Q I’ve got to quote on a new job for a customer of mine. It’s a preprinted letterhead with two integrated peelable labels at the bottom of the letterhead. I’m 99% sure we could print these on our press and then send them out to be finished, but does anyone know where I would start looking for prices on the finishing side?
Matt B, via the Help Line forum at www.printweek.com

A This seemingly innocuous request resulted in quite a heated debate on the forums, vis-à-vis the relative merits or otherwise of providing help and advice to one’s fellow print compatriots. The entire thread can be found here http://bit.ly/4K4WAa should anyone care to add further to the discussion.

Credit must go to a plethora of PrintWeek readers for providing useful contacts: Julie Cook suggested Integrated Labels (www.integratedlabels.co.uk 01395 239348) and AA Labels (www.aalabels.com 01733 588390); Jon Fennell said that Xerox sells a range of integrated label blanks (www.xerox.com); and ‘Happy2Help’ provided a further useful pointer by drawing our attention to www.cheap-integratedlabels.co.uk.

It’s interesting to note that the boom in online sales via ‘e-tailers’ such as Amazon and Ebay has resulted in a far wider requirement for this type of stock than would have been the case a few years back. Many thanks too to Kevin and Guy at Service Business Forms for getting in touch with details of their trade only offering (www.service1.co.uk 01384 569934). I am adding SBS to my list of integrated label specialists, which was long overdue for an update anyway.

For what it’s worth, my own recommendation to Matt chimed with that of some of the forum members, in that he would be better off turning the entire job (which, as it turns out, involves some 500,000 sheets every other month) over to a specialist supplier who’s specifically geared up to produce this type of product. So, in addition to the contacts listed above, here goes with integrated label specialists 2009 (just) version one: Integrity Print (www.integrity-print.com 01761 409200); KCS Trade Print (www.kcsprint.co.uk 01566 773696); DCL Print (www.dclprint.co.uk 01293 512688); Multisets
(www.multisets.co.uk 01793 729500); Continuforms (01761 416311 www.cfh.com); 4DM (www.4dm.co.uk 01536 416426); Kalamazoo (www.kalamazoosecure.co.uk 08445 766 770); Paragon (www.paragonuk.com 0191 514 6202); Mail Solutions (www.mailsolutions.com 01536 400558).