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Quad Postal and Technology Forum
November 11, 2008
Last week, I attended a Postal Forum and Technology Tour at QuadGraphics. This was my first opportunity to attend one of Quad’s postal forums which were previously held in romantic spots as the Dominican Republic or Key West. This one was held in Milwaukee, where most of their plants are located.
Joel Quadracci spoke to us on Wednesday night about his hesitation to have the conference during the bad economic times, but was excited about the 75 attendees at the conference. Finally, after ten years, I met a Quadracci.
Some of the participants, besides Hammock Inc., were from Lord and Taylor, US News and World Report, Time Inc., Kohl’s Department Stores, Nature Conservancy, Smithsonian, Hearst magazines, Crain Communications, Grand Circle Travel and Yankee magazine.
On Wednesday evening, we toured the original Quad plant in Pewaukee. The plant has evolved through the years and now specializes in producing direct mail marketing pieces. I have a kitchen drawer full of personalized labels supplied by various groups. I bet that a majority of them were printed in that Pewaukee plant.
You know those credit card statements that we all love to get in the mail? At Pewaukee, these are printed, personalized, addressed and put into envelopes in mail sort order off the same press. Then, they are taken to another mail sorter that combines them in mail sort order with thousands of other credit card statements.
On Thursday we traveled to the largest printing plant in this hemisphere and/or in the world, the Quad plant at Lomira. Jeff Henke, director of QuadData Solutions, talked about the address management requirements that will be required by the United State Postal Service in 2009.
Our clients will need to prove that the addresses have been updated prior to mailing through JIT NCOA (Just in time – national change of address), Move Update, Address Change Service or another service. Our client NFIB should already be good to go.
A lot of the discussion at the conference concerned the Intelligent Mail Barcode. Pritha Mehra, vice president Mail Entry and Payment Technologies for the USPS and Phil Thompson, manager of Distribution Business Resources for Quad discussed the options for this service. I’ve already obtained Mailer ID numbers for our clients, which are required for the Intelligent Mail BarCode. Periodicals mailers will need to be ready by May 2009.
Below is a photo of the current Mail Bar Code:
And this is a photo of the Intelligent Mail Bar Code:
The new bar code contains more information about the mailer and the addressee. I wish I could say that we could track the magazine to its destination using the bar code, but that isn't one of its abilities.
One of the highlights of the forum for me was to see bindery operations and mailing operations of Quad. Their equipment can multi-bind and multi-mail different magazines at the same time to increase postal savings. Different magazines can also be polybagged and mailed at the same time to increase postal savings. The equipment has cameras to take photos along the line to make sure that the proper magazines are going to the correct subscriber. It’s amazing.
After the Lomira plant tour, Joe Muehlbach, director of facilities at Quad discussed their environmental practices. Quad has always been known for their wise, balanced use of all resources, minimizing consumption whenever possible. Quad recycles 98.6% of all solid wastes produced in their plants. The plant at Saratoga Springs, NY is a landfill waste-free plant. In their Sussex plant, food wastes are composted at their on-site daycare in a worm farm. The compost will be sold. Plus the daycare will have a garden to grow vegetables.
Since my passion is the environment, Joe mentioned some facts that caught my attention. Europe is 10-15 years ahead of the United States in environmental efficiencies. Also, he mentioned that within two years, 32 states will experience a water shortage, much like the one in the Atlanta area last year.
Distribution/Mail Delivery was the subject of Jeff Kruepke, director of Quad Transportation Services, session. Despite the drop in fuel costs, freight rates will continue to rise because capacity is less, equipment costs are rising and the credit crunch. Quad’s response is to continue to evaluate carriers, to find additional value and to maximize efficiencies.
Quad has purchased ten of the new Smart Way Trailers for semis. These trailers produce less drag resulting in a .5 to .8 mpg increase, which can make a difference if you’re shipping from Milwaukee to San Diego.
The first session on Friday dealt with pricing. Maura Robinson, vice president of pricing with the USPS discussed their pricing strategy. Price increases will be announced in February for a mid-May start. Unlike in the past, the postal increases are now based on the CPI.
Joe Schick, director of postal affairs for Quad Graphics, discussed the flats sequencing system, which is being adopted for use by the USPS. Basically, the address for the consumer will be upside down for processing on the new flats (read magazines and catalogs) equipment at the USPS. And, to the route deliverer, the address will be right reading.
I will keep our clients posted of any changes that they need to make to their mailing lists between now and May 2009.
Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day
October 29, 2008
I never thought that I had hazardous wastes in my home, but I do. What are they? Small household batteries, fluorescent tubes, compact fluorescent bulbs, old cell phones and out of date medications (both over-the-counter and prescription).
Although I drank the cool-aid of the green movement years ago, until recently I never realized the proper disposal of the above mentioned items. All of the above become pollutants in the soil in a landfill and drugs, often flushed down a toilet or dumped in a trash can, wind up in our water supply. Ooops, was that Vioxx in my coffee this morning?
Here's where to take your small household batteries, CFLs and fluorescent tubes, cell phones, unused or out of date medications and mercury thermometers this Saturday, November 1, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.
Metro Nashville Recycling drop off locations:
Hillsboro High School
Bellevue at the MTA Park and Ride
Dupont Hadley Middle School
Joelton Middle School
Elysian Fields Kroger
I'll be at the Bellevue location. And so will Metro Police to monitor the medications. If you bring in a mercury thermometer, you'll receive a digital thermometer.
Tennessee and Presidential Elections
October 15, 2008
Early voting begins today in Tennessee where Hammock Inc. is located. We're not a swing state or a battleground state, which annoys me. I like to be wooed, although I made up my mind in January who would get my vote. Well, truthfully, I made up my mind while still in the womb 56 years ago.
Since I'm a junkie for presidential elections, I checked this map from wikipedia to see how Tennessee has voted in each election since 1952, the year of my birth.
Tennessee has voted for every winner, except John Kennedy, in every Presidential election since 1952.
The other tidbit about Tennessee voting that I find intriguing is that if Tennessee had voted for native son Al Gore Jr. in 2000, he would have won the election. The Florida vote would not have been an issue.
How Well Do You See Color?
September 30, 2008
I receive regular emails from Creativeprose. Today, the editor features a link to an X-Rite site that tests your color perception. How Smart Are Hue?
I've always scored low on these tests conducted under perfect lighting conditions. I took the test this morning on my not-recently-calibrated monitor and scored 3. Perfect is 0.
I challenge Hammock, Inc.'s art and editorial departments to test their color perception on this. It's fun!
What to Do With Old Cell Phones
August 27, 2008
If you have a drawer full of old cell phones, here’s a link to the Keep America Beautiful Wipe Out Wireless Waste program. I’ve always donated my old cell phones to organizations that can reuse them or recycle them. Let’s keep them out of the landfills and the waterways.
Hammock T Makes It to New Mexico
July 20, 2008
Although other Hammock employees have traveled to Italy and Israel this summer, we're in New Mexico. Here's a picture of me wearing my Hammock tee in the Petroglyph National Park. Being a nature lover, I saw jack rabbits, road runners and lizards in the park.
A Company with a Green Spokesgoat
June 20, 2008
While I had first heard of Gruff during the 90s, I had not seen him around the Quad plants whenever I visited. Last spring I learned that Gruff is still around after all these years and is always ready to bleat about recycling.
Barbara: When I’m at Sussex on press checks for MyBusiness magazine, I notice containers for plastic, aluminum, glass and paper. What do you recycle in the corporate offices at Quad?
Gruff: Magazines, catalogs, newspapers, direct mail, cardboard, manila folders, Post-it notes, mail cardboard packaging, copier and all other paper and envelopes. Stuff I like to eat.
Barbara: What else do you recycle in the corporate offices?
Gruff: Toner cartridges from Dell and HP, Styrofoam packing peanuts, CDs, disks and tapes; all kinds of batteries. Stuff that I can’t eat.
Barbara: What about recycling in the printing and manufacturing areas?
Gruff: Quad recycles 98.5% of all solid waste generated in our plants, including paper, plastic strapping, wood, metal and computers. We divert more than 300,000 tons of material away from landfills annually, except for the paper I eat before it’s recycled. Since I’m getting up in goat years, I now mostly eat just the healthy entrees in the cafeteria.
Barbara: Quad runs a 24/7 operation like most printing plants. This must use lots of energy.
Gruff: We’ve reduced energy consumption 36% per printed page since the mid-1990s, saving enough energy to power approximately 21,000 single-family homes. Unfortunately, no one has figured out how many goat barns we could power on Quad’s efficiencies.
Barbara: As the green corporate spokesgoat for a major company, what advice can you give our readers?
Gruff: Long ago, I established these GOLDEN RULES OF RECYCLING for Quad employees:
1. Do not place trash with recyclables.
2. Do not place recyclables in the trash.
3. Do not mix together different types of recyclables unless noted otherwise.
Barbara: Thanks, Gruff, I hope to see you in Sussex soon. I like the button with your logo, Be a Gruff, Recycle Stuff.
Don't Litter
June 18, 2008
As everyone around Hammock Inc. is aware (sometimes painfully), I am passionate about preventing litter. I generate so little trash that I don't have a trash can in my office.
I recently attended a Metro Beautification and Environment Commission retreat. Here are some of the highlights:
Shawn Bible, the Beautification Coordinator for TDOT, was one of our speakers. I learned that TDOT spends over $6 million of taxpayers’ money each year to pick up litter off highways. And the streets are still a mess!
There is going to be a revival of the Adopt-A-Highway program in Tennessee. This is a program where a civic group adopts a couple of miles of highway to clean up three or four times a year. I see a great Team Hammock opportunity here.
Shawn spoke about how billboards are a multimillion dollar business and won’t go away. If you find them annoying, just live with it.
Tennesseans can also apply for grants to beautify highways in the Tennessee Roadscape Program.
Edith W. Heller, our state leader for Keep Tennessee Beautiful, spoke about how KTnB.org is the gold standard among states in the Keep America Beautiful program. Every county in Tennessee participated in the Great American Cleanup last year. No other state had every county participate. Over 25% of the citizens of Tennessee were part of a Great American Cleanup group, too. Around 25% of Hammock Inc. employees participated in an event in May.
From Ms. Heller's talk, I learned that a group is working to reduce the amount of cigarette litter (butts) in downtown Nashville.
The worst litterers are between 18-34 years old. This is a horrible statistic. Luckily, KTnB.org utilizes social media tools to target this group.
After the retreat, I’m encouraged that much is being done with school programs to discourage children from becoming litterers. I learned that there are lots of groups who care and who are working to solve the problem. Unfortunately, I hate that my tax dollars are going to clean up someone else’s trash.
One of the greatest things I learned was that Tennessee passed a litter law last summer, TCA 39-14-5. Officer Kevin Kennett of the Litter Patrol of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, also spoke to us.
The Tennessee litter law is online at www.ktnb.org/educationalresources.
Officer Kennett went over a few highlights of this law:
1. Getting caught tossing a cigarette butt up to five pounds of litter is punishable by a $50 fine and 40-hours of community service.
2. Criminal littering is tossing anything from 5-8 pounds on the roadways. The fines are more.
3. Aggravated criminal littering is 10 pounds or more. And the fines are even more.
I learned that 30% of the litter on our roadways is deliberate littering. Joe Smoo eats lunch in his car and tosses the McDonald’s bag out the window.
Now, 70% of littering comes from trash blowing out of open bed pick ups that over 40% of Tennesseans drive. In Tennessee, “motor vehicle{s}…shall be required to have such materials in an enclosed space or fully covered by a tarpaulin.” Officer Kennett is working with local police officers to make sure that this law is enforced. There is also a law that there must be 4" of clearance in the truck bed. Thus, loose litter must be contained within the back of the truck and covered by a tarp.
Quad is Certified by Forest Councils
This news comes from the Quad website:
(June 17, 2008) Building on its role as a leader in environmentally sound printing practices, Quad/Graphics now has certifications from the world's three leading forest management programs: the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).Quad/Graphics was the first national commercial printer to receive chain-of-custody certification from the FSC in 2004 and, now, with the SFI and PEFC certifications, Quad/Graphics vastly expands the pool of forest-certified paper suppliers from which its clients can choose.
"We are proud to receive these key certifications in all 10 of our core printing plants," said Joel Quadracci, President & CEO of Quad/Graphics. "This achievement affirms our efforts to support internationally recognized, science-based standards for best practices in forest management. It also offers important benefits to our customers by opening the door to new, worldwide networks of forest-certified suppliers."
QuadGraphics prints MyBusiness magazine for the National Federation of Independent Business.
Brown Printing Is PEFC Certified
June 10, 2008
And what does that mean? According to this entry on whattheythink.com,
PEFC certification provides an assurance mechanism to purchasers of wood and paper products that they are promoting the sustainable management of forests.
Semper Fi and American Spirit, published by Hammock Inc., are printed at Brown Printing.
Recent Posts
- Quad Postal and Technology Forum
- Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day
- Tennessee and Presidential Elections
- How Well Do You See Color?
- What to Do With Old Cell Phones
- Hammock T Makes It to New Mexico
- A Company with a Green Spokesgoat
- Don't Litter
- Quad is Certified by Forest Councils
- Brown Printing Is PEFC Certified
