Tidewater Direct Rolls Out Paper Usage Online Tools for Marketers
CENTREVILLE, MD—Sept. 29, 2010—Tidewater Direct, a web offset printing company with three plants in North America, launched an interactive Paper Calculator and Paper Comparison Chart today. The printer is already regarded for educating its clients so they can make objective, independent print buying decisions by regularly releasing white papers about the printing industry. Tidewater prides itself on the depth of knowledge it provides to its clients as it pertains to the direct mail and packaging industry.
Today, the company takes that notion a step further by releasing a paper calculator section on its Website, capable of determining total job weight, individual piece weight, and more. Often times print buying clients need to quickly understand various weight combinations for their direct mail pieces. With these new tools, piece weight and total job weigh can be determined which can be extremely helpful when planning a direct mail campaign.
“When print buyers make educated, objective decisions on where to place printing projects, Tidewater Direct often emerges the winner,” says Ken Boone, President. “Candidly, education is an indirect sales tool that we like to employ.” Boone, a 25 year veteran of the direct mail industry, leads Tidewater Direct with a vision that service must extend beyond the quote. He is considered an industry guru when it comes to continuous forms printing, as well as all things direct mail related.
By logging on to Tidewaterdirect.com, print buyers will have access to these new tools free of charge. Included are calculators that will determine total paper weight of any job with any basis weight, square inches per pound, and piece yield per roll of paper for a specific basis weight. Buyers of direct mail printing will appreciate a calculator that gives them the weight per piece in ounces – critical information as it pertains to the weight of the individual printed components in a letter.
Lastly, the paper comparison chart is an educational tool that allows print buyers to understand basis weights more clearly. It crosses the 6 major basis weights – book, bond, cover, index, bristol, and tag – in a chart to show how they relate to each other. Crossing basis weights can be important to understand the differences in basis weight sizes and how they relate to each other. Additionally, there is a caliper comparison chart which is critical to pharmaceutical printing, as many times the thickness of paper dictates how many times it can be folded.
Geoffrey Eisenberg, Vice President of Operations for Tidewater Direct remarked, “I started in the printing industry as a novice four years ago, and these were tools that I developed in an Excel Spreadsheet to help make quick internal decisions and to advise customers. I distributed them internally, and they became a popular reference aide. Offering these tools to our clients seemed like a logical thing to do.”
About Tidewater Direct:
Tidewater Direct specializes in efficient, quality web offset printing including direct mail printing, continuous forms printing, and pharmaceutical printing and folding. With 3 locations across Maryland and Iowa and a production footprint of 200,000 square feet, Tidewater is equipped to meet the tightest deadlines and highest volume print demands.
Source: Company press release.