Xante' En/Press Delivers 'Wow' Factor for Washington Print Shop

The 2017 Business of the Year in Shelton-Mason County, Washington, serves a community of over 63,000 with full printing services for everything from business cards to banners.

June 12, 2019
XANTE Jeff Neely Owner
Jeff Neely, owner of The Shopper, and his new Xante' En/Press Multimedia Digital Press

The Shopper, a printing and publishing enterprise in Shelton, Washington, was recently delivered their Xante' En/Press Multimedia Digital Press and Enterprise High Speed Feed System. The 2017 Business of the Year in Shelton-Mason County, Washington, serves a community of over 63,000 with full printing services for everything from business cards to banners.


While Jeff Neely may not have been born with printer's ink in his blood, he certainly knows how to keep print customers satisfied. After running a successful appliance repair business in Shelton, Washington, Jeff had the opportunity in 2007 to purchase The Shopper, a small local print shop and publisher of the Shopper's Weekly newspaper. “There was a single offset press, a cutter, and an old folder,” said Jeff. “But I also got the previous owner to train me and that was invaluable. I didn't know one size or weight of paper from another.” Since taking over, Jeff and his staff of twelve have brought the business into the digital age with a pair of digital presses for color and monochrome large jobs and the Xante' En/Press for envelopes. I was only doing one- or two-color envelope jobs on my old offset and that was very time-consuming and not making much money for the shop, said Jeff. With the Xante' En/Press in place now, The Shopper takes in more full color work and produces it more efficiently than ever before. We strive to give our customers something special that keeps them coming back. We call it the 'WOW' factor. When we're able to produce a full-color envelope job with complete addressing ready for mailing in 24 hours, they say 'WOW! That's incredible!' The Xante' En/Press really makes that easy for us,” said Jeff.


The En/Press and its iQueue software has improved workflow substantially for The Shopper's mail preparation business. Thanks to iQueue's variable data capability, printing and addressing a full mailing job can be turned around overnight. The shop recently completed a 3,000-piece mailer on the En/Press for a local realtor with printing on the front and reverse of a 9''x12'' envelope. “With our old way of printing,” said Jeff, “I had to buy expensive open-flap envelopes and only run a few at a time. Now, on the En/Press, I can load a thousand regular envelopes on the Enterprise feeder and just print away. I finish sooner and my customers are happier.” Mail jobs of 10-15,000 pieces are typical demands for The Shopper. Variable data printing is the most-used feature of the powerful iQueue workflow software for Jeff and his En/Press operators.


After seeing the En/Press and the Enterprise Feed System demonstrated at one of Xante's frequent roadshows, Jeff decided that it was the solution he'd been seeking. “I had done my research and once I got the chance to actually get my hands on the En/Press I knew it would work for us,” he said. Since installing it approximately six months ago, Jeff and the staff at The Shopper have produced about 400,000 individual pieces on the En/Press. The Shopper and its En/Press have completed runs in a wide variety of sizes including #10, A2, A7, #6 remit envelopes, and more. “I couldn't be happier with the En/Press and the support I've received from Xante',” he said.


When asked about turning around rush jobs, Jeff remarked that he considers all of his jobs 'rush' jobs. “I don't know what's going to come through that door tomorrow so why put off completing a job as soon as I can,” he said. “When I can print envelopes and get them to my customer within a day, that's the 'WOW' factor at work and that keeps them coming back.”