2022 In Review: How PGH Print Ship changed course to become a Mom & Pop Print Shop.
As we bid farewell to 2022 and look forward to the start of the new year, we at PGH Print Ship are thrilled to welcome 2023 with a brand-new approach to our printing services. Last year, we went through the process of refocusing and downsizing from a team of, at times, seven to just the two of us: myself, Josh Snider, the owner and operator, and my fiancée Brittany Sipe. As the workload between Brittany and myself began to grow we adapted to changes that would allow us to automate and simplify our workloads. Working together has been a dream come true for both of us. Something I've always enjoyed about the blue-collar culture in Pittsburgh is that hard work doesn't go unnoticed and Brittany has truly matched my energy in running, growing, and evolving PGH Print Ship into a true mom-and-pop shop.
In an effort to make ordering with us easier while improving our process and keeping more accurate records of orders, we have upgraded our invoicing system to QuickBooks. To show our appreciation and make this transition smoother, we are excited to announce that as a result of switching to QuickBooks, any outstanding invoices that were created through our old system have been forgiven. This includes all invoices made prior to June of 2022. We hope this serves as a reset to some of our customers who have been confused by our old system which may have prevented them from ordering from us since.
To streamline our order processing, we implemented a backend workload spreadsheet which allows us to track our orders more accurately and efficiently. Because of this, we are only processing orders placed through our website. Most notably, the new system creates work orders, gives us an outline of the invoice, and categorizes each type of printing, so our customers can take comfort that their orders will be filled quickly and with precision. We're proud to say that since implementing this system, we are now processing between 30 to 75 orders per day. That's a huge jump from where we were before.
While local pickup is always an option, we have said goodbye to local delivery and hello to more shipping! We now provide free ground shipping on orders that are over $25 or more, which allows you to access our printing services from anywhere. Because of this expansion, we have grown tremendously to meet the ever-increasing needs of our customers including quick and reliable fulfillment services for art and photo giclée prints. You can now sell your art and photo prints online without having to worry about prepping, packing, and managing the logistics. We take care of the entire process from printing to shipping directly to your customers, ensuring fast order turnaround times and consistent customer satisfaction. Each time we make a shipment our system automatically sends tracking information, so you can make sure your order is on its way to you or your customer's doorstep.
PGH Print Ship is proud to announce our investment in new equipment this past year! With the addition of a second production copier and a third wide format printer that can print 60 inches by 100 feet, we can ensure that all of our customers' projects are produced with the highest standards of quality and accuracy. Our wide format printers are perfect for fine art and photo printing and utilize a 12-color system, resulting in jaw-dropping museum-quality prints that are truly amazing. We are thrilled to announce a major milestone that could only be the result of improving as printmakers over an extended period of time along with the tools and equipment necessary to push ourselves to the next level. Among our base of over seven thousand customers that we’ve worked with over the past eight years, we take great honor to have been carefully selected to print for the prestigious Carnegie Museum of Art. As part of their 58th International Exhibition, the museum proudly displays prints of ours on show in their gallery, securing an impressive three rounds of orders from the museum itself. It’s no small feat to gain the attention of the largest museum within hundreds of miles and just like them, you can trust us to provide artistry, punctuality, and precision. When handling art and photo giclée prints, we discard any prints with dimples or defects and use gloves to avoid fingerprints or smudges.
We’re thrilled to continue being a part of Pittsburgh’s cultural landscape. Working with top-tier music festivals in the region, creating huge stage banners, signage, and promotional posters for various events including the Four Chord Music Festival, the Millvale Music Festival, and Beers of the Burgh events: Rocktoberfest and Scarry Furnace. Some of the highlights of the year include working with Thunderbird, a Pittsburgh-based venue that serves up some of the best live music in the city, Spirit Hall, an event space located in historic Lawrenceville, and Arcade Comedy Theater, a small independent comedy theater that has been bringing laughter to the area since 2013. Our collaboration with these places has only reinforced our commitment to creating the best printing materials to help promote the local music and arts scene. We look forward to working even more closely with other great venues and musicians to help bring their mission for the city to life. Despite the rise in printing costs we still offer our 11" x 17" posters printed on a nice 80# Gloss Cover Stock, which is roughly four times thicker than plain paper, and we have kept our prices at just $1 each! We’re excited to announce that we have formed a partnership with Pin Up Couriers, a collective of bicyclists dedicated to hanging posters across the community. This partnership expands our poster distribution area to a whopping 300+ local locations. Lastly in our community, we have found that giving back has been a great experience for PGH Print Ship. We have been proud to support and donate to dozens of organizations, programs, and events this past year.
One of our less-known specialties is our beer label printing service. Our weekly gang-run prices are unique to PGH Print Ship since we've never seen any other printers organize their beer label print pricing this way. Old Thunder, Dancing Gnome, Mastic Trail, Strange Roots, Coven, Acrospire, and Trace Brewing have all experienced our unique pricing model that is perfect for any brewery involved in the craft beer industry. This means that we can share the benefits of a bulk discounted price with all of the breweries involved while printing different designs on each roll, maintaining unique branding, and pricing as low as 12 cents per label!
We hope you find comfort and convenience in our new business model. We cannot thank you enough as we move forward into the new year, we truly value and hope to reciprocate your support. We look forward to another great year with PGH Print Ship.
-- Happy Printing!
Josh Snider & Brittany Sipe