|
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
Sometimes information cannot wait until our next issue of Pounds News, our monthly newsletter. We're trying to make it easier for customers to have a central location to check for the latest information from Pounds. As a result, we have created this blog to keep you up-to-date with the absolute latest at Pounds Labs. Be sure to
check back often to discover the latest news items, product releases, tip and
tricks, problems, and everything else that could affect you. Of course,
if you have any questions, feel free to call, e-mail, or stop by. We'll be glad to
help. |
-
Pounds Holiday Closure Pounds Holiday Shipping Schedule Pounds Holiday Schedule Press Book Holiday Deadline December Newsletter A Special Note Regarding UPS Folded Business Cards Workshop Survey Happy Thanksgiving WPPI Album Competition November Workshops Why I am a Pounds Customer Imaging USA Drawing Newsletter Posted Funpacks on Display Holiday Product Samples PROS Specialty Graphics Reminder About Ordering Press Books Pounds Workshops Focus Group October Newletter Creative Lighting with Kelly Moore Super Monday Event Passes Funpacks Stretch Prints SWPPA Trade Show Pounds Emergency Response to Hurricane Ike Spiral Bound Press Proof Books Pounds Digital Workshops September 9, 2008 September is Back to School month for professional photographers, too! Pounds is offering educational opportunities to improve your Digital IQ. Our schedule of Pounds Digital Workshops has just been posted. We are covering everything from the basics to building a Press Book. Register today for our free, informative and inspiring workshops. [Register Now…]
Press Books Now Available! August 4, 2008 New to our line of digital press products, Press Books allow you to showcase your work in unique coffee table books. Press Books can also be used as alternate to traditional proofs. [read more…] New Gallery Wrap Size Available July 21, 2008 Gallery Wraps are now available in a 10x30 size in both 1-inch and 1.5-inch formats. These can be found in the PROS Gallery Wrap Portraits catalog along with our other sizes ranging from 8x10 to 40x50. Click for more information on Gallery Wraps. Film Processing Services to End June 30, 2008 After surveying our remaining customers who still use film processing services, we found that the majority are planning to make the digital transition soon. Due to the decrease in film-based photographers and the shrinking demand, Pounds Labs will discontinue all film processing services at the end of December 2008. In addition, we will discontinue our film cut and bag service effective August 1, 2008. This discontinuation is largely due to dwindling supplies. For more information on the ending of film services, please read our formal announcement. Standout Mounts June 1, 2008 Standout Mounts are 1.5-inch thick lightweight boards banded with an attractive textured hard black edge. There are many ways to market this attractive product as offerings for portrait work and as lobby displays for corporate and commercial customers as well. To read more about Standout Mounts and how they've been working for Kristin Morales of Memorable Moments, click here.
Using Adobe Trial Software? May 30, 2008 During the month of June 2008, certain product trials that are launched for the first time (regardless of when they were installed) will function for only one day instead of 30 days, due to an error in a line of code that counts down the remaining days in a trial. You will not experience this issue if you have launched your trial before June 1, 2008, or do not launch it until July 1 or thereafter.
New Print Sizes Two
new print sizes, 16x24 and 15x30, have been added to PROS and are available
today. Current Promotions Discover how you can save a few bucks and pass the savings on to your clients or simply increase your bottom line.
Price Reduction April 4, 2008 Senior
and Specialty PRO Wallets 8up units have been reduced in price and are now
available as Wallet Specials. New Products April 4, 2008 ChromaLuxe
products have been released and are now available exclusively in PROS. See
our April Newsletter for details. To
introduce these new products the pricing is reduced 30 percent through the
end of April. Scouting Products April 4, 2008 We
have been informed that our Scouting Trader Cards contain trademarked phrases
that we are not legally allowed to use. These
products have been removed from the PROS Catalog and are no longer available.
We’re sorry for any inconvenience this
may cause. Last Week to Save BIG March 24, 2008 The
spring season has been off to a great start.
We just wanted to remind you that you have only one week left to save
50 percent off select large prints.
Click here for more information! 24x36 Now Available January 29, 2008 24x36
Prints are now available in PROS in the Machine Print and Layout Tool
Catalogs and include all the Standard
Finishing options. BIG Print Special January 21, 2008 Save
50 percent now through March 31 on select prints size 16x20 through
30x40! Click here for more
information! New eProof Form December 31, 2007 The
new eProof form is available for download from Customer Home. Please use this new form for submission of
any film proofing or scanning services effective January 1, 2008. By the way, on behalf of the entire Pounds
team, we hope you have a safe and happy new year. December 27, 2007 If
you’re a customer who utilizes our Changes to Film-based Services December 21, 2007 Just
wanted to let you know that if you’re still utilizing our film-based
services, you may want to check out our December newsletter as it contains
important information regarding to changes of our film-based services
effective January 1, 2008. December 19, 2007 The
holiday season is already in full swing.
As you continue to make plans, be sure to remember our upcoming work
and production schedule and plan accordingly.
If you have any questions regarding the schedule, feel free to send us
an e-mail!
‘Tis the Season for Volume Prints December 4, 2007 This
time of year, many of your customers may ask about ordering a large number of
prints from the same image so they can include them with their season’s
greeting cards. Available
only from digital files ordered through PROS, quantities of 50 or more
3.5x5s, 4x5s, 4x6s and 5x5s will be only 17 cents each. Fifty or more 5x7s will be 25 cents each on
lustre paper. Metallic prices are 21
cents for the smaller prints and 30 cents for the 5x7s. The prices are the
same regardless of whether we are asked to color correct the image(s) or
not. These are “print regardless”
orders meaning that we will make the best print according to our professional
standards and will not accept no-charge remakes for these orders. Look
for two new catalogs in PROS called “Volume Printing – E Surface” and “Volume
Printing – Metallic.” There you will
find the five print sizes mentioned above.
Services on these prints are limited to texture and coating. If you want print matching or approval
prints, please use the Machine Print catalog in PROS. If
you have any questions, feel free to send our customer service department an e-mail! Banners – A new way to promote your business. November 23, 2007 Looking for a new way to
promote your business at trade shows or when you travel to schools to for
your next photo shoot? Considering on redecorating your studio’s reception
area? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then we encourage you to
take a look at our Banners. These
bright and vibrant promotional tools are a great way to achieve your
marketing communication goals. [more…] Closed for Thanksgiving November 21, 2007 Just a friendly reminder that
our production lab and all service centers will be closed on Thursday,
November 22 in observance of Thanksgiving Day. Normal business hours will resume on
Friday, November 23. Thanks and have a
great holiday. Marketing Aids for Seniors October 20, 2007 Increase portrait sales with your
senior market by using our Senior Graphics Samples Collection. Composed of just three books, this
collection features each of our senior graphics products. [more…] November Workshops October 20, 2007 We are offering a wealth of
workshops in November in the Finishing Sample Books October 12, 2007 The Finishing Sample Book is
our new marketing aid tool designed to help you sell more finishing options
to your clients. Composed of over 20
pages of real samples, this book is a great tool to help support your bottom
line. [more…] Gallery Wraps October 10, 2007 Looking for a unique product to
offer your clients this quarter? Take a look at our Gallery Wraps. This unique product offers a contemporary
alternative for wall portraits. [more…] Now Available! September 29, 2007 Our brand new Products &
Services Catalog is now available. You
can download the electronic version by logging into Customer Home and
clicking on the “Products & Services Catalog” button. If you prefer to have a print version, you
can request that one be sent to you by filling out this form. Greeting Card Sample Books & Promo Kits September 29, 2007 Increase
holiday sales with our Greeting Card Sample Books and Promo Kits. Click here
for more information and/or to order these excellent marketing tools. Shipping Courier Questionnaire September 20, 2007 As you may know, Pounds uses
DHL as its shipping courier of choice.
We have recently been exploring other couriers to replace or make
available in addition to DHL. If you
utilize our shipping service, please take a minute to fill out our questionnaire. Your fee New Products & Services Catalog September 20, 2007 It’s true—our new Products
& Services Catalog is ready for your viewing pleasure. Well, sort of. The electronic version will be posted
online (inside Customer Home) within the next week. The print version will available around
October 1. If you would like for us to
send you a print version, click here to order a copy! Closed for Labor Day August 31, 2007 The production lab and all
service centers will be closed on Monday, September 3 in observance of Labor
Day. Normal operating hours will
resume on Tuesday, September 4. August Workshops August 13, 2007 Many photographers and studios
are taking a breather the next few weeks as they prepare for an exhausting
season in the fall. Due to the
vacations many of you are taking, we have decided to postpone our workshops
this month. Our exciting and
informational workshops will resume again in September. Check back soon for dates and registration
information. Thanks and remember to
use sunscreen! Upcoming Education Programs July 6, 2007 We have a bunch of educational
seminars and workshops lined up for you this month. Discover more about these programs by
visiting our Digital Education section.
[more] Summer Sale June 26, 2007 Studies indicate that consumers
are more likely to make a purchase when they can see and feel a sample
prior. Increase your sales by building
your product portfolio and sample display.
With our Summer Sale, going on now through July 31, you can save 50
percent off products and finishing services from select PROS catalogs. [details] Kerrville Group Portrait June 26, 2007 If you had the opportunity to
attend this year’s Kerrville Summer Seminar, make sure you order your free 8x10 group portrait today! This is a limited time offer, so don’t miss
out. [details] Two Weeks Remaining! June 15, 2007 Just a reminder that our second
quarter promotions will be ending on June 29th! Don’t miss out on
these specials. [details] June Workshops June 5, 2007 It’s June and we’re starting to
feel it as it gets warmer outside.
Cool off and freshen up with one of our digital education programs at
our Memorial Day May 24, 2007 We just wanted to remind you
that all E-Commerce with No Commission May 18, 2007 After the sales commission has
been deducted, does it feel like the shopping cart on your e-commerce site
might as well have been empty? The Pounds Automated Sales System lets you
keep more of your money. With PASS, you pay a low monthly fee plus one
cent per image per month. Best of all, there's no commission! [learn
more] Eye-One Display 2 May 11, 2007 Monitors play a critical role in
our field of work and in today’s digital world. Know and trust what you see by calibrating
your CRT, LCD or laptop monitors. The
Eye-One Display 2 is an excellent tool to calibrate and profile monitors of
all kinds quickly and easily! Find out more about the Eye-One Display 2 and
order yours today! [details] Common Issues with Orders May 2, 2007 Our team of professionals strives
each day to make sure each order that leaves our production lab is complete
and contains the highest quality products you have come to expect from
us. Problems do, however, arise as
with any mass production process. Find
out how to make sure your next order is the way you intended. [details] Supporting Embedded Profiles May 2, 2007 Beginning on Monday, May 7th,
internal workflows will be adjusted to use the embedded profiles as the input
color space for your images. If an image
doesn’t have an embedded profile, we will continue to assume that the image
is in sRGB. Read our special
announcement for details. [details] Second Quarter Promotions April 5, 2007 We just wanted to remind you
about our two great promotions going on now through June 29th!
This quarter we are offering Gallery Wraps at a 25 percent discount. Our Annual Wallet Special also has returned
offering you up to 20 percent off book price.
We encourage you to take advantage of these offers before it’s too
late. [details] Telephone Tracking System Glitch We moved our Telephone Tracking
system this past weekend and have been unable to get it back on-line. We apologize for the inconvenience. Order
tracking is still available on the web site through Customer Home. We hope to have the telephone system back
on-line sometime this week. Palette Knife Texture No Longer Available We’re
making room at our production facility for new products and services. To expand for new equipment capable of
providing texture to larger prints, we’re discontinuing the palette knife
texture service. We apologize for any
inconveniences this may cause. Competition Print Submission via PROS Now
you can submit your competition images to us via PROS! Simply select
the “Competition Print” catalog in PROS, click on the service level tab and
print size you desire, add your image to the order, and submit the
order. Print instructions may be added via the “options” button or the
“special instructions” section. If necessary, our Competition Print Consultant
will contact you to discuss your digital printing needs in order to produce
the optimum finished competition print. Options include Metallic or F Surface
paper. Clear Coating and Competition Art Board Mount are included. Banner Prints in PROS If
you missed this in the last Newsletter – here’s a reminder! The Banner
product should be live in PROS this
weekend. These 24x80 inch banners are
printed on a bright white, water resistant satin cloth fabric and can be
ordered through the Banner Print catalog in PROS. Stands may also be ordered
with or without banner assembly. This is a great product to market your
business by creating displays in your reception area, at bridal shows, and
other events. You can also help your customers promote their businesses
with point-of-purchase displays and outdoor event displays, as well as
introduce new end consumer products such as full length bridal portraits and
senior banners. These
banners should be designed in Photoshop using a 24x80 footprint. Be
sure to leave about 2 ½ inches on each end to be free of any critical image
area to allow for stand assembly. We suggest a 150 dpi setting, then flatten
and save as a jpeg in srgb color space. Then you can drop the image into
the PROS template, select stand options, and submit the order. Please
note that we do not color correct these jobs, since these files are almost
always combinations of several images, fonts, and graphics. If
you would like some banner design pointers, Suzette Allen, (CPP, Cr. Photog.)
has an informative article about these banners on the ShootSmarter Web site.
By the way, registration on the ShootSmarter site is free! Sport Poster inspired 8x10’s and new Mouse pad designs We
have added 8x10 composite print designs to PROS that complement our Sport
Poster collection and allow for the same options and similar
appearance. They can be found in the Pic A Pac catalog under the 8x10
Specialty Composite section. These 8x10 composite designs have also
been added to the Machine and Package Prints catalog within Specialty Graphic
Products containing the 8x10 Specialty Composites section. New design options have been added to our Novelty Item
Mouse pad collection in PROS. One new design allows various text,
vignette, colorization, and text background border options. Nine
additional mouse pad designs complement our Sport Poster collection and allow
for the same options and similar appearance. These are available in the
Pic A Pac catalog within Novelty Products containing the Novelty Mouse pad
section. Spring Greeting Card Graphics January 12, 2007 We
have recently added several new Valentine and Easter designs to our Designer
Greeting Cards collection. With St. Valentine’s Day and Easter just
around the corner, now is the time to push these products! Preview the
new designs now! First Quarter Promotions Just a reminder about our Big Print Special and Huffnagel
Display promotions going on now through March 30th! For more
information regarding these promotions, click
here!
Just a reminder that the Date Change on Sports Graphics On January 2, 2007 the year on all sports graphic products
changes from ’06 to ’07. This is a fairly large undertaking and, once done, can not
be reversed. Orders that are printed January 2 or later will be ‘07. We are not able to “switch” the date
back to ‘06 on individual orders or products. Reduced pricing on Greeting Cards and Volume Prints Check our December Newsletter for new lower prices on
Greeting Cards and Volume Prints. New Print Sizes Added! The following print sizes are now available via PROS (in
the Layout Tool Catalog) and via LabPrints: 6x8 6x9 8x12
9x12 10x15 12x16
13x20 15x20 Entering Greeting Card Text in PROS We’ve seen a number of
Greeting Card orders come through where customers have attempted to
center justify text on Greeting cards by placing spaces in front of the
text. Since all personalized text on these products is center justified in the layout – this presents some
problems. Please call before placing orders if you are unsure of the
text requirements. New Press Printed Cards! Pounds 4 Sided Press Cards are now available via
PROS. You now have the option to order 4 sided press cards via our
standard PROS “Press Product” catalog or you can utilize layout tool
functionality via the PROS “Layout Tool Press Cards” catalog. Horizontal Posters added to PROS Our 16x20, 20x24, and
20x30 Sport Posters have been a great hit! We have recently expanded
the product with horizontally formatted layouts to give you even more
variation and opportunity. Check out the "Poster" tab in the
PROS Pic A Pac catalog. Add overlay text to every portrait in your event order in one
swoop! Are you shooting sports, dances or proms, or other events
that require the same overlay for every image? Here’s the answer to
giving your customer added value by easily placing a text overlay on every
photo. Two new catalogs have been created that will allow you to apply
up to three lines of the same text on every portrait in the order. Each
catalog is set up to handle specific image orientation, either horizontal images
or vertical images. You also have the option to select text color,
font, and style. Furthermore, you have the ability to apply specific
text lines to specific images that will override the order text entry.
Check out the new “All PAP Unit Text Overlay-Horizontal Images” and “All PAP
Unit Text Overlay-Vertical Images” catalogs in PROS. E-mail Confirmation Glitch A
glitch in our email server has prevented confirmations from being sent when
new orders are placed via PROS. The
glitch has been resolved and confirmations are now being sent. Greeting Card Sample Books & Promo Kits September 14, 2006 We’ve
made it easier for you to order your Greeting Card Sample Books & Promo
Kits! Click here
for more information and/or to order these excellent marketing tools, today! Greeting Card Info and Pricing Greeting
Card Kits are now available. These kits include information and pricing on all
Greeting Cards and
xmasinfo@poundslabs.com or calling
Customer Service. Our
Greeting Card Sample Book sales tool has been updated for 2006 and includes a
sample of the new Magnet. Sample
Books are $5.00. Recent
updates to McAfee Security products have created some problems for customers
who send orders to Pounds using the Pounds Remote Ordering System. [details…] PROS Trader Card Price Reduction!! Effective
for orders received Aug 2, our Trader Card prices will be reduced by $1.00
per 12 for cards Submitted
via PROS. Gallery Wraps Coming We
are in the process of final testing on the new Gallery Wrap product. Wraps
will be available in sizes from 8x10 through 40x50 including the popular
square sizes. Watch
for release date in the next two weeks! 16x20 NOW AVAILABLE in PROS PAP Catalog 16x20
prints may now be ordered as part of a PAP order via PROS. Flush
Mount, Gator Foam Mount and Luster Coating options also available. New Novelty Products live in PROS Our
new line of Novelty products are now available exclusively via PROS inside
the PAP catalog. Check
‘em out here. SENIOR GRAPHICS YEAR CHANGE The
year on our Senior Graphic products will change from 2006 to 2007 June 30 PM.
2006 Graphics will not be available July
1. We suggest, for those late ’06 Seniors, that you use our Generic Graphic
products and add the year in one of the
text fields. Flush Designer Collection Albums in sizes
4x5, 5x5, 5.5x7, 8x10, 10x10 and 11x14 are now available exclusively in PROS. For
information and pricing login to Customer Home and go to Document Downloads. New Money Envelope Format We
changed the format of our Sports and
Events Money Envelopes effective with orders produced today. You’ll
find the new format much more user friendly! The new envelope is a one up
instead of the old 2 up, so no more time
spent tearing them apart. The new envelope is printed on our BizHub and the
text and the graphics look much nicer. If
you have a design on file that we print from, some minor modifications will
be needed for the new envelope. Say Adios to Mikey The
training he’s done has been invaluable not only to our customer (and some
that aren’t…yet) but also to the Lab. Mike
is now taking that knowledge and putting it to use in the real world. Please
wish him good luck as he takes off the Training hat and switched to the
Photographer hat. Mike’s
last day in the lab will be June 9th. New PROS Products The
following prints are now available: 1
5x7 1
3x5/4x5 2
Wallets Packages
may be created using these new print options and may also include the
standard PAP print units. Novelty Items June 20 June 2, 2006 Sublimation
products (printed directly onto the Item) will be available June 20 in your
Pros PAP catalog. Mouse
Pads – Ceramic Mugs – Two Sided Key Chains and Bag Tags – Puzzles Watch
the blog in the next week for a web link to see the products. Graduations We
have 4 different 4x8 Slimline Graduation Cards and 11 Thank You/Announcement
Cards. These
products can be ordered on Metallic paper. New Magnets This is a 4up print with a magnetic back, die cut with rounded corn |