by admin | May 23, 2018 | Business Tips, Company News
Label Experts
Our main focus is serving our customers by being label experts. Competitive price is critical and fast deliveries are a basic expectation we have to meet on a daily basis. More than being the fastest or the cheapest, we are the smartest label experts in the business. With deep experience and knowledge, we can offer the right solution the first time. Sometimes, that means we don’t tell people what they want to hear – everyone wants a cheaper, faster solution – but we tell them the truth and we stand behind our work.
We Have the Experience
With two employees over 30 years at Rose City Label and many others with more than 20 years in the business, we really do have the most experienced crew in the business. We are proud of the company culture we have built that encourages people to stay with us for their entire career. Retired team members stay in touch and often come to our Christmas party to stay connected with the RCL family. This deep experience is priceless and it is part of our success.
Rigid Flexibility
Over the years, we have developed systems and processes that work. We stick to these because they have proven successful with over 3,000 print orders every year. These are proven methods and techniques – like not ordering tooling until proofs are signed, or not entering orders without artwork and quantities – that allow us to serve the most customers successfully. We aren’t opposed to learning and changing, but we are also comfortable telling the truth even if it is unpopular. The people that are the most successful trust us and partner with us to make their job successful.
Not Everyone is a Fit
Because we have these established norms – because we are label experts – this can be difficult for some people. Nobody is asked to follow blindly or give up any level of control in their project, but we work best with customers that treat us as a valued, trusted partner rather than just a vendor to bid on a job. When people have detailed specifications and they go out for 3 bids, we certainly win our share of those bids, but those customers aren’t getting the best we have to offer. The people who come to us with a problem that needs solving – these are the people that give us the raving reviews. They are getting the best we have to offer. Unfortunately, however, not everyone is a fit. We have a process and a target client and not everyone fits that profile.
Willing to Learn (and Change)
All this expertise doesn’t prevent us from learning and growing as an organization. Digital printing is almost 50% of our business today and it didn’t even exist 4 years ago. We have had a massive learning curve as we have adapted with new technology, materials, and customer demands. We have also changed the way we use technology to stay connect with our customers – we are always learning, growing, and adapting to stay competitive. Don’t be afraid to ask us for something new or different – most of our best ideas come from our customers.
Thank You – You Made Us Label Experts
Thank you to the customers that trust us each day. We wouldn’t have a thriving business or be able to develop very skilled people without the trust of our customers. THANK YOU – we appreciate every order we get and we value all our customers – large and small, new and old. Call us today to see if we can help you with your next label project.
by admin | May 16, 2018 | Company News
We Live Here!
This picture was taken last week while visiting a winery customer in the Columbia River Gorge. The view is breathtaking and it really gave me pause. I had to look again to really take in the beauty of the view. Too often, at least for me, I get caught in the hustle of working and don’t take time to ‘smell the roses’ – or the fresh air, mountains, or sunshine. We really are fortunate and blessed to live in such an amazing place. We get paid to work with people in a setting like this -wow!
Competitive Advantage
Not only is it fun to live here, but it really is a competitive advantage for Rose City Label. Because of the setting we live in, we are surrounded with smart, happy, energetic people. These people create businesses and have products they need to market. People here really care about their business and their end customers, so they are ideal partners for us as a printing provider. And, we have a great supply of talented people to work within our business. They are smart, passionate, and committed to the customers that trust us every single day. This isn’t a magic formula – it still takes tremendous work each day to keep our commitments – but having the setting and the scenery that we do certainly helps.
Come And Visit
Most of our customers are within 100 miles of our shop in SE Portland, but some are further away. If you aren’t local, please visit our great city and make time to visit your label printer while you are in the area. We are very proud of our clean, organized shop and we would love to give you a tour. Come and visit if you are in the area.
Thank You!
None of this would be possible without out amazing customers’ trust. They put faith in us every day and we take the responsibility seriously. We work hard to meet your needs, but we are very blessed to do that hard work in such a beautiful place. Call us today if there is anything else we can help with. We are here to help your business grow.
by admin | May 9, 2018 | Beer Wine Spirits, Company News, Customers/Examples
Rose City Label Customers Win Big!
We are proud to be partners with some of the best brewers in Oregon and beyond. Making great beer is the most fundamental thing that will help these people grow their business, and they really are making great beer. From all different styles and different sized breweries, the Oregon brewers took home many, many awards this year.
World Beer Cup – National Competition
This event isn’t for shy people – the competition is fierce and nobody likes to lose. But winners like these don’t back down – they want to know how good they really are, so they enter competition to find out.
Seventeen Oregon Breweries won awards this year – click here to see the Oregon List
More than half of these are current and former Rose City Label customers – way to go!
The full list of all award winners can be found on the World Beer cup website by clicking here.
Great Beer Needs Great Packaging
Having great beer is the foundation, but in order to really build your brand, you need great packaging. Labels matter too! Click here to learn more about Beer Label Design. We are proud to help these great brewers tell their authentic brand story. Great beer is the key, but to win over the long term, you need the total package – great beer, fun on-premise experience, and excellent packaging in the bottle shop. We can help make sure the beer in the bottle or can looks as good as it tastes.
Thank You
Customers have choices – we are very thankful for all the brewers that choose us for their label needs. Beer remains a very solid part of our business, but we would love to talk to new breweries too. Call us today if you want to kick up the quality on your beer labels. Cheers!
by admin | Feb 6, 2018 | Company News
Team Building Rose City Label
We work very, very hard here to satisfy (and exceed) all our customer expectations. Pressure and deadlines can be stressful, so we work hard to have some fun along the way. Many of our team members have been together for more that 20 years, so we all have a shared history and generally like each other – this makes it easy to work hard when we have to.
Work Hard, Play Hard
Because we spend so much time together, we really want to make sure that we spend time along the way to have fun. We have always had a Christmas party – even when we didn’t have the money – because we feel it is very important to keep our team strong. Team building at Rose City Label is very important.
Fun and Family
Bringing the next generation along is very important to us. We need to educate the next generation so we can keep our culture strong. As a small company, we don’t have a formal program to do this, we do it by example on the job and by providing times to enjoy and laugh together. We have husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, fathers and sons – we bring those connections together to get the best out of each team member. Nobody wants to disappoint someone that is important to them.
Know, Like and Trust = Success
Ducks and Seahawks, living together! We put aside our differences to get the job done. People here genuinely care about each other and bring each other along as we serve our customers every day. Even rivals on the field (Raiders and Broncos) can live and work in harmony at Rose City Label.
Thank you Customers!
We wouldn’t have these fun parties if we didn’t have a thriving business. We recognize that we are only as good as our last on time delivery, so we work hard to take very good care of our customers. Thank you for trusting us and allowing us to serve all your label needs.
Call Us Today!
If you need more labels – or if you have friends or associates that need labels – please call us today. We look forward to printing for you soon.
by admin | Jan 21, 2018 | Company News, Environmental Green
Presses Powered by 100% Wind
100% wind energy powers the presses, computers, and all services. We are doubling down on our environmental commitment. No more coal, hydro, or other electric power sources – 100% WIND powers everything. We briefly considered solar panels, but for now, being powered by 100% wind is right for us.
We Went All In on Green Energy
Our local power company offers partial wind power – essentially allowing companies to ease into this new power source. We went all in! Since we are making the commitment, and the power is still as reliable and safe as other sources, we went all the way. Last year we used 193,000 kwH. This year all of that will come from local wind generation in the Pacific Northwest. The cost difference isn’t much, and we wanted to make a bold statement to our customers, staff, and vendors. Rose City Label is all in!
We have written before about our OBRC partnership to reuse beer bottles, our pioneering use of water wash printing plates, and pallet recycling. We have been GREEN for a long time, and being powered by 100% wind is a natural extension of this effort.
You Should Join Us – It’s Easy!
We attended the 10th Annual Go Green! Conference back in October (click here for more info). At the conference, we met vendors that showed us how easy it is to convert to 100% wind power. We evaluated two different vendor proposal, but at the end of the day, the switch was very easy. We pay extra on our electric bill, and that money is used to purchase RECs (renewable energy credits). These RECs are used to subsidize the additional cost of clean power generation and to fund additional R&D for future green energy sources. There was no interruption in service, no change in reliability or safety, and the whole process took only about 30 days to complete. And, if something changes in the future (it won’t!), we can always opt out of green power – there is no long term commitment. It is easy to be powered by 100% wind!
Your local electric utility can help with the transition – for PGE customers, click here to learn about green power in Portland.
Our Program is Real
Green-e certification is an independent, audited program to make sure that the power we are paying for is, in fact, from the sources claimed. PGE has partnered with the right people to make sure everything is up to standard – no ‘greenwashing’ here. Learn more about the Green-e certification by clicking here. If you have questions about the program, feel free to call us for more information – we are happy to share.
Partner with a Leader – Call us Today
If you want to work with a truly green printer, please call us today. We work hard to recycle, buy green products, and publicize our eco-friendly efforts to be an example for other businesses.
by admin | Dec 7, 2017 | Company News, Customers/Examples
Thanks to all our amazing customers that have helped us grow and prosper all these years. This retrospective will give some history, some context in our current environment, and some wonderful hopes for the future. None of this would have been possible without you – thank you so very much.
Past
We have the experience to navigate the changing world of label production. Self adhesive roll labels, 
which are 90% of our work now, weren’t even invented for the first 30 years of our business. Technology has changed over time, but the timeless values of hard work and fairness don’t ever change. You can be rest easy knowing your work is being handled by the most experienced label printing crew.
Present
High quality food, wine, and beer labels dominate our production now.
We work very hard to keep our top customers happy and growing. As their production grows, they can’t be limited by a label supplier that can’t keep up.
Because of the trust you continue to put in our 
team, we continue to grow and prosper. 2017 has been a great year!
- Sales up 12.5% over last year
- 676 customers have trusted RCL this year
- Over 3,500 label jobs printed in 2017
- New water wash plate system
Future
The future is bright at Rose City Label. With continued investment and training, we are constantly upping our game to serve you better. This year we are upgrading again:
- Precision Video Plate Mounter – more accurate, faster job setup
- Second servo driven rewind/inspection station – reliable and fast
- Workflow Automation – faster delivery of Digital Print Jobs
Workflow Automation – this is the biggest change for 2018. This integrated system ties our office business system directly into production. As more and more digital jobs demand faster lead times, this automation will make every job faster and more accurate. Visibility for the office staff will help plan production and make accurate delivery time estimates. This is big! Stay tuned for more information as we fully implement this cutting edge technology.
Label Designs for 2018 – Nobody is facing LESS competition in the new year. Your labels have to stand out in a crowded market. Shelf space is limited and you need to grab and keep the consumers’ attention. This post based on a Forbes magazine article gives great insight. Here are the main takeaways –
- Less is more – clean, classic designs are winning
- Texture matters – color is important, but a nice ‘touch’ helps
- Be true to Your Brand – tell a consistent, authentic story
Summary
Thanks to you, we are well positioned to continue our growth into 2018. Our investment and our very strong team have us poised for the future.
- Right equipment for best results
- Excellent, well trained crew
- Committed to Eco-green business practices
- Backed by local, family business values
With your trust, we look forward to 2018 with great anticipation. If there is anything we can do for you – related to label printing or not – please call us today. We are happy to give back to the community that has been so good to us.
Cheers!
