Category Archives: Uncategorized

Non-Profit Printing and the Charities We Support

Community involvement has always been a priority at SLB Printing.  That’s why we do things like provide, at reduced or no cost, printing services for several charities and non-profit organizations that have touched our hearts.  The list is by no means extensive, but we aren’t the largest printing company around either.  We do what we can and hope to lead by example for the betterment of our community and the world we live in.  Our staff enjoys getting involved and feels the satisfaction too.

For charities and non-profit organizations, print materials can be the lifeblood needed to reach donors, raise funds and generate awareness for their organization.  All printing companies have come to know this.  But it’s up to the moral and charitable desire of the owner to decide if making a difference by providing something, anything, for free or at reduced costs to non-profits can be a meaningful endeavor.  

SLB Printing has chosen to offer a variety of print solutions to nonprofits, ranging from appeal mailings to color brochures, posters and pop-up tents that are great for many different kinds of indoor or outdoor events.  There is a different type of fun and rewarding feeling that comes from knowing that SLB Printing is helping to make a difference when we are able to provide non-profit printing for friends at reduced or no cost.  This is the choice that we have made.

Some of the Non-Profit Organizations SLB Printing Supports

If you feel so inclined, please visit any of the non-profit sites below to get involved or to make a donation yourself knowing that they are all SLB Printing approved!

Concern Foundation: www.concernfoundation.org  Help find a cure for cancer.

Temple Knesset Israel: https://www.templeki.org/  Since 2016 serving the needs of the Los Feliz neighborhood.

Project Chicken Soup: https://www.projectchickensoup.org/ Delivering free Kosher meals to HIV/AIDs and cancer patients all around Los Angeles.

Cambodian Children’s Fund: https://www.cambodianchildrensfund.org/  Transforming today’s impoverished kids into tomorrow’s leaders.

The Center in Hollywood: http://thecenterinhollywood.org/  Help to end homelessness in our community

No Limits for Deaf Children: http://www.nolimitsfordeafchildren.org/ Another children’s organization doing amazing things!

South Robertson Neighborhood Council http://www.soronc.org/  Great organization working to improve the area where our store is located.

South Robertson Great Streets: http://soroblvd.com/   Working with www.soronc.org to help improve the business district.

Reynier Village: https://rvna.wordpress.com/ 

National Night Out: http://www.midcitywest.org/event/national-night-out-festival-35th-anniversary/

Melrose Action Committee:  https://melroseaction.org/  The hardest working neighborhood organization around!

Southern California Mini Maniacs: https://www.scmm.org/ Well, if you have to ask, it’s because I own one! Not to mention they support several other non-profits’ themselves.

Everyone feels the crunch from an overwhelming number of good civic causes and non-profit organizations.  I would like to believe that SLB Printing has done its fair share of free or low cost work for a number of these worthy causes and organizations over the past 35 years. 

Landscape Perfect Bound Catalogs up to 13” wide.

Landscape Perfect Bound Catalogs up to 13” wide.

Short run Landscape Perfect Bound Catalog printing comes to SLB Printing!  OK so big deal, right?  YES IT IS because this means YOU can now enjoy short run lengths (as few as 2) for our landscape orientation or square shape catalogs. We also now offer a wider selection of specialty cover stocks including kraft and other dark color papers. These short run jobs can be completed in as little as 3 work days.  Oh, and BTW, did I mention we can print the dark colored papers with white ink on our new CMYK + white digital press?

Why a 28″ long sheet is needed for Landscape Perfect Binding

The appeal of landscape orientation catalog printing has grown over the years. However, limited sheet lengths of 19” on digital presses meant that a conventional offset press would be needed. Unfortunately, with the minimum run of 500 or more.  This is because an 11” landscape book requires a 25” long sheet. This puts the job out of reach for digital presses with 19” maximum sheet lengths.  NOT ANYMORE! SLB Printing has ended the madness by installing a digital press capable of printing a sheet length up to 52” long!  This easily makes a short run of 13” wide landscape catalogs a reality.  28” long paper is all that’s required for a 13” wide landscape catalog.

Landscape perfect bound short run options from SLB Printing in Los Angeles

The volume of calls asking us to add this service to our short run offerings has dramatically increased this year. So, we decided that now is the time to make the addition to our digital press line up. Prior to now, we have only offered landscape printing on longer runs of 500 or more books.  But as of now, that’s all changed with our new machine. Short runs that are as few as 2 copies can now be achieved with 3 work day production time.

What is a Landscape Booklet?

What is a landscape booklet?  A landscape booklet or catalog is bound on the short end making the width longer than the height.  Designers like this format because it provides more viewing area when the catalog is open.  We do not recommend crossovers for perfect binding, but it’s not unheard of.  Being able to view 2 pages full of graphics at 26” wide is truly unique and impressive.  Come by our store and see for yourself what landscape perfect bound catalogs can do to enhance your product.

Visit our Catalog Printing page for more information on Perfect Binding landscape or square books. When it comes to 5 STAR reviews, we have a pretty good reputation for getting the job done too. Check us out on Google to see what everyone says about our service.

White Ink Printer in Los Angeles

White ink printing comes to SLB Printing!  OK so big deal, right?  YES IT IS, because this means YOU can now enjoy short run labels on a wider selection of specialty stocks including clear and kraft label papers.  The appeal of white ink printing has grown since the technology was introduced. But this year, we have had a flood of calls asking for us to add this service to our short run offerings.  Prior to now, we have only offered white ink printing on longer runs of labels that we run on our high volume production equipment.  With our new machine, short runs as low as 50 or 100 copies can now be achieved with same day and next day service.

What exactly is white ink printing?

Simply put, white ink printing is the use of an opaque white ink or toner that can be used either as a base layer or a top layer on darker papers such as black, kraft, blue or red.  White ink can also be used to create highlights and other special effects on dark or clear materials. 

Why use white ink?  The need to use white ink for a base layer is to help lay down an opaque layer below the color layer making the base layer act like a white sheet of paper.  This gives the color layer a truer representation of the desired original color as opposed to being affected and darkened by the actual paper color. 

For clear labels, it provides the base layer so the color layer isn’t affected and darkened by the contents of the bottle.  Think of a bottle of red wine with a clear label, if the text was yellow, red or some other bright color you’ll only be able to see the text and graphics with a layer of white underneath.  Regardless of the how bright the text or graphic color was, the normal inks in use today would not be opaque enough on their own to keep those bright colors looking as they were intended.  The white layer underneath is used to accomplish true desired color with a high degree of success.

White ink addressing on dark color envelopes in Los Angeles by SLB PrintingPictures printed on dark stock with white ink base by SLB Printing in Los AngelesClear label with white ink lettering on glass bottle from SLB Printing in Los Angeles

Download our copy of designing for white ink to help you create your special project. There are several lessons as well with examples of all the cool things that can now be done with white ink.

Label Substrate Options

SLB Printing offers white ink printing on a variety of label substrates, including gold or silver metallics, kraft label paper, and clear vinyl decals. White ink can be printed by itself on the label sheet or it can be combined with full-color, CMYK printing.  When you’re looking for that one of a kind look with white ink printing, come to the printer in Los Angeles that knows how to Get It Done.  Our clients always say we print miracles, let us create one for you today.

Label and Brochure Printing for the Cannabis Industry

Label and Brochure Printing for the Cannabis Industry

We always feel so blessed with the ability to remain relevant as a printing company in today’s world of all things internet and such.  Our latest foray is in handling the needs of the Cannabis Industry, Hemp and CBD industry.  With the explosion of medical and legal recreational cannabis and hemp comes the need to market with printing!  SLB Printing has been helping manufacturers and resellers of these products with high quality labels and brochures for many years now. Our ability to produce short runs from 25 to 2,000 labels and brochures has helped countless clients with their same day and next day printing needs.  As your needs for larger quantities grow, our production facility can help with longer print runs too.  In business since 1984, you can rely on SLB Printing to handle your cannabis industry marketing requirements for labels and a whole lot more!

Eye-catching printed labels with quick turnaround.

The need for these products to be distinctive and eye-catching is most important. But, quick turnaround can be equally important for you when you are ready to begin selling .  This is why we have developed a label production workflow that can quickly produce labels with just about any shape your design requires. We even have a tamper resistant, perforated seal, label for your bottles and flat tin cans.  Given more production time, we can talk about even more options.  Need a special laminate or finish?  We’re experimenting with new materials all the time so just ask us what’s the latest cool new thing we’ve tried out. Lastly, when there’s a need for consecutive numbering on labels this can also be achieved for your inventory and tracking needs. Let SLB Printing be your partner for all the Cannabis Industry labels your products require.

Learn more about the different stickers and labels we offer on our product page for LABELS by clicking anywhere on this line.

Check out our YouTube video for our security perforate label product:

SLB Printing prints more than just labels!

For your in-store marketing needs, we have produced brochures, hang tags and instruction sheets in many different shapes and unique sizes along with laminated menu cards to use at the retail counter.  Got a small vape case or vapor pouch you need an insert card for?  We can do that too!  What we’ve always known is that it’s always much better to have more branded print collateral in your packages then less. The cannabis industry and your products need this type of print product saturation just like any other product or brand does.  Your client needs to remember your products and your brand so be sure to cover all the bases with unique and distinctive marketing materials that leave the store, inside the jar, bag, case or pouch after the sale so they keep coming back to you.

We would love to speak with you or see you in our store so we can discuss your specific Cannabis Industry printing needs.  Our customer service staff is ready when you are to help any way we can.  Look forward to speaking with you soon!

We’ve found a great resource to help you with more ideas on how to market your Cannabis Industry products.  Click on this line to check out Leafly’s website and enjoy!

Best printing company in Los Angeles

When searching for a printing company, “the best printing company in Los Angeles” is a fairly common phrase used.  Luckily, SLB Printing shows up highly ranked for this search and we are truly grateful to all our clients leaving all the awesome reviews for us.  Online reputation seems to be everything now when it comes to marketing and generating new business.  Being mentioned as the best printing company in Los Angeles is truly a gift that we take very seriously.

So what makes SLB Printing the best printing company in Los Angeles?  First of all, we know what jobs we do well and what jobs we don’t.  Although we would like to take in every job that hits our door, it raises the expectations and demands to unrealistic levels.  The printers graveyard is littered with companies that tried to do too much and handle too many different types of jobs. Other printers also promise unrealistic completion times along with overly optimistic ideas that didn’t meet with their clients expectations.  Being in business since 1984, SLB Printing has been able to develop a keen understanding of its abilities that has helped it to avoid these land mines.

Review sites like Yelp! prove the point I’m trying to make.  If you read SLB Printing’s over forty five 5-star reviews, you’ll notice a common theme.  The phrases “unbelievable service”, “amazing quality”, “came through at the last minute” are common in every one of these reviews.  I have a lot to be thankful for when a review says “SLB is the best printing company in Los Angeles and possibly the world”.  There are very few printing companies in Los Angeles that can boast a client list that has jobs that come from all corners of the World!  London, Australia, China, Israel and more are where just some of the jobs have come from.  Clients in these cities and countries coming to Los Angeles for business all needed to find a printer they could rely on to get a job done when they needed it.  SLB Printing came through each and every time.

The next time you need a miracle printed, try giving us a call.  If we can do your job, we’ll let you know quickly.  If we can’t, we’ll also explain why.  Rest assured, if we say the job will get done, we won’t let you down.  It’s all part of being the best printing company in Los Angeles.

 

Backlit Film Printing is Lighting Up Sales at SLB Printing

Backlit Film printing is lighting up sales at SLB Printing this year. We started producing Backlits for a lingerie retailer, followed by a eye glass chain of 14 retail stores.   With that success, our client base has increased to include several more chain stores along with wholesale manufactures exhibiting at trade shows with light boxes as large as 60″ x 120″ and real estate developers who own several malls!  The backlit polyester film we are using achieves superb ink adhesion that produce, crisp, vibrant and incredibly sharp images.  We’ve produced some very impressive results for our clients in 2013, and in turn, backlit film is lighting up sales at SLB Printing.

Backlit film printing lightbox

The first client to use our backlit film printing ability was a lingerie wholesaler.  Using massive light boxes 5’x10′ tall in trade shows to show off their stunning products, SLB cut their costs and provided stunning skin tones for the model shots.  Next was a chain of 14 retail eyeglass stores that was looking for a more reliable supplier.  They were blown away at the leap in quality SLB produced while exceeding their quick turn-around needs.  With these successes combined with our existing client base of real estate developers, film studios and production companies, SLB Printing started producing backlit Movie Posters and 1-sheets used in light boxes and outdoor displays for several of the newest shopping malls in the Los Angeles, Westlake and Glendale areas.

In just the last year, clients have used our backlit polyester film in their overhead signs, menu boards, light boxes and POP retail displays.  It’s also a very impressive way to display photo enlargements.  With available roll widths up to 60″ and a printable area of 59.75″ across, SLB Printing is producing a broad range of sizes on rolls of material 100′ long. Ask for a sample the next time you visit our store. It’s very easy to see why backlit film is lighting up sales.

For environmentally conscious customers, this polyester material is recyclable and is printed with Latex inks that produce no VOC’s.  This backlit film is also made right here in the USA.

Give SLB Printing a call at 310-558-4752 for a quote on your backlit polyester film needs.  You can learn more about turn around time and ordering information on our Backlit Film product page.

 

A Clean Mailing List

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The Basis for a Successful Mailing

You’ve taken great pains to design the message and print it with the most beautiful elements to send to your target audience. Now how do you ensure that your appeal letter, postcard, brochure or self mailer gets into the right hands and at the right time? I can tell you it all starts with a clean mailing list.

From a marketing perspective, most businesses have learned that a targeted recipient list, a compelling offer, a call to action and the right timing are all essential parts of a successful direct mail campaign. Don’t forget to give that same level of care and time to how your mailing list is prepared.

Keep the Mailing List simple and clean

After working with mailing lists since 1984, we see common problems that are all easy to cure. SLB Printing shouldn’t have to bear the responsibility to guess at the right address or proper ID to use when your marketing dollars are at stake. Here are some easy tips to ensure that we can execute accurately on your mailing to help you maximize your response rate.

  • Export only the fields with information needed for your mailing. Many contact database programs have export options or “wizards” that make it easy to specify which fields to export. Leave out fields such as the phone numbers, email addresses and other data that are not going to be part of the address block.
  • Make “column headings” or “field names” clear. If you have multiple address fields, label the column you want to use as the primary address as “address1.” This will help you better manage the data for future mailings and takes the guesswork out of addressing your mail pieces.
  • If you need to include “Customer ID’s” or other special data in the mailing address block, give us clear instructions that these special fields are to be included on the mail piece.
  • If the software that generates your list can export the data in a variety of formats, we prefer tab or comma delimited formats. Check our Acceptable List Formats at the bottom of the “How to Order” page.
  • Lastly, the MOST IMPORTANT tip we can give you to help avoid delays is for you to take a few minutes to review your list before sending it to SLB Printing for processing. If it looks confusing, has information in the wrong fields, seems to be missing critical address data or doesn’t match your instructions, use the tips above to clean it up or call us at 310-558-4752 for assistance early in the process.

Following these five simple suggestions will help ensure your mail goes out to the correct addresses with the information you want to be included. Now that you have a clean list, keep in mind that it is only part of the puzzle for successful mail delivery. There are some additional steps that SLB Printing can perform to help get your mail into the right hands.

Tools That We Use

You now have followed all the steps to keep your list simple and clean, but that doesn’t mean the U.S. Postal Service will be able to deliver mail to them. Data in the wrong fields, typos and out of date addresses in your list can reduce the number of pieces that get delivered successfully. SLB Printing performs two services that help keep the undeliverable mail countdown: CASS and NCOA.

CASS:

CASS stands for Coding Accuracy Support System.  It helps improve the chances of your mail piece being delivered to a confirmed physical address. Our “CASS Certified” software is used to format addresses according to postal requirements.  It will also help to identify addresses which are deemed “Undeliverable As Addressed,” or UAA. This not only helps remove any incorrect addresses that need fixing, it also saves you money by removing the UAA addresses from the mailing. When presorting for automation discounts, your list must qualify as 100% CASS Approved. This should not be confused with the correct recipient being at the address. That’s where our next valuable service comes in.

NCOA:

NCOA refers to the National Change of Address service.  The service checks to see if the mail recipient filed a move update card.  If they have, the address will be updated before the mail is sent. After the service has been completed, SLB Printing can email you the updated list to help you keep your address records current.

Using NCOA is a necessary step that must be done within 95 days for First Class, Non-Profit or Standard presorted mailing jobs.  It’s mandatory in order to comply with the new USPS “Move Update Compliance” rules. If you are blanketing a given neighborhood or zip code with an “Occupant List”, CASS is sufficient.

Keep in mind that NCOA still does not guarantee that your list is 100% deliverable. Some of the reasons we see for returned mail are: misspellings, out of business, movers who do not file change of address notices, deaths and incorrect move notices.  All of these situations will still cause a First Class piece to be returned.

By working with SLB Printing for your next mailing project, you can increase the number of mail pieces that reach their targets, reduce your mailing services costs, and ultimately boost response rates on your mailing campaign. Give us a call to find out more about how SLB Printing can reduce the guesswork with direct mail. We can also provide you with a targeted mailing list to best achieve your marketing efforts. Call us for details or you can visit our Mailing Page for more details.

slbprinting@gmail.com or call 310-558-4752.

Save a Tree – Think About It!

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This whole “Save A Tree” campaign that we keep hearing about really makes me say to anyone that buys into this rubbish to “think about it”!  There are so many false hopes about “Save a Tree” that one could spend days explaining.  Think about the idea that I can grow another tree, YOU can grow another tree, ANYONE can help go out and plant trees! So why the big push to “Save a Tree”?

Now, ask yourself this, how renewable or recyclable is your smart phone, your computer, your tablet device or book reader?  What’s the carbon footprint used to make that device?  What’s the energy used to power the services that those devices use?  I won’t bore you with the facts or statistics.  Reality makes it necessary to use these devices for business and pleasure.

I think what we really need is a “Save a Job – chop down a tree” campaign.  Trees are a crop, no different from corn or wheat.  Harvesting trees saves jobs.  Planting new trees saves jobs.  Recycling paper saves jobs.  Even using a stamp on an envelope made from a tree with a check inside that is also made from a tree that can both be recycled again, saves  many jobs!  So lets chop down a tree or save all our paper trash to give to the recyclers and save a job.  Think about it – Save a Tree?

Why is paper the only target?

But wait, that’s not all you should think about when contemplating this save a tree idea.  How about thinking of the reasons why the paper industry is the one you always hear about when “Save a Tree” comes up.  What about the lumber used by homebuilders and furniture manufactures? What about people with fireplaces who love to curl up with a loved one in front of that wonderful warm fire that turns wood to ashes?  Why is it, that only paper is the one that is always targeted?  Call me a conspiracy theorist, but to me, it looks like financial gain is the main motivating factor here.

On-Line Bill Pay – who’s really benefitting?

Pay your bills on line?  Who benefits the most?  The seller by getting paid faster and the bank that can place ads in front of you for awhile. Send an email instead of a letter? Who benefits the most financially?  This could be debated more but the company that you bought your device from and service you use to transmit with like Google or Yahoo stand to make a profit by being able to shove ads into your face while using their services.

So to me, I can see why online service providers and advertisers want you to give up paper.  But “Save A Tree” just makes me feel like they all think we are stupid!  Consider this, around the beginning of this year, Google started a campaign with the tag line “Save money. Save time. Save trees”.  Now after numerous letters disputing the credibility of this statement to CEO Larry Page and Chairman Eric Schmidt, the misleading tagline has been removed from their “Go Paperless 2013” campaign.  If these two distinguished leaders of tech can see the valid points made by the Printing Industry of America and take down their tag line, then I feel it is time that we spread the word and have a more realistic conversation about “Save a Tree”.

To learn more about the value of print, visit the Choose Print website at ChoosePrint.org

Fashion Week? SLB cranks out the LookBooks

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Fashion Week has kept us pretty busy. SLB Printing cranks out the LookBooks. Over 5,000 lookbooks were produced for various fashion designers and clothing manufactures displaying their new lines all over the country in just the last week of February 2013. The largest of these orders was only 300 pieces.  The hard copy proofing process has been critically important to all the fashion clients to make sure their products look their best on our digital presses.

Our 2 high speed digital presses have been cranking out the lookbooks and the bindery room has been busy making custom pockets, cutting, scoring and folding inserts. Wire-O, spiral binding and saddle stitching departments have all had their share of rush work this week too! Deadlines as tight as 24 hours have been met and we are so thankful for all the new clients who have found out just how quick and easy SLB makes the entire printing, color correction and proofing process.

Thank you to all our current and new fashion clients for making this the busiest year ever for producing lookbooks!  SLB Printings impecable reputation on many of the popular on line review sites helped clothing manufactures feel comfortable coming to our store and trusting us with their last minute LookBook printing needs.  But LookBooks is just part of the Fashion Week printing that SLB produced.  Posters, Retractable Banner Stands, Backdrops, Order Forms, Line Sheets, Inserts, Postcards and more were all part of the many requests that we were given with impossible deadlines that SLB made possible.

SLB Printing was established in 1984.  In November of 2012 we moved into our new location at 2822 S. Robertson Blvd.  Plenty of on street parking and in back of the store is available too.

Call SLB Printing today at 310-558-4752 and let us help with your LookBook printing needs. Mention you read this blog and receive $25 off your next order for LookBooks during all of the 2013 year.

Did you know…Vital Facts About the Paper Used in Print Products

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Did you know these vital facts about the paper used in print products?

  • About 90% of paper and paperboard consumed in the United States is produced in the United States.1
  • Overall, 33% of papermaking material comes from recycled paper; 33% comes from wood chips and scrap from sawmills; and 33% comes from virgin trees.2
  • Just 11% of the world’s forests are used for paper (53% for fuel; 28% for lumber; and 8% for other uses)3
  • Trees from tropical forests are not specifically harvested for paper. Direct causes of deforestation are agricultural expansion, wood for fuel, and urbanization and roads.4

 

1Dan Burden, “Forest Profile, Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, 2009 (revised by Malinda Geisler, 2011)
2U.S. EPA, Office of Solid Waste, “Where do the papermaking materials come from?”
3International Paper, Down to Earth, “IsIt Worth Printing?”
4Causes of Deforestation, Direct Causes, Earth Observatory/Nasa (2009).

The above article was originally posted in the PIASC WatchDog newsletter – available at PIASC.org

On January 15, 2013 the PRNewswire ran an article that included more vital facts about the paper used in print products.  Some of the additional facts from that article included the following:

“In the United States, more trees are grown than are harvested and the volume of trees has increased 49% over the last 50 years.

One of the benefits that makes print on paper sustainable is that paper can be 100% recyclable.

The amount of US forestland has remained essentially the same for the last 100 years at about 750 million acres even though the US population tripled during the same period.”

Shelby Blecker from SLB Printing agrees with the articles point that consumers should include “data-driven comparative analysis of lifecycle, carbon footprint and overall environmental impact” in the choices they make to “Go Paperless in 2013”.  I don’t believe people take into account the amount of climate change responsible in the manufacturing of smart phones, laptops, computers and monitors.  Not to mention the infrastructure of servers and related cooling systems needed to maintain proper operating temperatures.  Add to this the non-biodegradable nature of these products and then compare this to a piece of paper made from tree pulp that can be recycled.  That’s why we believe it’s important to share these vital facts about the paper used in print products with all our blog readers.