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Social Media

It has finally happened... We have started our own Facebook page after years of people telling us we should. 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Info-Screen-Printing/147599241952854?sk=wall

Like Us, if you like.

We will try and make a compelling reason for you to follow us on Facebook, in the future.  If you go to our page it will mostly be links to past blog post for now.  

 

We are also now have a twitter acount, you can follow us at @infoscreenprint

 

Thanks for the Work!

Eric Gibby

 

 

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Together We Thrive

The recent events in Tucson has effected a lot of us.  President Obama will be at The U of A today for a community event call "Together We Thrive".  We got a call Monday night around 6:30 PM that the event needed 20,000 shirts delivered in Tucson by Wednesday 7:00 AM.  That meant we had to have McCreary's Tees pull shirts through the night Monday and have them at our shop by 6:00 AM Tuesday.  The art was in our hands by 9:00 AM, the 1st shirt was approved at noon, and the total job was printed and boxed up by 11:00 PM.  The shirts were in Tucson before 7:00 AM this morning.  It felt really good to meet this deadline.  I am very proud again of the people we work with.  McCreary's came through with the shirts, our employees came through without taking breaks yesterday, and our other customers gave us permission to move their work to the next day so we could get this project done. It makes us feel great to be able to do our part in supporting an event like the one in Tucson this morning.Thanks everyone!



Here are a few links to visit where you can follow the events today and I assume most of the news channels will be covering it as well.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2011/01/the-schedule-for-together-we-t.html
http://www.uanews.org/node/36874
http://tfitz.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/january-12-2011-%E2%80%9Ctogether-we-thrive-tucson-and-america%E2%80%9D-starts-at-6-p-m-at-mckale-center-university-of-arizona-tucson/

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Bowl Season is Over!

Last night, we were among 78,000 screaming fans. Most were all watching to see if their teams would be National Champions. Well, we watched knowing that this was the end to another long bowl season for Info Screen Printing.   It looks like we may have survived one more year.  I would like to simultaneously thank AND say sorry to all of our customers whose jobs we had to move around to keep up with the Bowl demand this year.  I will do some finalizing of the numbers but it appears with all three bowl games this year, Insight Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and BCS National Championship game, we printed about 64,000 shirts.  The frenzy this year over this game was unbelievable and it affected us daily.  Demand continued to rise for shirts almost on an hourly bases.  If it were not for the efforts of McCreary's Tees, (and our brand new 12 color press!) we would have never gotten it all done, this year.  The McCreary's staff, especially Dave and Jimmy, really took great care of us.  I am sure they do not want the world to know that they work extra hours and weekends to keep up with the demand.  To have a local supplier that is so willing to work with us and understand our needs was invaluable!  There is no way we could every thank them enough.  

It is always bitter sweet when it comes to an end but after 7 years we are getting use to it.   Even with all the crazy demands, last minute jobs and chaos that there is working with the Fiesta Bowl, I don't think any of us would change a thing.  They expect a lot of us, 24 hour shifts, staying on call for the Holidays and meeting unrealistic time-lines, but they do it with respect.  That is what makes them such a great customer.  Thanks for the work, Fiesta Bowl, and we look forward to next bowl season!!

Here is a picture and a video from last night.


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Latest Wraps

Spa Time Wrap

SPA TIME NOW: cost-$1,900

SpaTime Now offers groovy spa deals nationwide. Consumers can search for spa deals and book appointments directly online. Spa Time Now was founded in 2010. 

FIESTA BOWL- cost-$500

This is one of the trailers you may have seen selling t-shirts at the games this year.  Not much of a wrap but I thought it looked great for how simple it was.  This trailer had graphics on all sides also.

I have included prices so people could get an understanding of the cost of different jobs.  This might help you sell your customers on wraps when you at least have a ballpark number.  Over the next couple of months I will keep updating this list.  Also keep in mind we are giving a 10% commission on referrals.

For more information on wraps please check our earlier post.

http://infoscreenprinting.squarespace.com/blog/2010/9/17/vehicle-wraps.html

Thanks for the Work!

Eric 

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Customer Films

About 2 years ago we purchased a machine that made it possible for us to produce our screens without the use of film.  This has eliminated the need to inventory and catalogue your films for each job.  At last glance we may have over 100,000 sheets of film we have kept for your convience.  If you would like to keep any of your films (especially if you brought the films in yourself and don't have a copy of them or the digital art) you will need to come by and pick them up before Feb 1st. If we don't hear from you or see you by then, they will be thrown away.

Thanks for the work!

Eric

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Retirement Party January 20th!

Most of you may know that this is a family run business.  Sue and Gary are the parents of Eric.  Gary left the business about 11 years ago to pursue other opportunities.  Since that time Eric and Sue have run the business.  So why all the back story, what does it matter?  It looks like Sue, aka Mom, is going to retire.  She is going to leave us to pursue "nothing".  She's just going to take some time for herself and leave all the stress of running a small business behind her. 

I don't want to get too mushy in this public forum but I am going to take this time to share with you some of the joys we have had over the last 12 years working together.  

The Beginning

Info Screen Printing started as an afterthought to an already very successful manufacturing business called Info Manufacturing.  Info Manufacturing produced several products that were sold on the infomercial market.  These products included the ThighMaster, EZ Crunch and many other pieces of exercise equipment most of you still have under your beds or in your closets.  One customer by the name of "I Dig" wanted to start a clothing line back in the early 90's.  At the time, we were making their portable volleyball nets and they looked to us for the screen printing of their new clothing line.  Sue had always been extremely creative and saw screen printing as another creative outlet.  So Info Screen Printing was born and Sue began her path as a screen printer.  She did everything from the artwork to making the screens and even printed every shirt herself in the early days.        

Around 1998 Mom asked me to come and work at the shop.  Lori and I had just gotten married in Colorado, so we packed up and I came to work with her.  Working with your family has many advantages and just as many possible pitfalls.  We have had our fair share of each.  I have tons of stories about working with my Mom, but here are a couple that always come to mind.

FIRE EVERYONE

Sue Gibby is the "Murphy Brown" of the screen printing world.  I think there was a month that she fired a different person everyday.  If anyone remembers the TV show, there was a new secretary every episode because they kept getting fired.  The same thing would happen here.  People would apply to work at Info and she would tell them "if you can keep up with me you can work here if not see ya later." Very few could keep up and many were surprised at how fast she could print.  You need to also keep in mind this is before we every had an automatic press.  She was printing every shirt by hand, and doing it faster than people half her age.  We still have some employees here that passed her test in the beginning.  So don't let the lady behind the computer fool you, she will work you into the ground.

BACK UP

Most people my moms age have had to adapt to the computers in their life.  Sue is no different.  She sits in front of this magical box every day and is just amazed at what it can do.  But she is just as amazed at what it won't do... READ HER MIND.  I can not tell you how many times I have told her to back up the quickbooks file.  And every month she says the same thing, "How do I back up the file?".  I think I have showed her her no less than 30 times how to back up the file.  And still to this day I bet she has no idea how to do it.  Little does she know that I have been backing it up automatically since the first day.  

Let me tell you what my mom DOES use the computer for:

ZUMA

My mom plays this game every day for at least 3 hours. Yes! 3 hours!  She could not figure out how to back up the most important file we have but she can play this game for hours a day. Between her and my father they have gone through 3 computer mice.  The moral of the story is I should have made backing up the computer like playing a game and then she would have been great at it.  Just so you know, I think my mom may be ranked in the top 100 in the country at this game.

MICRO ADJUSTER:

In screen printing like any craft the difference is in the details.  When you set a job up it is a race to see how perfect can you get it in the least amount of time.  Nowadays with the automatic press you have what we call micro adjusters.  These are little dials that allow the press to move a millimeter at a time. You can move the screens in any direction with these adjustments to make the prints look their best. The picture above is Mom's micro adjuster.  She used to pound on the screen with this hammer to move it into place.  If she pounded too hard, no problem, she would just pound the opposite side a little and move the screen back into place.  This practice seemed to work for her but you should have seen our screens.  They used to all be made out of wood and after a couple months of the Susan Gibby treatment they would just fall apart.  I remember buying new screens and just cringing when I would hear that very distinctive sound of Mom "micro-adjusting" her screens. 

These are just a few of the stories that I have about Sue. We are going to have a party for her on January 20th where we can talk about many more great things about her.  Everyone is invited to join us.  We will have some food, some drink and absolutely no screen printing tests!  Please come between 2pm and 4pm on Thursday January 20th so you can say goodbye to "MOM".  

If anyone has a message for Sue please "POST A COMMENT" to this post.  I am going to make a shirt for her with all the comments on it.

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Funeral at Info

She has been with us for over 12 years and has been one of our best employees over that time.  We had never had an employee of her caliber, when she came to us.  We thought she was so great that we brought in more employees just like her.  In fact, her being here may have been the one thing that brought a lot of you to us.  She was never late, she never missed a shift, never had a sick day and stayed late whenever we asked.  Sometimes she would work for 24 hours at a time, during our busiest times.  But that has all changed.  It has been a very long slow slide for this once great employee.  She started to miss a lot of days and her productivity has dipped to an unacceptable rate.  We all started to notice changes in her attitude, not working late, and generally not being the chipper employee she once was.  We worked with her as long as we could during her decline.  We tried to help her along, nurse her when she was sick, and help her out as much as we could.  At the very end she just stopped working, altogether.  We will miss her, she was our 1st... and nobody forgets their 1st.

Please take a moment of silence for her today and think of all the shirts she has printed for each and every one of you over the last 12 years of her life.

She will be missed, please say good by to our

1994 M&R Challenger 10 color press

She was a good press and she will be sorely missed!

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2010 Holiday Contest!

Every year we have some kind of contest to keep our customers on their toes.  Because I believe that an educated customer is almost as good as a customer that pays on time, these contests revolve around testing your knowledge of contract screen printing.  We have just over a week until the big McCreary's party this year. 

 

This is how it will work this year:

1. We will post several questions on our blog  that should be common knowledge in the Info Screen Printing contract  world.

2. Various questions will be randomly posted on our blog for about 24 hours each, then removed without warning.

3. It is an open book test so use whatever means necessary to find the correct answers.

4. Find us at the McCreary's Party and check your answers with one of us.

5. The customer with the most correct answers wins.

Prizes are as follows:

    1st Place $150 in future printing

    2nd Place $125 in future printing

    3rd Place $100 in future printing

    4th Place $75 in future printing

    5th place $50 in future printing

    6th place $25 in future printing


In the event of a tie, whoever gets to us first will win.

As an added bonus we have another chance for people to win something. For those of you who don't know, Henry is a human PMS Book. If you can stump him on an actual PMS color you will win $10.00 in future printing.  Keep in mind Henry will not have a PMS book with him. Make sure you bring yours to prove him wrong. Each person gets only one chance, so make it a good one.


Eric Gibby

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McCreary's Party 2010

The biggest industry party of the year is rapidly approaching.  

We hope to see you all there. 

Henry, Chad, Joe and Eric will all be there.

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Holiday Hours

We will be closed this week Thursday and Friday.

For Dec we will be closed the 6th, 24th, 27th, 28th and 30th.

For January we will be closed 6th, 7th and 10th.

 

Eric Gibby

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Not Safe For Work Video

Every month we get at least one customer in here that we have this exact same conversation with. Well, if they meet with Chad or I, it is the same but without all the cussing.  If they meet with Henry, then there is usually much more cussing and swearing.  It's a great video but is has some explicit language, so enjoy it after the kids are in bed. (NSFW!)

I know this video does not represent any of you... right?   RIGHT! If any of you have any experience working at a screenprinting shop, this will really hit home. Enjoy!

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Top Volume Screen Printers

The numbers are in and Info Screen Printing is #17 on this years 'Top Volume screen printers' list in Impressions Magazine.  I would really like to thank all of you for this achievement. Whether we're doing that one shirt job or doing 160,000 prints for a sports franchise, it ALL adds up.  In the end, every shirt we print comes from you, our customers, and we deeply appreciate it.

Here is a run down of our numbers for 2009.

839,227 finished garments this could be a shirt that has a front and back print but is only counted once
1.4 Million impressions this is every print our presses print over the year
160,000 Prints  was our biggest job

THANKS FOR THE WORK!!!!!!


 

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Henry's Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!

It is Henry's Birthday today!  Henry does not like attention at all so we are going to have a little fun with him.  To make this work I need EVERYONE'S help.  Here is all of Henry's contact info.  

Call at 602-770-0788

TXT at 602-770-0788

E-mail at henry@infoscreenprinting.net

We are going to blow up his blackberry!  I do not want his phone to stop ringing all day.  E-mail him 10 times today and say Happy Birthday.  Text him every hour to let him know you care.  Every time you have to talk to him start by saying Happy Birthday.  You all must help!! Afterall, HENRY'S WORTH IT!

 

Also here is a picture of Henry in all his manhood fishing with a pink Barbie Pole.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HENRY!!

 

 

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July is Vacation Month

Chad, Henry and I have been going over everyone's vacation request for July and it looks likes at least one, if not all three of us will be gone each day in July.  What does that mean to you?  We will need some help for the month of July.  In an attempt to be as proactive as possible, we try to call every customer that has an order that has a problem. (no product, art, or approval, etc.)  For the next month, we just need everyone to please check on their order each day.  See if we have shirts, see if we have art, double check shipping dates and shipping methods.  We will have all of our printers so there should be no problem getting your jobs printed, it is just all the customer service stuff that will be lacking this month.  I really don't think there will be any problems but it doesn't hurt to ask for help.  Also, as a general rule, if you get an automated e-mail from the website please log on and check your order status to see what is happening with it. Thanks!

Here are a couple of reminders:

1. Product has to be here 2 days prior to print date if we are going to count it in.

2. Even if you do not want the product counted in it needs to be here the day before printing.

3. All art proofs need to be approved by 3:00 pm the day prior to printing, or your job will be moved to the following business day.

 

Thanks for the work and thanks for the help this month.

Eric Gibby

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Closed July 5th & July 16th

We will be closed Monday July 5th and Friday July 16th.

I also wanted to update everyone on that HUGE job we had this past week. We finished the last of our 80,000 prints on Saturday, so we are back to our normal schedule.  Thank you to all the customers that were flexible enough that we could move some of their jobs around to make that big job possible.  

Fun facts about the job

~ 40,000 Shirts printed both sides made this an 80,000 print job
~ 80,000 prints is 200 hours of printing
~ 40,000 shirts is 556 cases
~ 556 cases is 18 full shrink-wrapped pallets and 1 partial pallet
~ 18 Pallets will fill a full size semi truck

So, how come McCreary's can get 1200 cases on the same size truck?

 

Be the 1st to answer the question by responding to the blog, NOT E-MAIL, and we will take $20.00 off your next order.

 

THANKS FOR THE WORK

Eric Gibby

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Henry's New Motorcycle

Much to Henry's surprise on Monday his motorcycle was updated with some new accessories.  It seems these were gifts from one of our customers.  We do not know which customer showed so much love for Henry, but the rumors are flying.  

Henry said it was a little difficult to ride home with the basket flying up in is face, and the tassels tickling his forearms.  On a side note, he got several thumbs ups from other little girls that liked what he did with his bike.  

Please let Henry know what you think of his new look: henry@infoscreenprinting.net.

Thanks for the work!

Eric Gibby 

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Coyotes White Out Shirts

We just finished printing 25,000 shirts for the Coyotes Hockey team.  The print was 2 locations so the job was a total of 50,000 prints. These will be the shirts they hand out at the front gate for what they call "The White Out".  The team tries to have every fan wear a white shirt so the stands are completely whited out. This was a very nice job for us.  It put us a little behind with other work this last week but I think we did a really good job of still meeting the needs of our other customers.

With the anticipation of the Coyotes making the second round of playoffs we need to block out some dates for their next production run.  We will only have a couple of days to print their next White Out shirts so we need to make sure we do not book any other work for a couple of days towards the end of April. They are as follows: 

 

NO PRINTING

Thursday, April  22nd

Friday, April 23rd

Monday, April 26th

 

If you have any jobs that are due on these dates please find out if you can move them up or move them back.  I know there are some of you reading this and saying to yourselves "this doesn't apply to me" but I assure you, it does.  All of our presses will be running to get this job done on time and because of the tight timeline we will not be able to stop and do any other work.  We are very sorry for the inconvenience this may cause.  We will do our best to check all your PO's to make sure they are not due on these dates but your help in scheduling will be most appreciated.

 

Thanks for the Work!

Eric Gibby 

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Scottsdale Police K-9 Training

For those that do not know, we do a lot of printing and charity work for the Scottsdale Police department's K-9 division.  They stopped by the shop for a photo shoot today.  We were taking photos of the dogs in action, searching for drugs, searching for bombs and attacking with force.  We are designing a couple new shirts and making some life size removable wall graphics.  Several employees got the thrill of being involved.  Sue had a gun held to her head, and Chad, Andy and Fish got to wear the bite suit and have the dog attack them.  

Every year there is a huge national competition in Scottsdale for the best K-9 unit in the country.  If you every wanted to see these impressive dog working up close, without being their target, you should check out this event.

http://www.desertdogk9trials.com/

Here are some photos of the employees being attacked.  And no Bo did not get bit.  As much as everyone would have enjoyed it he did not want the little dogie to mess up his hair.

 


Here is Sue trying to act like she is really scared.  
I don't think she will ever have an acting career.
Even with a REAL gun to her head she was on the verge of laughing the whole time.

Here is Andy playing dead.  This is the way he always looks so we really could not tell if he was acting or not.

This picture is of Owen (the actual police officer) and Tarzan is the name of the dog.  The object of the photo shot was to get a picture with the dog and the gun at the same time.  I think this picture will work!

Here is Chad getting ready for the hit. 

For anyone that just talks to Chad every day and never has seen him before, this is the face he makes every time he answers the phone.  Now you have a face to put with the voice.

Here is Tarzan the dog swinging on the vine.  Too bad for Chad his arm is the vine and Tarzan is using his teeth and tons of pressure to hold on. 

Finally we used one of the employees that really looks like a bad guy, Fish.  Tarzan seemed to be extra aggressive with Fish.  We don't know why. Maybe it is the long hair and tons of piercings and tattooes...wait, that describes Chad also.  This was real world training for the dog.

OOOWWWWW....This dog is strong!

 

Thanks for the work!

Eric Gibby

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McCreary's Party 2009

Just a reminder that McCreary's is having their Holiday Party today.  Chad and I are going to be there around 5:00 pm.  I hope to see all of you there.

McCreary's Party PDF

 

We thought we might add a little excitement to the party.  Hidden around this site are 3 coupons worth $100, $50 and $25.  Find these coupons, print them out and have either Chad or I sign them at the party tonight.  We will sign three of each making them valid. Coupons without one of our signatures will be worth nothing.  One coupon per customer.  If you are new customer and have no idea what we look like just look for the two best looking guys at the party.

 

Thanks for the work!

Eric Gibby

 

 

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