Do You Have A Printing, Mailing, or Fulfillment Project We Can Help With?
Current Postage Rates
2023 Postage Rate SummaryBroudy Mailing Indicias
Self-Mailer postal regulations set to change on January 5, 2013
1) Final folds on the top will no longer be allowed.
2) Self-mailers that now only need one tab on the top will need two.
3) Quarter-fold self-mailers will need to be at least 70# book (=28# bond).
4) No tabs will be allowed on the bottom.
5) The final folded panel creates the non-address side of the mail piece by folding from bottom to top, or lead to trail edge
Folded Self-Mailer Reference Material
New USPS Booklet Sealing Requirements
On September 8th, new U.S. Postal Service regulations will take effect creating a new Booklet class of self-mailers. The regulations include new specifications for booklet size, paper weight and sealing options for machinable, automation letter-size booklets.
USPS Booklet Sealing Requirements
New Address Requirements for Automation Flats
Effective March 29, 2009, the US Postal Service adopted new address placement and formatting requirements for flat-size pieces sent at automation, presorted, or carrier route prices.
Failure to meet the new placement requirements can result in disallowing all automation and presort discounts, which means single piece first class rates, based on weight, will apply.
Read the detailed requirements below:
Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) Certification
To be certified as an FSC® certified organization a company must meet a number of rigorous, specific standards. Use of the FSC® labels is one of the most basic indicators that a company is a truly “green” organization. It shows compliance with the highest social and environmental standards.
FSC® certification helps to protect and promote your brand and reputation. Increasingly governments, educational institutions and many others specify FSC certified products.
Visit our FSC® Resource Page for more information.
Renewable Energy
At Broudy has committed to purchase clean, renewable energy equal to 100% of its energy use.
Our commitment to renewable engery entitles Broudy’s clients to use the 100% wind power logo on any printed product in addition to the EPA “Green Power Partner” logo.
Visit our Wind Energy Resources for more information.
Vegetable based ink
We use non-toxic vegetable based inks in our offset printing process. Our inks qualify for the EcoSmart certification, which means they meet the following requirements:
- Contain no more than 5% Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) based on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Test Method 24, or as calculated from accumulated data on the ingredients contained in the product
- Contain a minimum of 45% of renewable resource content as calculated from accumulated data on the ingredients contained in the product
- Contain no more than 5% by weight of petroleum distillates
- Meet Council of Northeast Governors Coalition (CONEG) regulation for packaging, with a combined heavy metal total of less than 100 ppm of mercury, lead, cadmium and hexavalent chromium
What is GRACoL® 7 (G7)?
In 1966 a graphics arts task force was formed by the Graphic Communications Association (GCA) to develop a document containing general guidelines and recommendations that could be used as a reference source across the industry for quality color printing. With the support from representatives of IPA and GATF, the GRACoL® Committee developed the printing guidelines that have since become de facto standards in many pressrooms.
The mission of GRACoL® is to improve communications and education in the graphic arts by maintaining the accuracy and the relevance of the GRACoL® document in reporting the influence and impact of new technologies in the workflow of commercial offset lithography.
GRACoL® helps print buyers, designers, and specifiers work more effectively with print suppliers. This book has become the standard of reference and educational medium on the modern lithographic process. It is a tool-kit of standards, tips, and answers to common problems. By following the GRACoL® guidelines and recommendations, you will benefit in the following ways:
- Reduce costs, decrease turn-around times, and avoid re-makes.
- Develop internal guidelines for reliable process controls.
- Acquire print predictability: know what you’ll get on press -before you get there.
- Demonstrate printing quality through achievable print guidelines and target goals.
- Build upon the education in fundamentals of printing and developing technologies.
- Clarification of what is reasonable to ask of print suppliers.
GRACoL® helps promote better communication between print buyers and print suppliers and helps avoid disappointment in expectations. Improved processes maintain printing as a competitive force in the communications marketplace.
What You Can Do?
By choosing a printer that is GRACoL® 7 (G7) certified, you can know that your work is printed to the highest standards of quality and consistency. For more information about GRACoL® 7 (G7), contact your Broudy representative or visit www.idealliance.org.
Have more questions? Visit our FAQ Page.
Frequently Asked Queestions?
General Questions
Yes. Simply click on ‘Request an Estimate’ and fill out the form. Someone will get back to you within 24 hours. For complicated projects, or to reach us immediately, please feel free to give us a call.
Our recommendation is to give us a call and speak to one of our customer service representatives. All of them have been in the printing business for many years. Once we hear the details of the project, we may be in a position to improve your project or save you money through a series of questions, all of which are designed to maximize your printing dollar.
Our work is 100% guaranteed. Your complete satisfaction is our only goal.
Rush jobs are our speciality. Our world-class Heidleberg digital press allows us to provide same day service for many short-run jobs. We also have a huge capacity for conventional offset with 5 Heidelberg Presses. We can usually accommodate the fastest turnarounds possible.
All customers and all orders are treated with the same level of attention to detail and concern. We are honor bound to exceed your expectations.
Yes. Estimate requests can be initiated 24/7 via email or the web. Our sales associates are flexible to accommodate after hours requests, if needed.
Yes, we encourage our customers to stop by for press approvals or just to tour our facility. We do this on a daily basis.
FSC® is an acronym that stands for Forest Stewardship Council®. We have this certification that ensures the paper we purchased is purchased from companies that observe responsible forest management practices. Visit our FSC Resources for more information
How fast can I get it? The answer is changing all the time. It also depends on what you need printed and how it’s being printed.
I will attempt to give you some guidelines although there are exceptions to every rule. First of all, let’s take a print job that just needs to be printed and cut. Digital printing can be turned in hours sometimes due to the reduced number of production steps and the ability to handle the job almost immediately.
Most the time you will be able to turn a digital job in 2-3 days if it is simple and possibly same day. You probably will only have the option of a PDF electronic proof or you need to be at the printer to approve the first sheets that come off the press.
The danger is that the ink does not cure. The digital printing manufacturers will tell you that the work can be cut right off the press but that is not true 100% of the time. At Broudy, we prefer to let a digital job sit overnight if possible. An offset printing job that does not need anything but printing and cutting can not usually be done the same day. This is due to the ink needing to dry or cure. A job needs to set several hours to insure that the ink is dry.
There are exceptions to this but it brings quality issues into play that customers should accept that they may be getting less than ideal print jobs. If your job requires extra steps to finish you should add extra time in planning the job. Each extra step in the production needs to allow additional time. Does the job score or diecut? Does it need to fold? Does it need to glue or bind? Does it have finishing such as embossing or foil stamping. A good rule of thumb is add an extra day for each process it is going through.
Many times multiple processes such as scoring and folding can be done on the same day but as a rule of thumb give yourself the time to have a day per process. Here are issues that might affect that rule. If you are producing a large quantity of items it maybe more than one day overlap due to some machines or processes being slower than others. Processes that are not totally automated sometimes can definitely slow your turn time. Gluing of pocket folders especially ones with capacity pockets or products that face two directions can decrease automation sometimes and slow the process.
Ask us to give you a timeline if deadlines are tight and try to have a “plan b” possibility for difficulties. It is our job to make our clients look good and believe me we don’t like not making you look good because we know you have put your trust in us.
Digital and Offset Printing Questions
Although every job is unique, for conventional offset jobs, we typically turn jobs around in 3 to 5 working days after proof approval. For digital printing, 24-hour turnaround is the norm. Mailing projects are typically deposited in the mail stream within 48 hours after receipt.
This is a tool used in the printing business that allows a customer to review the color and content of a printing job before it is produced. Typically, for routine projects, customers will approve a “Soft Proof” or PDF. This is very effective for speed and convenience.
More color-critical print jobs require a high resolution digital proofs. Because our company is G7 certified, you can rest assured that we will match color on press with our G7 matching capability.
With digital jobs, we can furnish a “press proof” that is an exact replica of what can be expected as the final product.
G7 certification is a special status that essentially ensures that we will match the preliminary proof to the final press sheets. You can read more details about this on our G7 Certification page. Broudy Printing is one of 23 printers with this certification in Pennsylvania.
A press check is an on-site, last-chance proofing step for the main purpose of achieving color accuracy. The press is literally set up and ready to run with your project but, before it does, the press operator brings out a proof on the actual paper right off the press.
A press check occurs only after you have given final sign-off on your project. The press check is really not the stage to be proofreading, since making corrections may incur costs for additional prepress time, plates, and set-up. However, sometimes the benefits and costs of catching a significant error on press can outweigh the expense.
Most projects benefit from that one last opportunity to ensure color comes as close as possible to what you are seeking. A few examples of such cases include:
- Matching corporate colors,
- Having large areas of solid color
- Having significant amounts of flesh tone to keep balanced and realistic.
In addition to color, several other items to include in your inspection are:
- Registration (make sure the bleeds are pulled);
- Hickeys (watch for unintentional spots or marks);
- Paper (double check that it is the right color, weight, and finish);
- Content (look for any broken type, and make sure no text, photos, or other graphic elements are missing );
- Folds (rule out and fold to size to ensure correct positioning and finish size).
Factors that can influence results on press include paper stock and ink colors. Some paper stock can be more challenging to achieve the desired color due to brightness, smoothness, weight, and opacity. And some colors are more easily reproduced on press than others.
Broudy can guide you through the press check, but visit our Press Check Checklist for more information.
Have more questions? Visit our FAQ Page.
Mailing, Fulfillment & Warehousing Questions
Yes. We offer onsite warehousing along with comprehensive inventory reporting that allows for same day shipments of your stored materials. We store for many of our clients.
We provide our customers with a variety of shipping options, such as FedEx & UPS (Ground, 2-Day Air, and Overnight). We also have our own delivery vans and trucks. Pricing is sensitive to the total weight of the order along with the level of service requested.
We have drivers combing the streets of Pittsburgh on a daily basis. The shipping charges we bill to customers are very fair, but if you prefer, we can render quotations FOB destination, if that’s your preference.
Yes, all jobs are archived under a job number. Broudy currently manages more than 20,000 printed jobs. Edits and enhancements to any of these are no problem.
Yes, we can tailor a mailing list to suit your needs. As an example, we recently helped a major Pittsburgh Paint company purchase a mailing list. We were able to identify new homeowners in a specific geographic area.