
> pocket glued shut on each side.  So far so good.
>
> The brochures came back on time and we noticed that the horizontal 
> "remoistenable" glue strip was unusually thick and shiny...kind of like 
> you see from a hot glue gun. After the piece went out, our client started 
> getting the envelopes back - UNSEALED. The glue failed on about 85 % of 
> the time and the envelopes came back with the donor info uncovered and the 
> payment falling out. Later, they got a call from a woman who was going to 
> the hospital because she licked one of these and her tongue puffed up and 
> lost all sensation - she wanted the newspapers and radio stations to carry 
> an alert concering the possible poisoning threat. Her doctoctor diagnosed 
> an allergic reaction and we did not do any publicity about the danger.
>
> Client is upset.
>
> We had a couple of meetings with the envelope converters and the salesman 
> attempted to address our concerns by eating three of the envelopes at the 
> meeting while we watched. His mouth felt fine, he assured us. We asked for 
> a discount (we got it) and some help with the remaining 1500 brochures 
> that the client wanted for face-to-face solicitations over the coming 
> year. The envelope guys told us happily that they had a solution: they ran 
> the pieces back through another glue machine and put "good" glue on top of 
> that bad glue and it "really really works."
>
> Today we took the fixed envelopes back to the client. She licks one, and 
> the entire 8 inch strip of "good" glue fell off the envelope and dangled 
> from her tongue. She said that it was "unthatithfactory am pleathe take 
> them back and rerun them. Pluth they tathte tewwible."
>
> We all stood around looking at them here at the shop. I picked one up and 
> found that if I ran it over the edge of the desk, the entire strip of 
> "good glue" popped right off and fluttered to the floor. Seven of us stood 
> around popping glue strips for an hour, and now we have a carton of 
> brochures that are nice and clean like they were 2 days ago. We are taking 
> them to another vendor who will put a strip of 2 sided tape on top of that 
> BAD glue and perhaps save this job yet again! The mailing has been a huge 
> success, our client has broken records for the money that this piece has 
> generated - so I don't think that I have lost a customer over this.
>
> But my envelope converter has.
>
> Craig Vestal
> President
> Portage Printing
> 1116 W Centre, Portage, MI 49024
> 269.323.9333
> PortagePrinting.com
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