Aarg!

[bethanial]

Okay, this is really just a venting post, just so's ya know . . .

I've turned into the copy girl!  We've moved into a new line of work that involves handling / printing / creating architectural drawings.  (I'm talking pieces of paper 2' x 3'.)  One "set" can involve several pages (yesterday's was 11 pages).  The "standard" for sending to customer is six sets.  Doing the math on that, that gives us 66 of these honkin' huge pieces of paper (not counting the original "seventh" set).  

Well, we are now the proud owners of the biggest printer I've ever seen, and a copier for these drawings.  Now, this copier is not a "lift the lid, put the original in, tell it 6 pieces, and hit the button."  Oh no, you have to first feed the blank piece of paper.  Then you have to feed the original.  Oh yeah, and this copier has NO MEMORY.  So if you need six copies of one page, you have to insert that page SIX TIMES!  And then there's the collating, the stapling, the rolling and re-rolling and re-rolling to make the darn things fit into the UPS Next Day Air tube.  Not to mention the not-too-badly-out-of-my-way-but-nonetheless-out-of-my-way trip to The UPS Store on my way home to drop the package off, since we don't do enough shipping to warrant the $7/day charge for daily pickup. (Especially since UPS drops something off here at least 3 days a week. . .)

Okay, I feel a little better now.  Just needed to get that out of my system . . .

No, this is not an everyday job

Peer Moderator

[countrigal]

Well, on the positive side at least you have a copier that will copy it onto one page.  Some of our medical record pages are larger than normal pages and we just have to copy sections (regular paper size) and then tape them together to form one copy.  Still, you'd think they could get a copier that will do larger pages and still allow less work on the user.  Sheesh!  And how'd you get nominated to do these?  Were you on hand when the copier was installed, therefore you got the lessons, and no one else knows how to use it and won't learn, therefore leaving you as the resident "expert"?  That's how it normally goes around here.

Hang in there... Hopefully today will get better.

BTW... have you looked into using Fed Express?  I don't know if they have those tubes or not, but if they did you could use them and they'll come pick up if you call and arrange it, and as far as I've been told, there is no additional charge.

CountriGal
Peer Moderator

[marieh2000]

Bethaniel

Check with UPS about being set up as "an occassional shipper" (I think is what they call it).  We don't ship very often, but they set us up this way and all I have to do is enter the information on their website, print the labels and they will either pick it up or I can drop it off.   I hate dealing with those blueprints too.  We've gotten some in before that I swear weight 50 lbs.!

[bethanial]

Countrigal -- we are currently looking into switching to Fed Ex.  Bossie just joined NFIB (some kind of assoc. for small businesses) and one of the places you can get discounts is at Fed-Ex.  The other thing about this particular shipment is that it would've had to been dropped off anyway.  It wasn't ready til 5pm.  Dontcha love those last minute projects that have to be completed NOW?

Actually, we've had this copier for a few months, and I've just in the last week learned how to run it.  It's become a matter of "Beth has the least amount of important things on her plate, therefore, she can spend 2+ hours making and organizing these copies and getting them ready to ship."

Marie - we do have that "occasional shipper" status at UPS.  Got the account number, LOVE those labels that come off my printer.  Fold 'em in two, put 'em in the envelope and attach to package!  Usually it works out that when we have to ship something, the UPS guy comes by and we just hand it to him, but every now and then, we have something that has to be dropped off b/c it wasn't ready when he got here, or it's a next day thing.

Oh, and this particular package weighed 8 lbs, but man, it felt more like 20!

Peer Moderator

[bethalize]

You have my sympathy! I spent three months on a building site once dealing with plans for three hours a day. I still can't look at a sheet of A1 paper without wanting to scream. Thankfully, when did time at a surveyor's they sent the damn things to the printers to be copied.

Bethalize
Peer Moderator

[chevygirl55]

If your company is going to go into reproduction of large documents in a big way, they really must look at getting a scanner (yes, it is a very large scanner, it can copy things up to 36" wide x unlimited long) where you can scan the document one time into the computer and print it directly from your workstation.  You can print the whole document, or just selected pages and the thing does collate.  Only thing it doesn't do is staple and mail.  By scanning the documents onto the computer it also allows you  to e-mail them if necessary and/or practical.  Our company partnerned with a local blueprint duplicating company.  They put the scanner and printer into our office (they are very high dollar machines) and we pay only for the supplies used (must be purchased through them) plus our time of course.  It is much better than the old system we had which was what you described.

chevygirl55

[bethanial]

Chevygirl - can you get me the model #'s on those machines?  I'll do a little research on my end, and see what comes of it.  Thanks!

Peer Moderator