Stay in “Touch” With The Master’s Touch, LLC Printing and Mail Services

Volume Three

A NoTe FroM The PreSideNTiMB = = intelligent Mail Barcode

The Master’s Touch, LLC 1405 N Ash StSpokane, WA 99201509-326-7475Sales@themasterstouch.com

The Master’s Touch Print & Mail 270 Kuulei rd, Ste 204 Kailua, hi 96734 800-301-1347TMTHawaii@themasterstouch.com

Sincerely,

Jim Coté President

Masters@themasterstouch.com

Stay in “Touch” With The Master’s Touch, LLC Printing and Mail Services

September 2010 Issue #3

Hello! I hope your summer was fantastic. Mine was good but frantic! Since the last newsletter, I have been literally from one end of the country to the other speaking on reducing undeliverable mail and the coming Intelligent Mail Barcode. From Colorado to Minnesota to Wisconsin to Maine to Arizona to Alaska to Hawaii to Idaho and Oregon, I’ve been working hard to get the word out and help customers understand – IMB is coming! In fact, it is already here! Yet, everywhere I go, very few people are aware of the historic changes coming. At the International Association of Assessing Officers conference in Orlando, Florida two weeks ago, I asked how many had heard of the Intelligent Mail Barcode. Out of a room full of attendees, only two or three hands raised. I find a very similar response everywhere I go. It’s one of the USPS’s best kept secrets, yet this barcode will be required by May 2011; otherwise, your mail will fail to qualify for any postage discounts. Your only option will be to pay the full retail rates!

The Master’s Touch, LLC is already incorporating this new barcode into the address block with every new customer we bring on board, and we will soon be working backwards to convert all existing customers to this new IMB barcode. We have you covered! In fact, our promise to all of our customers is that we will always comply with the most current rules and regulations governing your mailings so you don’t have to worry about it.

In addition, we are constantly looking for ways to improve our print and mail services in order to fulfill our mission:

“To provide complete print and mail service solutions that minimize costs and maximize

efficiencies in order to produce highly effective mailings with 100% accuracy and unsurpassed turnaround times. We will be driven by our passion to not just meet customer expectations, but to exceed them whenever possible.”

The entire team at The Master’s Touch, LLC has performed in true 2nd mile fashion to fulfill this mission - and it just became easier to accomplish this through the recent purchase of our new Pitney Bowes MSE inserter. This machine will nearly double our inserting speed and radically enhance mail piece integrity. Although our mistake ratio has been zero, a lot of labor has been invested to insure that mistake ratio. Now, our new inserter verifies and validates mail piece integrity through a multitude of sensors that cover the mail piece from the moment a statement or insert enters the machine, all the way through to the exit, without fail.

We plan to demonstrate this new machine in a tour of our facility for all of those who will be attending my PowerPoint presentation on November 18th in Spokane. For those of you who can’t attend, we are preparing a short video presentation that we will be sending out for you to view by the end of the year. For many of you, we are beginning to make preparations for the coming tax season which for us runs from October through March. We will be contacting you for further details soon. Until then, may all your mailings be “First Class.”

TMT CustomersWelcome Aboard! New TMT Customers

Featured Product: Recycled papers

At The Master’s Touch, LLC, we spend a great deal of time and effort doing our part to recycle. All of our paper trimmings

and scrap goes to a recycle center. None goes into regular garbage. We use only soy-based inks in our presses. Where it makes sense, we recommend recycled products whenever possible.

Keep in mind recycled paper is nearly always more expensive. The USPS discourages recycled envelopes that have colored flecks that can interfere with the automation processes they use to read the barcodes. This is why we do not automatically use recycled paper for your forms and envelopes unless you request we do so. The increased cost and reduced performance associated with these papers generally accounts for a 10 – 20% increase in the overall project costs. Still, if you are interested, contact customer service to explore your options.

The following organizations have recently chosen The Master’s Touch, LLC for their

printing and/or mailing needs:ramsey County Treasurer -

Mark OswaldCity of Kodiak -

Jenny ClayCity of oak harbor -

Doug MerrimanLake County Treasurer -

Phil Israeldelta County Treasurer -

Jim VentrelloPark County Treasurer -

Michelle MillerGunnison County Treasurer -

Melody MarksAlamosa Credit Union -

Helen MontoyaValley educators Credit Union -

Laura SchellMountain river Credit Union -

Ken SchererCity of Aberdeen -

Sandy Mullin

Welcome Aboard!

Software Solutions for Local Government

• Financial Management • Payroll/Human Resources • Customer Information Services • Land Management

Springbrook Software 111 SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 1850

Portland, OR 97204

Phone: Toll-free 1.866.256.7661 Email: sales@sprbrk.comWeb: springbrooksoftware.com

The annual fishing trip was a great time again. Nearly all caught a salmon – some even two!

Sea-sick? Nahhhh! Nobody got very sea-sick – right Cameron? Hey, anyone seen Cameron?

Pictured from left to right: Mike, Cameron, Kodiak, Jim, James, Drew, Ven, Ven’s dads (Alex & Serg), and John.

Is your data safe?Although a SAS70 audit doesn’t guarantee safety, it does provide assurance that an independent auditing firm has reviewed the environment, data security, and procedures that are involved in protecting your data. The Master’s Touch, LLC has had that audit performed. A confidential copy of our report can be requested.

The staff at The Master’s Touch, LLC would like to wish the following TMT

employees a Happy Birthday:Jennifer (graphics), Sept. 2ndPenny (accounting), Sept. 21st

Shelly (customer service), Oct. 10thJohn (customer service), Oct. 12thKodiak (mail service), Nov. 22nd

Frank (pressman), Nov. 30th

Happy [employment] Anniversary to the following TMT staffers:Frank (pressman), Sept. 2001

Cameron (mail service), Oct. 2009Ven (mail service), Nov. 2005

The Master’s Touch, LLC has worked on quite a number of projects with TUI with great

success. You might consider giving them a call for a demo of their equipment.

Where in the World is

Jim Coté?

*Aug 26-Sept 1 International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) Conference - Orlando, FL

Sept 14-16 Washington Credit Union League (WCUL) - SeaTac, WA

Sept 26-28 Minnesota Association of Assessing Officers (MAAO) - Mancato, MN

*Sept 27-30 Manatron Conference - Seattle, WAOct 2-4 Graph Expo - Chicago, ILOct 6-8 Credit Union Association of Oregon -

Portland, OROct 11-13 Colorado Treasurers’ Fall Seminar -

Westminster, COOct 13-Nov 7 TMT Hawaii Office - Kailua, HI*Oct 16 PowerPoint Seminar: How to

Eliminate Undeliverable Mail and Save Postage - Portland, OR

*Oct 17 PowerPoint Seminar: How to Eliminate Undeliverable Mail and Save Postage - Seattle, WA

*Oct 18 PowerPoint Seminar: How to Eliminate Undeliverable Mail and Save Postage - Spokane, WA

If you would like to have Jim speak at your next conference or event about the new Intelligent Mail Barcode and/or reducing undeliverable mail, please call Karla at 800-301-1347 to get on Jim’s schedule.

*Jim will be speaking at this event

Our company’s vision statement:“To provide complete print and mail service solutions

that minimize costs and maximize efficiencies in order to produce highly effective mailings with 100%

accuracy and unsurpassed turnaround times. We will be driven by our passion to not just meet customer

expectations, but to exceed them whenever possible.”

Spotlight on a TMT employeeVolume Three September 2010 Issue #3

Here is a recent quote fromrAMSey CoUNTy

“I offer this letter of recommendation in appreciation for the service that you and your staff provided to Ramsey County. Often, letters of recommendation can be impersonal. In this case I could not do that. We had a situation that I will describe later, and you and your staff got personally involved in helping us. The successful out-come of our issue would not have been possible without your leadership and the customer dedication of your staff.

Ramsey County is located in Minnesota with 150,000 parcels of property. At the end of 2009, the county was initiating processes to go live with a new tax system. To compound the issue, the county contracted with a new vendor to print our value notices and tax statements, all of this had the markings of “The Perfect Storm”. For-tunately for us the new vendor was The Master’s Touch, LLC. The new tax system proved challenging in trying to get the data for the notices in time. In past years the county sent out the value notices and tax statements together. This year it was impossible to do that. This issue did not phase The Master’s Touch, LLC at all or at least we did not perceive it. We could not get the data ready in a timely manner for the tax statements. The Master’s Touch, LLC never let us down, they continued to assure us that they could deliver, and in spite of our tardiness, they worked through the weekend and saved us from not being out of compliance with state law.

Since then you have shared ideas to improve our printing needs and cost. I look forward to a good produc-tive relationship in the future.

The least I can say is thank you and I know that my staff is also truly thankful for all that you and your staff have done to provide us great service.”

Mark Oswald, Director, Property Records & Revenue

SPoTLiGhT oN A TMT eMPLoyee:JAMeS:

ProdUCTioN MANAGer

Hello, my name is James Coté. No, not Jim Coté – that’s my dad! Some might think I was handed the job of production

manager position, because of my last name. Actually, that’s not the case at all. I grew up in the business and as such, had the opportunity to learn almost every facet of production. I began by hand stuffing envelopes in our living room before we had equipment. Eventually, we outgrew our living room and we began to get equipment. After doing so much work by hand, I was fascinated by the way this new equipment could do it so much faster and better. In fact, anything with a motor still fascinates me as to how it works.

As I grew older, I became quite the detective when things would break. It was challenging to figure out what was wrong, correct it and get it running again. It still excites me. My goal was to always be the fastest – and I was, but then I had to learn to be fast and accurate. That was more of a challenge, but with the improvement in our equipment and my character, I have turned my goal for speed into a goal for accuracy, without losing speed. This is now how I train our new employees, to make accuracy primary, while continually becoming more skillful at whatever task they are doing. As a result, since becoming the mail service production manager, our department boasts a zero defect

ratio on mail piece integrity, and near zero on quality issues. It’s an important reason for our growth. In addition, our department claims a 100% on-time mail date for all First Class statement mail. These are records we are proud of and work very hard to maintain.

A couple ways you can help us maintain these high levels of service and provide a better and more efficient process:

1. Whenever possible, please let us print and mail all of your material; this helps so much, because we know what the material specifications of our machines are – what works and doesn’t work. It also allows us to control the entire production process, giving us much more opportunity to be flexible with our production schedule and better anticipate when different elements of the process will complete so we can seamlessly coordinate each step.

2. When we meet or exceed your expectations, a short note telling us how we did is appreciated so much. Nothing I say can motivate my crew the way that your complements do. We need to earn it, but we hope you believe we do. Our team works very hard – long days, late nights sometimes in order to insure your mail dates are met, in spite of data or other obstacles that are out of our control. If you read the testimonial letter in this issue, you’ll see what I mean.

My hobbies are: biking, running, hiking, kayaking, rock climbing, camping, and just about anything that has to do with the outdoors. I also volunteer with several local organizations including Life Center, my church, Abuse Recovery Ministry & Services, and City Gate.

Another Satisfied Customer...Ramsey County