LETTERS to the editor

Lifetime Memories For Hall Of Famer

Dear Editor:

Thank you so much for the photographs from my recent induction into the PRINTING IMPRESSIONS/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame. I really do appreciate the honor you bestowed on me. It is something I will cherish the rest of my life.

Please thank everyone on your staff for making this a special evening.

I hope that if you are ever in Dallas, you will let me show you our Texas hospitality.

JESSE WILLIAMSON
President
Williamson Printing
Dallas

Award Brings Many Kind Words

Dear Editor:

It seems it was only yesterday that I was in Chicago at the PRINTING IMPRESSIONS/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame Awards ceremony. I have received many congratulatory messages from friends, from members of the business community and, last but not least, from Transcontinental employees.

To receive this prestigious recognition was a great honor for me professionally. And, on a personal basis, I was very touched. Thank you so much!

RéMI MARCOUX
Executive Chairman
Transcontinental Inc.
Montreal

Best Practices Don’t Jive With Reader

Dear Editor:

Why are those people from Vista-Print smiling on the (November 2006) cover of your magazine? Maybe they know something you don’t.

VistaPrint has been getting much press coverage lately, but you owe it to your readers to tell the rest of the story. Since VistaPrint is a competitor to many of your readers, I think you have an obligation to do some research as to how they can sell at such low prices beyond their gang-run technology.

If you place an order for anything at VistaPrint, at the end of the process you will be asked to take a brief survey. You are enticed to take the survey by an offer of a coupon for $10 off your next order or something similar. The surprise is in the fine print, because when you hit the ‘submit’ button you will then have your credit card or bank account charged every single month until you tell them to stop, and then that does not always work. Sometimes you need to cancel your credit card or close your account.

While this might be legal (they tell you in the scrolling fine print about this monthly charge), I do not consider this an ethical business practice. Maybe there are other reasons that the firm is not headquartered in the United States, but instead on an island in the middle of the Atlantic.

PETER LINEAL
PeterThePrinter Div., Plum Grove Printers
Hoffman Estates, IL

(Editor’s Note: Upon receiving Mr. Lineal’s letter, Printing Impressions gave Vista-Print executives the opportunity to respond. Their response appears below.)

Dear Editor:

VistaPrint has numerous partnerships with many organizations, including companies that offer rewards programs. Vista-Print is not unique in offering our customers access to this type of program; many well-known online and offline companies offer them, as well. We continue to offer these programs because the vast majority of our customers who sign up for our membership programs take advantage of the discounts they receive on restaurants, office supplies, movies and more.

VistaPrint’s revenues were $50 million last quarter and rewards programs account for less than 10 percent of that number. The real reason VistaPrint has been able to be so successful is because we have solved a previously unmet need for small businesses and consumers by using state-of-the-art proprietary and patented technology designed to revolutionize the short-run, full-color printing market.

Whether it is an order for 10 thank-you notes, 50 brochures, 250 business cards or even 25 pieces of letterhead, VistaPrint is able to service its customers with high-quality printed products at a low cost.

We have served more than eight million customers, regularly receive more than 16,000 orders per day and, through our 17 Websites, we ship to more than 120 countries. We look forward to continuing to serve our customers with the products and services they ask for.

JANET HOLIAN
Chief Marketing Officer
VistaPrint
Lexington, MA

Supporting The Next Generation

Dear Editor:

It is a privilege to thank you for your involvement with the PRINTING IMPRESSIONS Graphic Arts Scholarship at Rochester Institute of Technology. Your engagement provides a powerful incentive to our well-deserving and ambitious students in their pursuit of an RIT education.

I hope you know just how important this scholarship is to our students. With over 15,000 students currently enrolled, approximately 75 percent of undergraduate and 40 percent of graduate students receive some form of financial aid to meet their educational costs.

Now that tuition, room, board and fees are over $33,000, many students struggle to keep their dream of achieving a quality education alive. It is for this reason that we are especially grateful for your support.

SUSAN PARRINO
Director Donor Relations
RIT
Rochester, NY

PRINTING IMPRESSIONS encourages feedback from its readers. Write to Mark Michelson, Editor-in-Chief, Printing Impressions, 1500 Spring Garden St., 12th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19130; e-mail mmichelson@napco.com. Some letters published are edited due to space constraints.