Note to Printer: You will probably not find it practical to import this to your wordprocessor to edit since this is strictly for our company, but you might get some ideas to use to come up with a similar one for your company. I would suggest printing a copy of this to your printer by using the print utility (you can find it on the help screen) and using that hard copy to refer to while doing your own. For your information, the filename is PRINTER.TXT. Introducing The Printer The Printer has brought to Lufkin a concept in printing that is new to the area - a printing plant small in size but gigantic in capacity and capability - a shop which offers both high quality quick printing and the higher quality commercial printing (generally an area serviced by larger shops with much higher overhead) - a shop that operates two shifts 5 days a week to give faster turn around - a shop that has highly sophisticated typesetting and desktop publishing equipment and the most experienced typographers in the area - the largest type library in East Texas, etc., etc., etc. Our motto is "We are the best at what we do...and we invite comparison." Libby Stapleton: Owner, typographer, business manager, has 18 years experience in commercial typesetting and layout. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Interior Design, she has had a lifetime interest in art, a comprehensive knowledge of layout and design, and the accuracy of a proofreader. Her early typesetting training was with a master of the old school - the publisher of a regional electronics/appliance trade journal. She started a trade typesetting firm in Houston and was considered by her trade association and her peers as being one of that area's most accomplished typographers. One of her largest customers was her husband, Cy, who published a singles magazine for Houston apartment dwellers. She founded Printer's News in 1974 and was joined by Cy who took over sales and editorial responsibility in 1975. Typesetting is her favorite part of the business, and she continues to learn by attending advanced technical sessions and seminars on the subject. Printer's News was recognized three consecutive years by the International Club of Printing House Craftsmen with that group's Key Award for outstanding reporting on printing. Not as visible as her husband, Cy, it is Libby who is responsible for the high quality of work the company has the reputation of producing. Libby also handles all of the company's books. Cy Stapleton: Owner, consultant/sales, has 33 years experience in graphic arts. Until Printer's News was sold to Coast Publishing, he did all of the cop copywriting for the publication. He still continues to write for Coast. He was one of the founders of a major Houston trade bindery, owned a highly successful medium size commercial printing operation in that city, and for many years did a great deal of public speaking on printing to both trade groups and the general public. When printers in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas have questions or problems with anything in the field of printing, Cy is generally the information source they ultimately end up going to. He has won numerous industry awards for both contributions he has made to the industry and for jobs he has produced. In 1978 he was recognized by his trade association for his outstanding contributions to the printing industry.The Director of the University of Texas Humanities Research Center, Austin, noted, "...you are doing more to make printing meaningful than anyone I know." When necessary, Cy can fill in on the typesetter and is generally the one who does the typesetting on business forms. He and Libby work closely with The Texas Renaissance Festival and Scarborough Faire, and operate the 15th century print shop at both festivals, entertaining some 200,000 visitors each year with demonstrations and talks about the history of printing. They are also the Royal Printers, providing most of the two festival's printing requirements, as well as publishing Ye Olde Newes, the souvenir magazine of the festival. He spends most of his time in front of a computer or with a telephone sticking out of his ear, and doing the general management of the company. Susie Lane: Susie is generally the first person one sees when they come into The Printer. As our Customer Service person, she has one of the toughest jobs in the firm. It is her responsibility to handle all walk-in and telephone customers, enter all quick printing, commercial, personal imprint and specialty printing orders, arrange for pick-ups and deliveries, handle order tracking and stock ordering, and writing invoices. When there is time, Susie also fills in as a proof-reader, works in the bindery and keeps Cy out of trouble. Susie came to the company while in high school as a DE student. She was so good at her job she took over the customer service department upon graduation three years ago. Mary Richardson: Mary is an outstanding press person who joined The Printer a few months after we opened in Lufkin. In addition to running the presses, she does a large portion of our camera work, stripping and platemaking. Within four months after being shown a press for the first time, she was producing jobs many printer's could not produce with even years of experience. Mary's philosophy is that difficult jobs are a snap. Impossible ones take a little longer. She has some five years experience working in the mailroom for a company in West Texas. That previous employer said of Mary, "I have never had an employee with the dedication Mary showed. She handled every job as if it were for herself and that her reputation was riding on that job -regardless of how large or small the job. I wish I had a dozen more employees just like her." So do we! Vance Abeldt: Vance is our old-timer, and the most experienced craftsperson at The Printer. Vance retired several years before coming with us after over 50 years experience in printing. He runs our personal imprint department and bindery. To Vance, as well as The Printer, letterpress is not dead. We use the process on all of our short-run personal imprints. Vance can hand set the type, mix the ink, cut the paper stock, run those short-run jobs and wash up the press before we could even process the paperwork to do the job in our offset department. George Farek: George runs the firm's night shift. He has over 30 years experience in offset and letterpress printing. During the day he runs the pressroom at Texas Foundry. He is a master craftsman on the small offset press. George was determined not to let the fact that he was a deaf mute be a handicap so he went to a technical school for the deaf to learn printing. He learned well and proved his condition was more of an inconvenience rather than a handicap. He is recognized as one of the area's finest small press craftsmen. George has been operating our evening shift since the company opened. Sue Farek: George's wife, Sue, works part time (almost full time most of the time) for the firm in the bindery department and delivery. Like George, Sue is a deaf mute, but it hasn't impaired her ability to learn to operate all of our bindery equipment. She has also been with us since the company opened. OUR FACILITY We are quite proud of our employees at The Printer. We have attempted to give them an ideal facility to work in and at the same time make visiting that facility a pleasant experience for our customers. We have a large, well-lit customer area, friendly and knowledgeable customer service personnel, and in general a place our customers like to visit. And, we are in the process of doing more. We have a customer viewing area where you can sit down and browse through our lines of wedding invitations, personal stationery, computer software, etc. Our Customer Information Sheets (such as this one) on printing in general and services we offer answer the most asked questions. In addition, they do an excellent job of eliminating much of the mystery that surrounds the process of printing. We make these customer information sheets available to other printers, and thousands across the country are using them now. We have the largest computer software library in East Texas and one of the largest in the country. You are invited to browse through our software at your convenience. You will find some of the finest IBM compatible software on the market. Each disk is priced at only $5.00. SEMINARS We have a classroom that will handle 20-30 attenders, and periodically offer seminars. These seminars are non commercial and cover varied subjects, such as "How to Save Money on all of Your Printing"; Entry level and applications computer seminars; and highly technical seminars for printers. Ask one of our employees for additional information. Those who have attended one or more of them tell us that they are among the most informative they have ever attended. OUR CAPACITY Don't let the size of our operation fool you. Our capacity is gigantic. A prospect walked into our shop recently and was very serious when he asked if we could handle a job of 20,000 circulars. We smiled and assured him that we could. It is not unusual for us to have in production 250,000 2-color brochures, 500,000 tickets, 1,000 full color brochures, 40,000 carbonless forms, 50,000 80-page magazines or several newspaper inserts. This is in addition to orders for 25 party invitations, 500 continuous letterheads, 500 envelopes, 100 newsletters, 500 business cards, 200 statements, a rubber stamp or a single photocopy. Some of it is produced in house and other parts are produced by trade shops we work with. What it boils down to is that "if it involves ink on paper, we can produce it", regardless of the quantity. We can produce basic quality quick printing or premium quality full color work - and everything in between. It is not uncommon for an individual to come in with a job he or she considers a major problem. Cumulatively we have a lot of years experience under our belts and one of us have run into most types of printing jobs. To us there are no problem jobs. There are some situations in need of solutions, but that is the name of the printing business. One thing we are very good at is finding solutions to those situations. We want to be your printer. Let us make you look good. When you have something to take to the printer, we hope that you will take it to The Printer - Lufkin's Friendliest Printer!