File Prep for Your Printer

Often clients are asking me how to supply their files. Should they step them up or prep them in any other way for us?

The truth is that in today’s market, file prep has become quite user friendly. In most cases, all a printer needs is a high resolution PDF with crops and bleeds. However, I always recommend that a client send the printer their working files as well - including all fonts and links.

Why you may ask? We will almost always work from your PDF, but unpredictable results still happen with files such as transparency issues, color alterations or in some cases the dreaded file corruption. Working files give your printer the ability to troubleshoot these issues and make the file work. Another great benefit of sending the working files is that we can make changes at the last minute. Even files that are looked over thousands of times before they are sent to print have typos or last minute revisions. Sending us the working files give us the opportunity to make these changes for you, which can speed up the production process. In today’s age, client expect rapid turn times, every second counts.

Should a file be stepped up or supplied in spreads of any kind? With today’s software, submitting files has become more simple than it used to be. Our equipments’ rip software’s can do more than ever before: from stepping a file up, building printer spreads, printing variable data, and building booklets. So in almost all cases you just need to send your file as single pages, sized with crops and bleeds, and we can do the rest on our end.

A lot of times clients are mistaken in thinking that stepping the file up on their end is saving us time or helping the production process. However, in most cases it either limits us from getting more out on a page (which in turn can give you a better price) or puts us in a position to redo the work so that we can get the file stepped up correctly for our machine and our paper restrictions/needs.

Struggling with a file? Contact KPB today at 513-681-4450!

Print Management

There is a big meeting tomorrow and your staff members are running into your office in a panic over lack of advertising materials. You are wondering what kind of staff you hired... Who felt they should wait until the last minute to check?

Does this scenario sound familiar? KPB Commercial Printing can help. We offer an online print management system for storing and managing digital assets. Everything from stationery to business cards. This system will allow you to view all of your printed materials, inventories, place a request for printed materials, all with a couple clicks of your mouse.

Visit our website www.kpbcorp.com, click on “order online” and again on “test the system” to see how it works. If you like what you see, contact us to see how you can become a part of the print management system!

Every Door Direct Mail

The United State Postal Service is heavily advertising Every Door Direct Mail. If their ads have peaked your curiosity, here are the highlights...

Reaches consumers in their homes

• You can reach your customers by neighborhood, city or zip code without specifying addresses.
• Your printed piece is simply delivered with the day’s mail to the area you pick.

Size the piece how it best works for your product or service.

• Flexible range of sizes offered.

• Every Door Direct Mail is a simple/cost effective option with being able to send 5,000 pieces without a permit for postage.

Will help your messages work harder since you are picking your audience.



Take your printed piece directly to the post office in the area where the mailer needs to go out and it can all be sent for as little as 14.5 cents per piece.

www.usps.com/business/every-door-direct-mail.htm

Save on Postage by Going Digital!

New Mobile Barcode Incentive

The USPS has announced that they will once again offer the Mobile Barcode (QR Code) incentive to mailers starting July 1, 2012 through August 31, 2012. The Mobile Barcode incentive will offer customers a 2% up-front discount off all eligible postage. The incentive will be available on Standard Mail and First Class Mail letters, flats and cards that contain a mobile barcode (QR code) that can be read and scanned by a mobile device.

Mailers wishing to take advantage of this incentive must register for participation on the Business Customer Gateway. Registration will begin well in advance of the actual promotion, beginning on May 1, 2012.

Mail Content Requirements

The mobile barcode must be a two-dimensional barcode or similar technology that either leads the recipient to a webpage that allows the customer to purchase a product or service on a mobile device OR lead the recipient to a personalized URL (PURL). The webpage must contain information relevant to the content of the mailpiece and some of all the services and/or products advertised must be available for purchase on a mobile device.