Enjoy!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Printing from Flckr?
Just curious if this link will be picked up by google: http://www.flickr.com/photos/67148940@N00/441695095/
It goes to a photo that links to a template thru print-post.
Interesting ...
It goes to a photo that links to a template thru print-post.
Interesting ...
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Embedding test
PRINT-POST button demo
Click in PRINT-POST button to drop this picture on a template.
The actual template is here:
http://scoop.zetaprints.com/?page=template;TemplateID=E3C6E563-D0C2-4C0A-BD29-20D4D0AF9848
You can click on Share with others on the template page to create your own PRINT-POST button.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Monday, December 18, 2006
Moving blogs
This blog is moving to Wordpress.
Blogger is great, but Wordpress is better.
See us at http://web-to-print.zetaprints.com
More content, more authors, more fun.
Blogger is great, but Wordpress is better.
See us at http://web-to-print.zetaprints.com
More content, more authors, more fun.
Outsourcing in printing industry and your business
Outsourcing is squeezing many printing businesses out of the market. It is just one the pressure factors a printing business is facing these days. Some people say there are always two sides of the coin and other people say that one’s loss is the other’s find. Let’s look into the obvious.
Outsourcing is a hot issue in other industries too. ICT was all abuzz a couple of years ago about Americans loosing jobs to their Indian colleagues. Nothing changed, really, but the world got used to it and I think it’s good. I’m proud to employ people from all over the globe. I say thank you to people from all over the globe who gave me jobs in the last few years.
Asia . China Australia to the extent that they dispatched a “reconnaissance mission” to find out what kind of threat China
1. Cost
2. Cost
3. Cost
1. Four to eight weeks between the sign off and delivery
Time zone difference, language barrier, cultural barrier, proofing are all easily overcome by agents and print brokers that reside where the customers are. There is not difference to the customer between the local agent and a local printing business.
- anything that can wait a few weeks, no matter how small the run is.
- products that are needed NOW
There are thing that an individual printer can do and there are things that only industry bodies can do.
At the individual business level the best thing is to diversify into products that cannot be outsourced effectively. There are just too many of them to list here. Every printer knows what kind of products customers need “yesterday” and what kind of products can wait for weeks in pre-press without the customer calling back.
The key to success here is turnaround time. If you can print a job on the same day or overnight while still being more or less competitive in the pricing then you are a winner.
Printing industry bodies can help their members in many ways, but they can’t stop outsourcing. It’s a waste of time and will only delay the agony:
- help printers understand if their particular business is at risk and how soon the risk may materialize
- begin to advocate for less printing …….?????? !!!!!!!!!! Did I say that?
This may sound ridiculous, but no, it’s just cynical. The point is to start beating the drums as soon as a big printing contract goes overseas. Take for example some government department issuing a big tender that is likely to be won by a large print-buyer / print-broker and end up in China for the bulk of it. Fine with us, but we’ll ask you a question: Why do you need so much stuff printed? Can you deliver the information in a cheaper and more effective way? Can it be simply published on the website or emailed?
The answer depends on the amount of pressure you put on them. Most likely it’s YES, but some printing is still required. You’ve just scored a win, because the smaller run is more likely to be done locally and ON DEMAND.
At least this is true as far as outsourcing goes. A printing lobby advocating for less printing is a very strange and suspicious thing to happen. Leave it to the greenies. There are 101 reasons why printing should not be done at all and they are the best people to advocate for it. It may sound cynical, but it can be the only way for survival of smaller pockets of printing industry when that mighty outsourcing wave comes.
Printers that move into ON DEMAND and NOW area are going to survive if they enter the market early and build a good reputation.
Time to act!
And if I didn't make you worried with this post I'll hit you hard with an overview of electronic paper. Book publishers and sign makers beware! :-)
For now, take a break, look on the funny side of it
Outsourcing is a hot issue in other industries too. ICT was all abuzz a couple of years ago about Americans loosing jobs to their Indian colleagues. Nothing changed, really, but the world got used to it and I think it’s good. I’m proud to employ people from all over the globe. I say thank you to people from all over the globe who gave me jobs in the last few years.
Aussies got worried
So, printing is heading toOutsourcing benefits
1. Cost
2. Cost
3. Cost
Critical outsourcing difficulties
1. Four to eight weeks between the sign off and delivery
Mitigated outsourcing difficulties
Time zone difference, language barrier, cultural barrier, proofing are all easily overcome by agents and print brokers that reside where the customers are. There is not difference to the customer between the local agent and a local printing business.
What can be outsourced
- anything that can wait a few weeks, no matter how small the run is.
What cannot be outsourced
- products that are needed NOW
What can be done about outsourcing
There are thing that an individual printer can do and there are things that only industry bodies can do.
At the individual business level the best thing is to diversify into products that cannot be outsourced effectively. There are just too many of them to list here. Every printer knows what kind of products customers need “yesterday” and what kind of products can wait for weeks in pre-press without the customer calling back.
The key to success here is turnaround time. If you can print a job on the same day or overnight while still being more or less competitive in the pricing then you are a winner.
Printing industry bodies can help their members in many ways, but they can’t stop outsourcing. It’s a waste of time and will only delay the agony:
- help printers understand if their particular business is at risk and how soon the risk may materialize
- begin to advocate for less printing …….?????? !!!!!!!!!! Did I say that?
Less printing is better
This may sound ridiculous, but no, it’s just cynical. The point is to start beating the drums as soon as a big printing contract goes overseas. Take for example some government department issuing a big tender that is likely to be won by a large print-buyer / print-broker and end up in China for the bulk of it. Fine with us, but we’ll ask you a question: Why do you need so much stuff printed? Can you deliver the information in a cheaper and more effective way? Can it be simply published on the website or emailed?
The answer depends on the amount of pressure you put on them. Most likely it’s YES, but some printing is still required. You’ve just scored a win, because the smaller run is more likely to be done locally and ON DEMAND.
Greenies are printer’s best friends
At least this is true as far as outsourcing goes. A printing lobby advocating for less printing is a very strange and suspicious thing to happen. Leave it to the greenies. There are 101 reasons why printing should not be done at all and they are the best people to advocate for it. It may sound cynical, but it can be the only way for survival of smaller pockets of printing industry when that mighty outsourcing wave comes.
Print ON DEMAND / Print NOW
Printers that move into ON DEMAND and NOW area are going to survive if they enter the market early and build a good reputation.
Time to act!
And if I didn't make you worried with this post I'll hit you hard with an overview of electronic paper. Book publishers and sign makers beware! :-)
For now, take a break, look on the funny side of it
Saturday, December 16, 2006
The weight of a postcard
The world’s gone digital. iPods, PDAs, almighty-cellphones, emails, txt, you name it.
People are bombarded with electronic messages from all directions. Some are important, some are just unwanted interruption. The value of an electronic message is quite low, unless it’s something really special. The ability of electronic messages to make impact on us is probably lower that it used to be. I don’t have a proof for this, thou.
Well-meaning spam
You get an email with a message of peace and love from some religious organisation. What do you do? Probably mark it as junk without opening.
- it is not personal
- you don’t know who sent it
- you get too much spam anyway
You get an email from someone you don’t know with the same message …
There is a great chance your junk mail filter won’t even show it to you. To you it’s still junk even if it was sent by a real person.
Well meaning junk mail
Back to the real world of printed junk mail or whatever you call a leaflet about peace and love put into you letterbox alongside with all the other sales and specials. I hope you recycle. The chance you read it is tiny.
A postcard
I’d think it’s a different story. You get a postcard. It has a stamp. It says something, it was addressed to your home address, but not personally to you. It’s signed by a person you’ve never heard of. It says “Domestic violence is evil. You don’t own your wife or your kids. They have their rights too. ” And so on, and so forth. What am I on about, you may rightfully ask?
I accidentally stumbled across an article called “What women want... is freedom from fear” in a Malaysian publication The Star.
I’ve been to Malaysia and it’s a beautiful country. It’s a very diverse country, a real mix of cultures and races. Not sure it’s as democratic as other countries, but it’s obviously very civilized and women there want to be more and more independent. It can be pricy. Not every looser can stand it. Here comes the violence.
Some women got organized and printed a small run of postcards highlighting the problem. It was a dangerous undertaking for some of them. They had to keep their names secret.
The cards were placed in trendy restaurants and bars as “pick-me cards”. They had some success in drawing attention and the media. Not enough to change anything. It’s expensive and you just can’t print enough without some mighty sponsors.
They need:
- several catchy designs for their cards
- a friendly printer
- a friendly journo
- a friendly web-to-print provider
What they do:
Set up a simple website on the problem. A few pages will do. Place a link to a web-to-print site with the postcards.
Anyone can come to the site, click on the link, personalize the message on the card or maybe upload a photo of the injuries or something, pay a very small fee (cost of printing the card, presumably + postage), nominate a recipient and click SEND.
The card gets printed by the printer and posted. Someone finds it in the letter box a few days later. Consider the impact. Not the same as an email, isn’t it? Even more so if it’s the wife-beater himself.
It may sound crazy, but may well be worth a try. I “know” someone who will provide a web-to-print service for this. A risky move, I’d say. Someone can easily mount a DoS on the service or try to hack it. We’ll see.
Just to finish on a more peaceful and relaxing note … Have a listen. I really enjoyed this clip.
Cheers,
Max
People are bombarded with electronic messages from all directions. Some are important, some are just unwanted interruption. The value of an electronic message is quite low, unless it’s something really special. The ability of electronic messages to make impact on us is probably lower that it used to be. I don’t have a proof for this, thou.
Put yourself in these situations
Well-meaning spam
You get an email with a message of peace and love from some religious organisation. What do you do? Probably mark it as junk without opening.
- it is not personal
- you don’t know who sent it
- you get too much spam anyway
You get an email from someone you don’t know with the same message …
There is a great chance your junk mail filter won’t even show it to you. To you it’s still junk even if it was sent by a real person.
Well meaning junk mail
Back to the real world of printed junk mail or whatever you call a leaflet about peace and love put into you letterbox alongside with all the other sales and specials. I hope you recycle. The chance you read it is tiny.
A postcard
I’d think it’s a different story. You get a postcard. It has a stamp. It says something, it was addressed to your home address, but not personally to you. It’s signed by a person you’ve never heard of. It says “Domestic violence is evil. You don’t own your wife or your kids. They have their rights too. ” And so on, and so forth. What am I on about, you may rightfully ask?
I accidentally stumbled across an article called “What women want... is freedom from fear” in a Malaysian publication The Star.
I’ve been to Malaysia and it’s a beautiful country. It’s a very diverse country, a real mix of cultures and races. Not sure it’s as democratic as other countries, but it’s obviously very civilized and women there want to be more and more independent. It can be pricy. Not every looser can stand it. Here comes the violence.
Some women got organized and printed a small run of postcards highlighting the problem. It was a dangerous undertaking for some of them. They had to keep their names secret.
The cards were placed in trendy restaurants and bars as “pick-me cards”. They had some success in drawing attention and the media. Not enough to change anything. It’s expensive and you just can’t print enough without some mighty sponsors.
Now, here is an idea
They need:
- several catchy designs for their cards
- a friendly printer
- a friendly journo
- a friendly web-to-print provider
What they do:
Set up a simple website on the problem. A few pages will do. Place a link to a web-to-print site with the postcards.
Anyone can come to the site, click on the link, personalize the message on the card or maybe upload a photo of the injuries or something, pay a very small fee (cost of printing the card, presumably + postage), nominate a recipient and click SEND.
The card gets printed by the printer and posted. Someone finds it in the letter box a few days later. Consider the impact. Not the same as an email, isn’t it? Even more so if it’s the wife-beater himself.
It may sound crazy, but may well be worth a try. I “know” someone who will provide a web-to-print service for this. A risky move, I’d say. Someone can easily mount a DoS on the service or try to hack it. We’ll see.
Just to finish on a more peaceful and relaxing note … Have a listen. I really enjoyed this clip.
Cheers,
Max
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