Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/522141
palletcentral.com PalletCentral • May-June 2015 17 publications for more than 350 monthly magazines, as well as various catalog and other web press projects. As part of its value-added servicing, the company often co-palletizes shipments for its clients, which translates to a lot of pallets needed for U.S. mail. The bulk mail process guidelines published by the U.S. Postal Service requires mailers to meet certain standards. In addition to presorting and labeling bags, boxes or bundles, "pallets must measure 48x40 inches and must allow four-way entry by forklift trucks and two-way entry by pallet jacks." The USPS Standard also specifies a maximum unit load of 2200 pounds. The USPS provides pallets to bulk mailing firms, including magazine printers and catalog publishers, who ship loads of printed product to bulk mail facilities where labels are applied before sending the loads to USPS facilities. These unit loads are all coded for mailing, thus the benefit to USPS for supplying the pallets is that it can get the mail out faster than by sorting in-house. Hot off the Press The print industry continues to be vibrant and evolving, and according to the American Forest & Paper Association, the value of industry shipments is roughly $171.4 billion. Two commercial printers, Schumann Printers and ModernLitho, based in St. Louis, Missouri, shared with PalletCentral some current and emerging trends in the print industry. Packaging: Cartons, boxes and even plastic wrappers are more attractive, imaginative, and functional, featuring four-color images of what is contained inside as well as vital tracking, sorting and delivery information. On-demand printing: The need for short-run, on-demand print work is facilitated by advances in digital printing technology. Rather than order and store hard copy editions, users can print as many copies of items such as user guides, training manuals and text books, when they need them. Fulfillment: Printers leverage technology to ensure that the fulfillment process is efficient and seamless – especially during the busy holiday season when orders tend to peak. Using pallets for 100% of its output, Schumann Printers employs a sophisticated fulfillment process that is safe, efficient, accurate, and environmentally sound with as little waste and redundancy as possible. Mark Schumann envisions a day in the future when pallet skids could become integrated into product packaging or made part of the product itself. "Today it's about all channels, including print, online, social media, mobile, trade shows, and other consumer touch points working in synch to support the goal of communicating with readers, customers, prospects, voters, donors or whoever else is out there," says Mark Schumann. "Make no mistake, the print industry is anything but a static industry. It has an essential role to play and it is here to stay." PC Leah Wheeler is a professional copywriter specializing in webwriting/SEO optimization, marketing and business com- munications, technical writing and articles. She can be reached at 480-275-7011 or leah@leahwheeler-writer.com. Mark Schumann [Schumann Printers] envisions a day in the future when pallet skids could become integrated into product packaging or made par t of the product itself.