Hardware to address magazine?

[Cameron]

Hi everyone,

We are looking for some machinery to allow us to address some of our current projects that we are sending out. Magazine style newsletters are the particular project that we are stuck on. Not sure what to look for that can handle this, hoping someone can point me in the right direction?

thanks!

 

[Drewstre]

Hi Cameron,
Your requirements are a bit vague, can you give some more specifics?

These projects... are they already printed, and you want to run them through again and put addresses on them? How many? Or do you need to address them as they are printed?

Any more details you can provide will help. Quantity, colors, database format, workflow, anything.

 

[Cameron]

Those are good questions. We do have the capability to digitally print the address if we wanted to on the cover sheets before booklet making. What we were hoping to do was address the books after they are run through the booklet maker. They would already be printed, usually full color on gloss or silk text, generally 3-10 flats with an average quantity of 5-10,000.
On the computer side we generally use excel and data merge with InDesign at the moment.
Hope that helps so that you can point me in the right direction. Appreciate the response!

 

[Drewstre]

Hmmmm... I assume you'd rather not preprint the covers before making the booklets because if the booklet maker eats one, it would be a pain to reprint the eaten cover? I'm afraid I don't know the answer. I've never seen a machine that could do that... It would probably be some kind of inkjet printer used in mailing houses. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful... good luck!

 

[Cameron]

Exactly.. right now we do send the finished books out to a mailing house.. and out of moral respect I really wouldn't want to ask them how they do it, or go take a tour and see it first hand. Thats why I was hoping someone here would have some advice. I appreciate the effort though!

 

[Digital Press Guy]

If you're already sending your magazines out to a mail house for processing I would guess they are either applying the address with either a label or ink jetting the address directly onto a blank space. They may also be tabbing shut the publication and dealing with any other relevant postal regulations.

 

[Cameron]

I don't believe they have to tab anything shut, but there are two mailing houses here locally.. the client has used both. One injets directly, one uses labels. We are trying to help the customer as they would prefer to just deal with us, and we would like to have control of the process. Just not sure what type of machine would serve this purpose.

 

[pcmodem]

What you are looking for is an inkjet from Domino, Videojet, or several others. That being said, you will also need to get mailing software to process the mailing lists through CASS, DPV, and NCOA. You will also need to learn how to submit mailings to the USPS and get a permit, Mailer ID (MID), and in the future work with submitting your mailings electronically to the USPS for Full Service. This is a big undertaking, not to be taken lightly.

 

[MailGuru]

@Cameron - I see your location is in Nova Scotia. Are these magazines being mailed only in Canada? The response by pcmodem would be correct only if you are mailing in the United States using the US Postal Service. If you are mailing in to Canada, you would need to know the Canadian mail regulations.

 

[Cameron]

Yeah, it all has been a help though. We are in Nova Scotia, we do know its a big undertaking, but can't get anywhere looking from the outside. You would be amazed at how terrible people are at getting back to you. Thanks to pcmodem's post I researched those brands a bit and found what looked to be a possible solution with a used videojet, over a week now with no response from the company that has it for sale. Same thing from a press company who we asked about a 29' Heidelberg. Amazing to me... wish I was so well off I could ignore potential customers.

 

[MailGuru]

Are you digitally printing the covers now?

 

[EZPower]

Why reinvent the wheel. Mail houses know how to apply addresses and mail. You know how to print. If your client wants to deal with you, why not. You take the order, print it, have the mail house apply addressing and mail the job. The only difference is the client will only deal with you. You handle the mail houses. This way you can tour their facilities and see how they produce the product to your quality specifications. Just make sure to mark up the product on your end.

 

[Cameron]

Mailguru: definitely not, we have a 4 color gto that we run the job on first.

bruceprint: in theory, that would be perfect. But doesn't seem safe to me. We have 3 main mailing houses here locally, 1 joined with a printer that I don't trust a few years back, another is owned by another print group who has already tried to take the job direct from the customer. That only leaves one who may or may not do something similar at some point. If I can control quality, turnaround, and keep people from trying to steal my work I would prefer it.

 

[MailGuru]

Ok, if you're not printing the covers digitally, then pcmodem is correct. What you're looking for is a high-speed b & w production ink jet. Pcmodem has named a few, here are a couple of others: Kirk-Rudy, or MCS. These machines, as well as the ones that pcmodem suggested, will run flats (magazines), at around 8 to 10,000 per hour. They will run letter-sized pieces, (self-mailers, post cards, etc.) at around 12 to 18,000 per hour.

However, you will need to lease software to place those names & addresses in proper Canadian postal sort sequence prior to ink-jetting, and produce the proper postal paperwork that must accompany the mail job when presented at the post office. Being here in the states, I am only familiar with software that does this for the US Postal Service. However, you might want to find out if the following software vendors produce a Canadian version: BCC Mail Manager 2010, Satori, Smart Addresser, Accumail, Melissa Software.

You'll also need to be familiar with Canadian postal regulations (do the magazines go in sacks, or trays, etc.)

You can do this, it won't be easy, but, many have done it before, so, you know it can be done. Whether or not it is economically feasible to make such an investment for only 10 to 15,000 pieces per month, well, that's another story. Most of those mail houses who have made such an investment are mailing hundreds of thousands per month.

-Best, and, good luck!

MailGuru