Things are GOOD – Note to My Future Self

Things are GOOD – Note to My Future Self

by | Apr 8, 2020 | Company News

This is an exerpt and update from a post I wrote almost 8 years ago!  The last time we went through a major business challenge, I wrote this post when it was all done.  The lessons are still as relevant as they were then.  Here is an updated, 2020, COVID-19 version of the results we will see in 12 months (according to my crystal ball and best predictive skills).  Enjoy!

My reflection on the recovery after 2008-2010:

We are very fortunate here at Rose City Label that our business seems to be back on track.  We still have challenges, as we always will, but if our business could continue to prosper like it has the past 24 months, we would be very happy.  This improved business climate caused me to reflect and remember when, not too long ago, things weren’t very good.

Like many businesses, ours was caught flat footed when the bottom fell out in 2008.  We were not prepared for the dramatic slowdown, and we had to take some serious measures to correct things quickly.  We said goodbye to an employee that wasn’t performing, and we cut back hours in our production facility.  These were difficult, nerve racking times for all of us.  One of the things I remember most is that I never appreciated  when things were good!  I just assumed things would always be good.  Now I know this isn’t always the case.

 

This is what we will be thinking in Q1 2021 – you heard it here first:

1. Celebrate Success! We aren’t setting records or hitting a home run on every single order, but we have much to be thankful for.  I am trying to remind all the people in our company, and trying to remind myself, that things are good.  We all need to take time to recognize this and give ourselves a small pat on the back for hanging in there. This is true now more than ever!  COVID-19 showed us that basic, simple things can be taken at any moment – freedom, health, even life can be snatched from us very quickly.  We need to celebrate success on every level.  Celebrate!

2. Don’t Take the Future for Granted.  Now I know that things can turn sour – in a hurry.  I know that we can’t afford to get lazy, complacent, or arrogant.  We always need to push forward and keep getting better every day.  Tomorrow is promised to no one.  Continuous improvement and staying hungry are the only things that will help us stay strong. This is the flip side of #1 above.  NEVER assume that things will always be good. Even in this COVID-19 crisis, I considered NOT applying for the PPP loan because we think we will probably, (probalby?) get through the crisis without it. Still, how stupid is that?  How arrogant?  We aren’t sure if we will get the loan yet, but our application is in.

3. Protect the Downside.  If, God forbid, we do have another major dip in the economy or world events, or if we have a serious problem in our own company, we need to protect the downside.  As a leader I waited too long to make the hard decisions last time.  I assumed all would be good – I didn’t know how long the downturn would last, or how deep it would be.  Thankfully, we are a conservative, financially secure company, so we could withstand the storm, but I don’t want to get that close to the edge again.  More proactive management would have helped ease the pain, and I am going to keep that in mind for the future.  This is the biggest lesson learned – the business must survive.  Obviously family, health, and integrity have to be in tact, but shortly after that on the SHORT list is the survival of the business.  As this COVID-19 crisis unfolds, we will keep business survival as our guiding light for all decisions.

Summary and Action Steps: 

Hopefully these three ideas can help our customers as we move forward.  They are all important, but especially now, I am focusing on #1 – Celebrate Success!

These ideas hold up today as well as they did almost exactly 8 years ago.  The future is promised to nobody, we have to protect our business, and we have so many blessings to be thankful for.  We need to take more time now and in the future to love, laugh, breathe, and be thankful.  On that note, we continue to be thankful for all the good customers that have been reading this blog all these years.  We will get through this together.  Cheers!

Thanks to all of you for being a part of that success for Rose City Label.

 

 

Best Eco-Friendly Label

Best Eco-Friendly Label

by | Nov 7, 2019 | Environmental Green

What is the Best Eco-Friendly Label?

As with most things in the custom printing and packaging business, there is no simple answer to this question. The Best Eco-Friendly Label depends on many things including the package it is adhered to, the durability requirements, and the end of life use of the package. There isn’t just one Best Eco-Friendly Label for all cases.

The Container Matters – A Lot!

More than 10 years ago, when I was Chairman of TLMI – the leading label association in North America, I wrote a letter to our members opposing a ban on certain adhesives proposed by the State of Wisconsin. The association and I opposed this blanket approach because it didn’t consider all the different types of containers we label – glass, aluminum, paper and more. When possible, it is ideal to match the container material to the label material. This works well with a PET label on a PET bottle. Or a paper label on a paper envelope or box. But on glass bottles and aluminum cans, this is much more problematic.

Special Case – OBRC Beer Bottles

In some cases, we are lucky enough to have an industry that joins forces to create a solution. In the case of the Oregon Craft Beer industry, they joined with the distributor-funded bottle collection system and created a specific bottle that is reusable. This thick-walled 500ml beer bottle is ‘rented’ by the brewer and recovered, washed, and returned to circulation. This program is still in its infancy, but it has great promise. We are proud to be one of the few approved label vendors that can provide compatible labels. In this case, we spent months researching a compatible adhesive and label stock that would hold up in a cold, wet cooler but still wash off cleanly to allow the bottle to be reused. It is a great program, but not every industry has access to it.

RCA – Recycle Compatible Adhesives

Another term thrown around often has to do with adhesives. This stems from the Wisconsin project mentioned above, but it ONLY applies to paper on paper recycling. Think about Avery-type address labels and stamps on a letter. When unclaimed mail is recycled, this RCA adhesive allows the labels and stamps to separate from envelopes in the recycle process without too much ‘gunk’ clogging up the re-pulping machines. These adhesives are very important, but are really geared toward paper on paper applications (they are better than most, but still not a full solution).

The CURRENT Best Eco-Friendly Label

This industry moves FAST. Things are changing all the time, but as of this publication, our best product is from Avery Dennison. Labels have three parts, and all three parts of this label contribute to its overall environmental footprint:

  • Label Paper – 100% PCW and FSC Certified
  • Adhesive – AT20N – complies with RCA standard
  • PET backing – most recycle friendly backing paper

These are all attributes that make this the current best eco-friendly label material. Read about the label stock specification here. Read the RCA compatibility certification. For more details about the material, please give us a call directly.

The Company Matters, too!

Besides the material your labels are made from, the COMPANY making them needs to be a good environmental partner. They need to be honest and fair with employees and customers – and they need to walk the sustainability walk in their own operations. Rose City Label shines in this area. Our recent SGP Certification was reported in the trade press around the world. And our 2018 Environmental Leadership award was a very nice recognition by our peers that we are committed to being a good corporate citizen.

We Can help with Best Eco-Friendly Labels

This information changes rapidly. New products come into the market on a weekly basis. If you have questions, call us today. We are here to help.

Why Choose Rose City Label?

Why Choose Rose City Label?

by | Oct 16, 2019 | Company News, Environmental Green

Excellent Print Quality

The baseline reason for picking a label printer is that they can print excellent, high quality labels for you. If your brand doesn’t shine on the retail shelf, the the conversation goes no further. With flexo, HP Indigo digital printing, and foil stamping and embossing, print quality is a great reason to choose Rose City Label

Flexible and Hungry

Our business has doubled in the past 10 years and we have made great investment in new equipment. Still, we are a small, scrappy company. We are a 92 year old brick and mortar company with a start-up mentality. If you buy the kind of labels we make well, we want your business! Choose Rose City Label for our flexibility and willingness to work for your business. Special delivery times? Specific packaging? Run and hold programs? Rose City Label can offer all those and more.

Best People in the Business

Everyone knows a business is built on the quality of its people. We are too. But more than just talking about great people, we factually and actually have the most experienced crew in the market. With many over 20 years and two people over 30 years with Rose City Label, we have a very experienced and dedicated crew. They even come in on emergency weekends to delivery labels 3,500 miles for a customer!

Nationally Recognized Green Business

Since our County certification in 2009, people choose Rose City Label for our green business practices. We earned a very prestigious certification this year, and the Environmental Leadership award last year. We have reduced our water consumption by 47% in the past 5 years!

Family Business Values

We are still locally owned and operated. We are a family business first and foremost. Many of our employees have relatives in the business and that makes us a family not just a business. Our roots are deep and this long-term perspective helps us do the right things for our customers.

Call Us Today!

For all the reasons listed above, people choose Rose City Label more and more each week. Our customer list continues to grow and we are very thankful for that. Want to learn more? Call us today at 503-777-4711.

What is an AVA anyway?

What is an AVA anyway?

by | Oct 9, 2019 | Beer Wine Spirits

It’s all about the Terrior

The soil and the climate of a particular region can be critical to successfully growing excellent wine grapes. Winemaking can enhance the end product, but as with any product, starting with the best possible fruit is critical to making an excellent wine. This is why having the right grapes from the right AVA is critical.

The AVA as a source of pride

The Gold Medal wine club says this, AVA stands for American Viticultural Area – “a designated wine grape growing region in the United States that is distinguishable by its geography”. They go on to describe many things about the history of AVAs in America, including the fact that the first one was designated in July 1980 as our American Wines became prominent in the world market. Read their great post about AVAs by clicking here. The AVA where your wine grapes are grown should be a source of pride – rooting for the home team. Hopefully you and other growers in your region are working hard to control what you can and working in harmony with mother nature to make the best possible fruit in each vintage.

TTB Map of AVAs – check it out!

The US Government ultimately decides what will be considered a recognized AVA or sub-AVA. Their is a rigorous process to get your particular area or region recognized – kind of like getting your home on the historic register in a particular city. This cool interactive map lets you see all the AVAs in your region – or any region in the United States.

Click here to try this great free tool.

  • Select by State and County
  • Browse and Zoom
  • See terrain features
  • Save your favorites
  • It’s Free!

Call Us Today – We know Wine Labels

Not only are the AVA designations very important to the quality of your harvest and value of your land, they are also important for marketing. If your grapes come from a coveted AVA, it would be foolish NOT to include that in your label – and if you include the wrong AVA, you could be in for legal trouble. If you need legal help in this area, we can refer you to great people to help in this area.

We print for nearly 100 wineries each year and that number keeps growing. Our team has the experience and tools to make a great wine label for you, and we back the labels up with a commitment to quality. Call us today!

High Speed Rotary Die Cutting

High Speed Rotary Die Cutting

by | Sep 20, 2019 | Label Design, Technical

Labels Need a Shape

Nearly all the labels we produce are die cut to a specific shape. Some are simple rectangles, but many are custom shapes. Regardless of the specific shape nearly all our labels to through the process of high speed rotary die cutting before they get to the customer.

Engraved Dies for Long Life

Many of our labels use very flexible, in expensive magnetic dies now. Our off line die cutter used for digital production uses only magnetic dies. Check out the video of this machine here. Even with this rapid growth, engraved (solid) dies are still very popular and useful on our longer run flexographic label presses.

Across and Around

Because the die image is engraved on the rotary tool, we can’t change the orientation on press. The die can only run in one direction on the roll. Once the label is removed from the backing, you can turn it any direction for hand application, but if you are machine applying your labels, then the run direction is critical. Nobody wants labels upside down on their bottle! For clarity, we always refer to the ACROSS and AROUND dimension on a roll label. This image shows the difference, so please be sure your labels are oriented the correct way.

Call Us Today – We Can Help

With 90 years in business and millions of labels printed, we have thousands of cutting dies to choose from. Sometimes (but not often) we have the same label size running in multiple directions on the roll. If the roll unwind is important to you, please clarify that up front before you design your labels to fit a particular cutting die.

Thank you! Call us at 503-777-4711 today!