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Humble beginnings. That describes the early days of Thomas Lee Printing & Mailing, Inc. With two employees, a basement office in the Colony Plaza and some pocket change, we began business in 1967 as Mailing Systems, reconditioning and selling

Postcard: Stonewall Gallery click to enlarge

mailing equipment to Erie area businesses.

In 1970, we relocated to the Frontier Plaza on West 8th Street and opened a lettershop, providing Erie and Crawford county businesses with addressing and home delivery of their sale flyers. Names like Graphotype, Speedomat and Addressograph-Multigraph dominated the mailing industry, and a good operator could process 16,000 pieces of mail a
day. In 1974, we purchased a printing operation from the father of one of our current employees and began specializing in one and two color cards, brochures, stationery and direct mail flyers.

The 1980's saw significant advances in our design, printing and mailing capabilities. In 1981 we moved to our current location on West 12th Street, and changed our name to Thomas F. Lee Printing & Mailing, after our founder, Tom Lee. We continued to expand and improve our services, adding in-house design and data base management to our growing list of value added services.

Growth in the 80's led to our incorporation as Thomas Lee Printing & Mailing, Inc. in 1990. A year later our founder Tom Lee "retired" from the printing and mailing industry to pursue another business interest, and his son Scott took over the reigns of our rapidly growing company. The 1990's saw continued growth, leading to major improvements in the pressroom, prepress department and mail center. Remember the 16,000 pieces of mail mentioned earlier? Those same 16,000 pieces of mail are now processed by one person in less than one hour! Today, we're proud to be the oldest, largest, most experienced provider of direct mail services in the tri-state region.

At Thomas Lee Printing & Mailing, we've grown with the times, expanding our business to include a full range of printing and communication services, each designed to meet the needs of a rapidly changing business community. In our business, it's critical to stay on top of the latest developments in the printing and mailing industries. We're always combining new ideas and technologies with old fashioned hard work, because one thing never changes with the passage of time, and that's the respect for quality work and personal service.

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FAQs

Do you guys do printing?

Yes, believe it or not after all these years, we still get asked that question. Of course we do printing, and we do it well. Just click on the Printing or Portfolio link and check us out!


What is an indicia?

This is a simple one, but first, a grammar lesson. Indicia is the plural of indicium, which in postal terms is nothing more than language printed on a mailpiece in lieu of a stamp or meter impression. The indicium must contain four key elements:

The rate class of the mail, i.e. Presorted Standard, Periodicals, Presorted First Class, etc.

U.S. Postage Paid

The city and state in which the permit is held

The permit number allocated to the permit holder

Example:
Presorted First Class
U.S. Postage Paid
Erie, PA
Permit #9876

There are rules and restrictions governing the use of a company permit that are too lengthy to describe here, so call us and we'll be happy to explain it in detail.


What is Standard Mail?

Standard mail is the new term for "3rd class" or "bulk rate" mail.


What is the difference in delivery time between Standard and First Class Mail?

Simple question, complex answer.

It's been our experience that First Class mail with a national distribution is normally delivered 1-5 days after being dropped at the originating post office. Standard mail with a national distribution is normally delivered 3-12 days after being dropped at the originating post office.

Locally it is much better, with Standard mail often being received the day after it is dropped at the Erie post office. In other words, we're getting first class service at standard rates! Not too shabby.

There are many things that influence delivery times, especially mailpiece design and quality of the addressing. The basic rule of thumb is the more you do for the post office the faster the service. Call us if you have any questions or problems with your mail.


What is ASCII? (pronounced "ass'-key")

It stands for "American Standard Code for Information Interchange", and it is simply a text file where fields are encased in double quotes and separated by commas, and records are separated by a carriage return-line feed. For example:

"Mr.","Scott","Lee","3721 W 12th St","Erie","PA","16505-3504"
"Ms.","Angela","Smith","1234 Main Street","Anchorage","AK","99702"

It is a very common and standard form of transferring data between software applications.


What data formats do you accept?

We accept a wide variety of formats on several different platforms. Click on the "Lists and Data Management" link to get a more detailed description.


How long does it take to prepare a list for mailing?

The answer is, it depends on what kind of shape your list is in when we get it. It can take anywhere from 10 minutes to several days, depending on the quality of the original data. One thing you can take to the bank is that every list we prepare for mailing will qualify for the lowest possible postage!


How long does it take to design a newsletter, logo or letterhead?

Wow, that's a loaded question! Our in-house art department can design pretty much anything, in many different ways. Some projects call for electronic design, while others call for sketches or drawings. The answer to this question depends on the complexity of the project and the whims of the customer. We will work with you in a timely fashion to design a piece you can show with pride.


What software programs are most compatible?

Another loaded question! We operate both MacIntosh and PC platforms and primarily utilize PageMaker, Quark, Photoshop and Illustrator to build the majority of our projects. We receive art in many different formats and can usually convert customer files to meet our system requirements. If you have specific questions, just call or e-mail us.

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