Trends in Print and Mail

The Berkshire Company Blog

Joy: The Essential Element of Success

Posted by Mark Fallon on Oct 31, 2024 5:00:00 AM

Bill Fallon, joyfully sorting Santa's mail.

In the late 1990s, I held my last job in the corporate world. I was the Vice President, Document Technology and Delivery, at State Street in Boston. My group included print, mail, centralized receiving, couriers, output control and the parking garage. I was younger then, and thought it was important to manage with a serious outlook. Unfortunately, sometimes I took myself too seriously.

Thank goodness, I had three amazing direct reports – Audrey, Paul and Bob. Thay had all been with the company for decades. In fact, Audrey started before I was born. They were all old enough to be my parents. Paul’s son and I were born on the exact same date.

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Strategy / learning / success / positive / inspiration / growth / optimism

Schedule Some Downtime

Posted by Mark Fallon on Jan 17, 2024 6:00:00 AM


People today are being asked to take on additional responsibilities, handle new projects, and do more with less. Schedules are tighter than ever. Customers demand quicker response times. More reports must be completed. And more meetings are added to your calendar. Despite working 10-hour days, plus weekends, you still feel overwhelmed. With no end in sight.

If this description hits close to home, then take this advice: schedule some downtime.

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Strategy / Leadership / reading / inspiration / management / growth

Growth and Opportunity

Posted by Mark Fallon on Mar 7, 2023 4:30:00 AM

"Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit." - Conrad Hilton


In the early years of my professional life, I changed jobs about every 18 months. Sometimes the new job would be a transfer within the company, other times I went to a new company. While I did resign from my roles, I never felt that I “quit”.

I would start at a company with a directive to improve the operation. When that was accomplished, I would look for new challenges and opportunities. If I couldn’t find them in my current role, I would start looking elsewhere. I had one boss that understood my personality, and he kept expanding my responsibilities. I stayed at that company 4 years, 4 months and 4 days.

Growth – personal and professional – requires change and movement. Smart managers and smart companies recognize the need for growth, and assist their employees with their development. If you aren’t able to continue to grow in your current job, you owe it to yourself to look elsewhere. 

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Strategy / Leadership / The Berkshire Company / consulting / learning / success / management / growth

Management by Fortune Cookie

Posted by Mark Fallon on Dec 1, 2022 7:37:11 AM

“Sorry, wrong cookie.” – Fortune Cookie

Many Sunday nights in my house begin with a call to the Wok and Roll restaurant. I’m a creature of habit, and I bet the manager writes down “Kung-Pao Chicken” as soon as she sees my telephone number on the Caller ID.

At the end of each meal, I indulge in another favorite habit, opening my fortune cookie. While I don’t believe that my future can be predicted by a random message placed in a mass-produced cookie, I still love those little notes.

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Operations Management / Strategy / Leadership / reading / success / positive / inspiration

I Need to Read More Books

Posted by Mark Fallon on Feb 2, 2022 4:00:00 AM

What I bought on my summer vacation last year.

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Strategy / Leadership / The Berkshire Company / books / reading

When Backup Plans Need Backup Plans

Posted by Mark Fallon on Mar 23, 2020 4:30:00 AM


On Sunday, I received an email from a client concerned about his disaster recovery plans. In the first line of his message, he acknowledged it was the weekend and added, “Unfortunately my brain won’t allow me to take too much time off!”

We then exchanged some emails and texts, with plans for a call on Monday morning to review his options. I know he didn’t want to bother me on a Sunday, but he had to start working on the problem as soon as possible.

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Mail Security / Strategy / Leadership / mail / disaster recovery / business continuity

5 Postal and Print Issues for 2020

Posted by Mark Fallon on Dec 30, 2019 8:53:17 AM


It’s impossible to predict the future, but when there are storm clouds in the sky, you can be pretty sure it’s going to rain. Lightning and downpours can be seen in the distance, inching their way forward. We brace for the worst.

Of course, a good rain helps farmers grow crops. Watersheds and aquifers are refreshed, increasing the supply of clean water for our homes. Grasslands and forests are rejuvenated, staving off brutal fires.

There are clouds in the skies for the print-mail industry.

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Industry Vendors / Strategy / USPS / U.S. Postal Service / Postage Rates / NPF / mail / Postal Regulatory Commission / print

Workflow Change is Hard and Necessary

Posted by Mark Fallon on Sep 23, 2019 8:54:34 AM



Production inkjet presses. File-managed processing with job and piece level tracking. Seamless acceptance for full-service Intelligent Mail barcode mailings. Artificial intelligence extracting information from inbound paper documents.

Implementing just one of those solutions is a challenge. Taking advantage of the capabilities of those technologies requires transforming digital and production workflows. In most cases, print and mail professionals will need to venture far outside their comfort zones.

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Operations Management / Technology / Strategy / USPS / Digital / U.S. Postal Service / Quality Control / mail

Is Your Data Safe? - Data Security Policy Audits

Posted by Mark Fallon on Jul 22, 2019 12:28:54 PM

It seems that every day, there’s a news story about hackers stealing customer information from a computer system. Most publicized cases involve large companies being hacked for credit card information and passwords for millions of people. Small companies are hacked too, but those stories don’t seem to grab as much attention.

Physical mail is fairly secure and is protected by federal laws enforced by the US Postal Service Inspection Service (USPIS). With a heritage that traces back to Benjamin Franklin, the USPIS aggressively pursues criminals who use the mail to attach or defraud victims. Companies and individuals put great trust in a sealed envelope marked “First-Class Mail”.

In the past, creating transactional mail documents was performed by companies using internal systems. Printers were directly attached to the mainframe computer system. The mail services department was in the same building, if not in the same room. There were tight controls from data to print to insert to delivery to the post office.

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Mail Security / Industry Vendors / Technology / Outsourcing / Strategy / Quality Control

The Threat of Second Guessing

Posted by Mark Fallon on Mar 19, 2019 5:01:00 AM


“True understanding comes from reflecting on your own experience. You are your own best teacher.” - Warren Bennis

Buyer’s remorse. Monday morning quarterbacking. Second-guessing.

Whatever you call it, we’ve all been guilty of wondering “what should I have done differently?” Especially when our plans don’t turn out as we expected. And if we aren’t careful, dwelling on our missteps can prevent us from succeeding in the present. And the future.

Reflection after something goes wrong is a good idea. We should analyze our mistakes, and determine how to prevent them from recurring. A good process is to write down what occurred, and what we were thinking as we made key decisions. In light of the actual outcome, we can uncover flaws in our methods and ensure that we don’t repeat our mistakes.

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Operations Management / Strategy / Leadership