Been outside? Holy cow! Must be blowing over 60mph. I heard Heavenly Valley was going to open today. Can you say “wind hold?”

Unfortunately, this sort of wind affects more than just our ability to ride a chair-lift. If affects our power. The last 30 minutes have seen spikes, outages and brownouts here at Reno Type. This makes it really hard to work (and potentially expensive… delicate equipment was not meant to be treated this way).

The weather conditions will affect our ability to complete work today…. we’re doing our best, but Ma Nature is in the driver’s seat right now. Sorry for any inconvenience!

In looking over 2009′s sales, I found a somewhat surprising bright spot. While our overall sales are down (big surprise!), we had one segment, Giclee reproduction, that almost doubled since the previous year. As far as we know, we’re the only conventional “color house” still in business in the area. We still operate a high-end scanner, and have years of color expertise to back it up, so it makes sense that people would turn to us for high end art reproduction. Nevertheless, it is a surprising piece of growth. I don’t know if anyone else in town does giclee reproductions at a professional level. Maybe that’s the reason for the growth.

We carry 4 high end substrates: 3 100% cotton rags (1 textured, 1 smooth, and 1 semi-gloss), and the best and most archival canvas that can be found. Every giclee reproduction includes a letterpress printed “certificate of authenticity”

Feel free to give us a call if you’ve any questions about Giclee, or would like to see samples of our work.

I heard this from a potential client the other day. They said they were considering not calling us because of our reputation for producing the best quality printing. They assumed we’d be too expensive. Wow. A huge compliment… but maybe not the best of all possible outcomes.

It’s good to know that that’s our reputation. And of course, quality is important to us. But quality can’t be the competitive advantage. It can’t be a “unique selling proposition.” Quality is GIVEN. It is expected. You must provide quality work, or no one will work with you.

This begs the question.: “What IS Reno Type’s unique selling proposition?” We can answer it in a word.

“Honesty.”

We won’t take on a job we can’t do, or a turnaround time we can’t meet. Our prices won’t madly fluctuate based upon what the “other guys” are charging today. If you’ll honestly share your goals, we’ll honestly help you meet them. Even if it means sending you to one of our competitors. We know that fairness and honesty matter. We may loose out on a project from time to time as a result, but we’re not looking for “projects.” We’re looking for relationships. And relationships are nurtured by honesty and trust.

Got a question about printing? Or a price? Wondering if you’re getting the runaround? Drop us a line. We’ll give it to you straight.

Every year, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, we print holiday cards for our clients. The closer to “der tag” we get, the more we print. It seems that the holiday card is a promotion everyone does, and everyone puts off till the last possible moment. That works out well for us…everyone knows we’re the fastest printer around, so we can help. But in getting ready for this years “rush,” we had an idea. Want to hear it? Tough. I’ll tell you anyway.

Don’t wait till the last minute. In fact, do it now! We’ll help by giving you a financial incentive.

25% off any custom Holiday cards ordered before Thanksgiving. And that’s the real deal. We’re not making it 20% more expensive and marking it down 25%… We’re taking our best price, and cutting it by 25%. The only limitation? No same day or overnight turnarounds. But since you’re ordering EARLY… that’s not much of a limitation.

Yes we’re open on Wednesday. We’ve chosen to honor the fighting men and women of the United States Armed forces by engaging in one of the practices that they fight, and have fought, to maintain: The right of Americans to work hard and make a buck.

Thanks to all of YOU who have continued to trust us with your projects over the last 27 years (and over the last one especially!). We’re really busy, and it feels great!

One of the most challenging things in the world of printing, whether offset, digital or letterpress, is figuring out how much to charge. Too much, and you don’t get the work. To little, and you don’t make enough money to keep the doors open. Printers in Reno/Sparks with roughly the same capabilities should have roughly the same costs… and therefore very similar prices. In such a situation, a client will make a decision base upon relationship, not a 1% price difference (one hopes!).

We at Reno Type have a pretty good handle on our costs. We know that our raw cost of goods, monthly, is about 23% of sales. It’s been as high as 26%, and as low as 20%. This is pretty good. Knowing this, the prices we offer our customers are consistent. Month to month, year to year: what we charge is based upon our costs. If paper cost goes up a bit, our prices go up a bit. For work that we’re really good at, or that represents ongoing monthly work (like variable data mailers for small and medium sized casinos, say), we are able and willing to cut our margins and be really aggressive. But that does not mean a 40% discount.

When someone beets our prices by 5%, we see if we can sharpen our pencil a bit. When someone beats our prices by 30, 50, or 75%… something is up. And you should beware. Is it smart to do business with a firm whose prices are dangerously close (or maybe BELOW) their costs? I guess it depends on your goals. I’d leave the reader with these thoughts:

If the price is substantially lower than ours one of two things must be true: (1) They will go out of business, or (2) they will raise the price own the line.

If you need one job, right now, and trust that a company who doesn’t understand their costs will do a “good enough” job, you can get a real bargain. You should let them do it.

If you need a good job, done consistently, the bargain will wind up costing you more in the long run.

Two years ago, Reno Type received about three unsolicited resumes a month. It’s been a year since I’ve seen one. I know many printers have gone under. Everyone has downsized. Unemployment is at or near a record high. Why isn’t anyone calling or writing looking for work? Things are getting busier. Maybe too busy. It’s time to think about adding staff… I’m just astonished that I don’t have a whole pile of recent resumes to look at. What gives?

Owners of small print shops everywhere know exactly the sound I speak of. The distinctive clack and whir of an offset press running at full speed. When I walked in to the office, it is the sound that greeted me. Music, I tell ya. I’ve spoken to a lot of print shop owners recently” here and all over the west coast. They tell the same story as do paper merchants. July, never a great month for printing, is even worse than usual. It’s even a little depressing. All the sales efforts, the money spent on advertising and for what… This?

But today I was greeted by that most joyous of sounds. Four colors on 100# gloss text. Ductor rollers oscillating. Impression cylinders turning. Metal and rubber and no small amount of care turning raw materials into actual sellable product. YES!

We’ll be closed on Friday, July 3 in observance of Independence Day. Things will be back to normal by 8:00AM, Monday the 6th.

This is probably not a surprise… but Reno Type will be closed on Monday the 25th in observance of Memorial Day and the unofficial start of summer. We’ll see you bright and early on Tuesday morning!