PRINTING ORDERS AND TRACERS
Great care is necessary in issuing and following up orders for printing; every detail must be watched closely if satisfactory results are to be secured. In the majority of offices the advertising manager, or a man under him, attends to all details of ordering printing. Large concerns find that it pays to employ an experienced man for this work alone. To a concern whose printing bills amount to several hundred dollars a month, a man who will give close attention to every detail of the work, from seeing that he gets the stock specified to checking bills for overcharges, can make his services worth a good salary.
In printing, as in everything else, the personality of the house should stand out—a typographical style should be established. This is accomplished much more quickly if every detail of the printing is in the hands of one man.
There are concerns in which publicity and sales work must be subdivided to such an extent that the sales manager has all printed matter prepared under his direct supervision; while the advertising manager is responsible for the preparation and placing of the copy. In one such concern, which has come under the writer's observation, copy for printing is turned over to a man entirely outside of the sales division. The theory is that the outside man will watch the interest of the house, in the matter of price, more closely than the man who prepares, and perhaps is to use, the copy.
This theory may have some foundation in certain quarters; probably there are some otherwise competent advertising men who are occasionally outwitted by the printer; but it is also true that the buyer of printing, who places his orders on the basis of price alone, frequently loses more in quality than he saves in cost. The man who is to use a booklet or folder is really the best judge of its worth—what he can afford to pay for the kind of work he wants; he knows best its possible value as a revenue producer. He should be competent to supervise the placing of the orders, but without exception all printing orders should be placed by the same man.
No matter by whom placed, the printing order should specify every detail; or if it is not on the order blank, there should be a specification sheet. The specifications would be something like those shown in the order form, Fig. 9.
This order should be made in triplicate. The original and duplicate will go to the printer, the duplicate to be signed and returned as an acknowledgment of the order, while the triplicate is filed in a tickler under the date when the acknowledgment should be received—usually the following day.
Fig. 9. Triplicate Form of Order for Printing
When the duplicate comes back from the printer it is placed in the tickler, under the date when proofs may be expected. At the same time the triplicate is removed from the tickler and placed in a loose-leaf binder, all copies being filed in numerical sequence. It will be noted that, at the bottom of the triplicate, the department or account to be charged is entered, this record being made when the order is placed.
When proofs are returned, the duplicate is moved ahead to the promised date of delivery. In this way the follow-up for orders is made practically automatic, all orders filed under any date being removed for attention on that day.
Little difficulty is experienced in getting printers to put the order number on the invoice, when requested to do so. The return of two or three invoices to a printer who neglects this will have the desired effect. With the numbers on the invoices it is a very simple matter to find the copy of the order, which will show just what was ordered and for what department.
Records of Printing. A record of all printed matter received and its disposition is quite as important as for any other class of property. Unless properly stored and correctly recorded, there is likely to be a great waste of stock. Many large concerns lose much more through waste in this direction than the salary of a competent stock clerk. Not all concerns will require a stock clerk for this purpose alone, but in every office the stock of printed matter should be placed in charge of one person—a clerk, perhaps, who has other duties. That person should be made responsible for the stock, just as the stores clerk is made responsible for the property in the factory storeroom.
When printing is received, it should be first checked against the order copy on file, and then put in the storeroom, or sent to the department where it is to be used if not to go into stock. In the storage of printing, a very necessary requirement is that it be kept clean, otherwise, in the case of matter carried in stock for a long period, there may be as much as a ten per cent loss through spoilage.
It is best to have all printing put up in packages of specified sizes, depending on the quantities used. The printer will usually make the size of his packages fit the needs of the customer, if requested to do so. On the outside of each package, the name and quantity of the contents should be recorded. When possible a sample should be attached.
OFFICES OF THE ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT, BURROUGHS ADDING MACHINE COMPANY, DETROIT, MICH.
Fig. 10. Perpetual Stock Record for Printing, Showing its Disposition
An extensive advertiser will require a good-sized room for the storage of printing, while for some concerns a small cabinet will answer the purpose. In storing, the packages should be arranged according to name, maintaining the alphabetical order so far as possible. A numerical arrangement, by form numbers, is sometimes recommended, but any filing scheme which makes it necessary to refer to a supplementary index to find a number before the article itself can be located is not favored.
A low stock limit should be set for every piece of printing that is used regularly and likely to be re-ordered. One of the most simple methods of handling this is to make one package of the quantity set, so arranging the stock that it will be the last package reached. On the outside a label is pasted—or a rubber stamp can be used—printed as follows:
This package must not be opened without first notifying the office. Failure to observe this rule will be considered sufficient cause for instant dismissal.
After the storage plan has been arranged then comes the question of stock records. A simple record which will show quantities received, issued, and on hand is needed. The form shown in Fig. 10 is used by a manufacturer who supplies dealers, who are his customers, with catalogs, booklets, and other forms of printing. The same form is adapted for use by a concern selling through branches or agencies, while for another business, the form would be modified, eliminating records of shipments.
This form is printed on a sheet punched for a loose-leaf binder. A sheet is used for each catalog, folder, booklet, circular, mailing card, or other piece of printing, the name being written at the top of the sheet. The sheets are filed in alphabetical order, indexed with suitably tabbed index sheets.
When printing is received and the order checked, the name and description is entered at the head of one of these sheets—except in the case of a re-order, when a sheet will be found in the binder. The date, quantity, from whom received, and the cost are next recorded in the proper columns. If it is a new piece of printed matter, the quantity received is also entered in the on hand column; if a reprint, the quantity is added to the stock on hand and the total extended.
For printing that is to be sent to a dealer, an order is entered on the form shown in Fig. 11. This gives detailed instructions for shipping, with the quantity and description of the matter to be sent. The order is made in duplicate. The original goes to the shipping clerk, while the duplicate, on a blank sheet, is kept in the office as a follow-up on the shipping clerk.
Fig. 11. Shipping Order for Printing to be Sent to a Dealer
As shipments are made, the shipping clerk enters in the columns provided for that purpose, the quantity sent and the date. When the entire order is filled, it is returned to the office. Every day the duplicates are examined and inquiry is made of the shipping clerk regarding any orders for which the originals have not been returned. When the original is received, the duplicate is destroyed.
Shipments are next entered on the stock sheets, while the original orders are filed in a binder, alphabetically by dealers names. Reference to this file shows exactly what advertising matter has been sent each dealer.