Thank You for Your Comments and Why I Blog about this Subject

I want to thank all the contributors for their comments about my blogs. When a writer expresses their knowledge on a subject or in this case an industry, the writer hopes he connects with the reader. More to the point, this writer writes these blogs hoping to inform and educate  people about the printing industry.

The printing industry is one of top five industries in the world, as a whole, and all of us are influenced and impacted by this industry. The printing industry provides us access to news, information, and advertisements taking such forms as newspapers, magazines, posters, flyers, and yes decals.

I do understand that some of the printed mediums noted above are evolving into electronic forms of news and information outlets moving away from a physical newspaper or magazine. Nevertheless, to say printing is a dead industry would be an over-statement, because printing a physical product will always be with us into the near future.

Printing is very much a part of our daily lives, and the majority of us do not know the technology of the various printing processes available today. The question I need to answer should each consumer have an intimate knowledge of the printing processes that we purchase. No, I do not believe that is necessary, but as a consumer who purchases printed products for their businesses, however, it is important to have a thumbnail sketch of what process of printing to utilize, because the lowest prices should not be our only criteria of what product to purchase.

I highlight this idea of the need to have at least an armchair understanding of the benefits or disadvantages of different methods of printing. From my 33 years of experience of printing decals and labels, for industrial uses or promotional advertising of a company’s brand, I have seen many requests for products asking for the wrong printing method, for the intended use of the product.

I will emphasize this idea with a question. Have you ever purchased a decal when a label would have sufficed and conversely, have you ever purchased a label, but found out you needed a decal?

During the 33 years, I have manufactured and sold decals and labels, many customers purchased products that did not fit the intended use of the product. Some said, I purchased this decal for my company and it faded to white in one month’s time. Upon examining the product they purchased they had bought a label intended for inside use not fit for sun light exposure. The sales person who sold this item did not explain this disadvantage. We as a company believe we have a fiduciary responsibility to educate our customers on the best product to use for the intended purpose of the product.  

The purchasing manager does not need to have the expertise I have on the subject of how a decals or labels are printed. However, my hope is that I can educate those who read my blog post that there are different uses for a decal vs. a label. This is why my blog post I do not give opinions, but my hope is to inform my readers by explaining how printing works, by pulling, back the curtain exposing the wizardry of the printing process.