PrimeNet is now a Printing Industry Midwest Member

PrimeNet is now a Printing Industry Midwest Member

Exciting News! PrimeNet is now a Member of Printing Industry Midwest.

The Printing Industry Midwest (PIM) is the trade association representing the graphic arts and communication companies in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Membership resources and benefits are designed to add value to companies that provide print, graphic communication services, market or manufacture supplies for the printing industry.

The Mission of PIM is to be the leading resource to enhance the strength and profitability of the printing, graphic communications and related industries through advocacy, education, safety and environmental information.

This is big news for us at PrimeNet because this Printing Industry Midwest membership includes

iJetColor Innovates Direct Mail Envelope Printing

By Jack Flick, Data Services

We’re pleased to announce our newest powerhouse of fast, efficient direct mail envelope printing here at PrimeNet. We’ve acquired the iJetColor 3.0 Envelope Press, and she’s running strong!

What this means for our customers is this:

PrimeNet now houses the capability to print four color direct mail envelopes quickly, and at an amazing value to our clients!

“The iJetColor 3.0 Envelope Press, powered by Memjet® and perfected by Printware®, is offered as a complete digital color printing solution bundled with an industry standard Xitron Navigator Harlequin RIP and workflow, a standard output tray and an iJetColor combo ink pack capable of printing thousands of 4-color envelopes, business cards or letterheads.

Advanced print technology usually demands a premium price – but not so with the new Printware iJetColor 3.0 Press. With a print speed three times that of traditional toner devices, the iJetColor consumables are roughly one-third the cost, offering

USPS NEWS: USPS Introduces “New” USPS BlueEarth Secure Destruction (SD) Mail Service

By Pat Tucker, Production

About “New” USPS BlueEarth Secure Destruction (SD):

“The Postal Service is excited to introduce the USPS BlueEarth Secure Destruction (SD) mail service to business mailers. This new sustainable mail service allows mailers to have automated First Class Mail that is undeliverable, automatically intercepted and destroyed securely at a postal facility, without an additional charge to mailers.

Reductions of the 1.4 billion pieces of returned to sender letter mail handled by the Postal Service will help reduce the carbon footprint left by the mailing industry. In its first year of operation, the USPS Secure Destruction mail service program successfully intercepted and destroyed over 25.3 million pieces of mail in FY 2015 and recycled over 645 metric tons of

Make Your Business Stand Proud!

Put Your Flag Up This Memorial Day with our American Flag Die Cut Mailer!

Memorial Day is an important time of the fiscal year for many businesses because many customers have finally thawed from Winter’s chill, and they are ready to get out and buy. As the unofficial start of summer, Memorial Day is full of opportunities for enterprising companies to turn a profit. Naturally, your marketing strategy plays a major role in the success of your sales, come Memorial Day weekend.

To help you increase your chances of success, here are
Four Marketing Tips for Memorial Day:

1. Start Your Marketing Early
Many companies wait until the weekend before Memorial Day to begin marketing their special sales. You can get a jump on the competition by beginning your direct mail campaign several weeks early.  Be the leader of the pack and send your direct mail piece to your customers two to three weeks before Memorial Day.  Start marketing early, and by the

Door Hangers : A Cost Effective Direct Marketing Vehicle

Door Hangers are a Cost Effective Direct Marketing Vehicle.

Door hanger marketing is often an ignored direct marketing program even though it offers great value and opportunity to businesses that are targeting a specific neighborhood or service area.

Door hangers are cost effective to print, and are an extremely effective marketing program for any industry. Door hanger advertising works FABULOUSLY for the Home Improvement industry i.e.: heating & air, roofing, remodeling, landscaping, lawn maintenance, and many others.

Whether you are bidding on a job, doing a repair, or on a scheduled service visit; having your sales person or technician place door hangers on just 15 homes around the appointment will increase your business in a concentrated area.

A Few Benefits of Door Hanger Marketing:

1. Cost effective direct marketing program.
2. Generates new business, increases your client base and creates name recognition in a targeted area.
3. Saves you money by reducing mileage and gas expenses on your vehicles.
4. Reduces drive-time, thus saving you money on drive-time compensation, and allowins more time for appointments.

USPS News – Falling Prices: Mandated Rollback Takes Effect April 10

By Mark Keefe,  President

USPS Pricing — keeping you informed about the prices and mailing standards of the United States Postal Service

“Absent Congressional or Court action to make the existing exigent surcharge for Market Dominant products and services part of the rate base, the Postal Service™ will be required to reduce prices for Forever stamps and other mailing products, effective Sunday, April 10.

The price of mailing a 1-ounce First-Class Mail letter will be 47 cents, down from 49 cents.

Letters with additional ounces will drop to 21 cents (from 22 cents), letters to international destinations will fall to $1.15 (from $1.20) and postcard prices will be 34 cents (from 35 cents).

Commercial prices will also decrease. The price reductions are required because

How will your business survive an internet outage?

By Julie Fleming, Information Technology

A recent day-long ISP outage for a large portion of our local clients has sparked us to provide some helpful information on the topic.

Be it weather or ‘technical issues’ everyone is bound to experience an outage at some point in their existence. In the direct mail industry, it is imperative to have a backup plan since, as the old adage goes, ‘the mail must go through.’

While most businesses are sustainable enough to withstand an internet outage of an hour or two, what happens when that outage is projected to last an an entire day, or, even worse, many days?

Most businesses have a handful of associates who are savvy enough to know how to ‘make it work’ and get tasks done from other locations, for example: grab a laptop and head to the coffee shop in the next town over, or utilize a mobile internet provider (which many companies subscribe to and use on a regular basis anyhow) – but what if your entire company had to figure out how to work from a remote location because the internet was down? Even worse, what if your building was flooded or rendered uninhabitable/unreachable because of the weather? (At PrimeNet, we ensure that inclement weather will not hinder our Data Center, of course, more on that here.)

While it would be immeasurably tedious to provide a comprehensive guide on what to do in every single type of outage situation, here are a few questions that should help your business plan

The Digital Age of Paper Mail

By Jack Flick, Data Services

U.S. Postmaster General’s Digital Strategy to Support the Paper Mailing Industry Aims for 2017 Launch of Mail Preview App:

Megan J. Brennan, Postmaster General and CEO of the United States Postal Service, recently announced efforts by USPS to lead a technology-driven reinvention of traditional paper mail during a keynote speech at the National Postal Forum—the annual mailing industry trade show, which ran from March 20th-23rd, 2016.

“The Postal Service is investing in our digital strategy, because there are limitless opportunities when we combine the power of mail with the ubiquity of mobile,” said Brennan. “We are committed to elevating the role of mail in American marketing and communications, and earning a bigger slice of the marketing pie.”

In her address, Brennan pointed to strategic initiatives and investments which will provide the mailing industry with vastly expanded digital capabilities. “Our vision is not confined to what we can accomplish in the next year or two.  We have to continue to build and focus on the