PostNet

10/31/2026

10/29/2026

The box is not the packing. The packing is the packing.

Most December damage claims come from the same short list: framed art, glassware, ceramics, electronics, w**e, instruments, anything with a sentimental value that no coverage actually replaces.

What protects them is not a sturdier carton. It is what happens inside it. Suspension, so the item is not resting against a wall. Enough cushioning on every face, including the bottom. Separation, so two fragile things are never touching. And a box built around the object rather than the object squeezed into a box that already existed.

A custom-built box costs less than a reprint, a replacement or an apology.

If it is fragile, oversized, valuable or hard to replace, bring it in unpacked. We will pack it here and compare carrier options for where it is going.

Some things deserve more than a box and a label. Our holiday shipping guide covers what to think through before they go anywhere.

10/28/2026

A calendar is the only gift that stays on a wall for twelve months.

That is an unusual amount of time for anything with your name on it.

Custom printed calendars work for the same reason they always have. They get used, so they get kept. They sit somewhere visible, usually a kitchen, an office or a workshop. And the person looking at one in July is looking at a business they have not thought about since December.

For client gifts, the appeal is practical rather than sentimental. For internal use, a printed calendar with your schedule, seasonal service reminders or key dates on it does a job no group email does.

Now is the sensible time, since a calendar loses value with every week of January that passes.

Tell us what you want on it and we can design it for you.

10/27/2026

There is no single last day to ship for Christmas.

The date depends on the carrier, the service level, where it starts, where it is going, and for anything crossing a border, customs.

Christmas Day falls on a Friday this year. Some carriers have published their holiday schedules and some have not, which is exactly why a plan built on last year's dates is only a guess.

The more useful approach: treat published deadlines as the latest recommended planning point rather than a target, and ship earlier whenever you can. As the date gets closer, the slower services stop being options, and you end up choosing on speed alone.

Shipping deadlines move. A good plan doesn't have to. Bookmark our holiday shipping guide for the weeks ahead: https://www.postnet.com/blog/holiday-shipping-deadlines/

Bring us the destination and the date it needs to arrive, and we will compare all major carriers for that specific package.

10/22/2026

December is not the finish line. It is the setup.

If January is typically slow, the time to fix that is while you are already printing something.

Decide now what you want a customer to do after the holidays. Book a January appointment. Request an estimate for a first-quarter project. Redeem an offer once the season is over. Sign up for a maintenance plan. Refer a neighbor.

Then put that next step on the postcards, door hangers and thank-you cards going out over the next six weeks — rather than on the ones you have not designed yet.

One more thing worth doing this month: confirm your holiday hours everywhere customers look. Website, voicemail, social profiles, printed signage. Google supports special hours for temporary changes and recommends confirming them even when they match your normal ones.

December doesn't have to be the finish line. Find all seven ideas in the full guide: https://www.postnet.com/blog/year-end-marketing-ideas-local-service-businesses/

10/21/2026

A booth is a room you build in four hours and take apart in one.

Holiday markets, craft fairs, vendor shows and expos all ask the same thing of a small business: be recognizable from fifteen feet away while you are mid-conversation with someone else.

Signage is what does that. A banner behind you carrying the name. A display or poster that answers what you sell before anyone asks. A table sign. Something at the front edge of the table people can take. A small sign for whatever you want them to scan.

The part worth planning: the same kit travels. A booth built for a November market works at a spring expo, a trade show and a school night, as long as nothing on it is dated.

Tell us what the space is and we will size the kit to it.

10/20/2026

Year-end gives a local service business two jobs.

Give customers a reason to act before the year closes. And be visible when they start planning what comes next.

Neither one requires a new marketing strategy. Most of it is choosing one timely message, putting it in front of the right local audience, and making the next step obvious.

A winter tune-up reminder. A seasonal inspection. An invitation to book January before the calendar fills. One offer, carried consistently across postcards, door hangers, yard signs and the materials your team already hands out.

The goal is not to say more. It is to make the same next step easy to recognize wherever someone sees you.

Seven ideas. You don't need to use all of them. Find the ones that make sense for your year-end plan in the full guide: https://www.postnet.com/blog/year-end-marketing-ideas-local-service-businesses/

10/15/2026

Before you ask for a quote on branded gifts, have these nine answers ready.

1. The date the finished items are needed.
2. Who receives them.
3. Approximate quantity.
4. Product type.
5. Sizes and colors, where they apply.
6. Your logo or artwork.
7. Preferred decoration method and placement, if you know it.
8. One destination or several.
9. Any packaging or presentation requirements.

That list is not paperwork. Nine answers can make the first conversation much more useful.

10/14/2026

📦✨ HAPPY RETURNS ARE HERE AT POSTNET! ✨📦

Shopping online? Need to return a package? We’ve got you covered! 🙌

Make your returns easy and convenient with Happy Returns at PostNet Pittsfield! ❤️

✅ Quick and easy returns
✅ Convenient drop-off location
✅ Friendly local service
✅ One convenient stop for your shipping and return needs!

📍 PostNet Pittsfield
524 North Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201
📞 413-464-0311

Stop by today and let us make your returns easier! 😊

PostNet Pittsfield — Your Neighborhood Shipping & Returns Center! ❤️📦

10/08/2026

Holiday cards don’t all need the same lead time.

A finished design on standard stock is one project. A photo card with specialty paper, foil, printed envelopes and a mailing list that still needs work is another.

Before setting your order date, look at what still needs to happen: design, proofing, printing, addressing, assembly and mailing. Every extra step needs its own place in the schedule.

Not sure how much time your project needs? The full timeline breaks down what to plan for based on the week you want your cards to arrive. https://www.postnet.com/blog/holiday-cards-planning-printing-mailing-timeline/

10/07/2026

Your window is already doing the work. It may as well say something.

A storefront window works every hour and reaches people who may not have been looking for you.

Holiday window graphics can carry a seasonal message, your hours, a promotion or simply the fact that you are open during the stretch when people assume half the block is not.

They come down as easily as they go up, which is the point. A window graphic is seasonal by design.

Two things worth deciding before you print: what the message needs to say from across the sidewalk, and how much glass you are willing to give up.

Bring us the window measurements and we will make the design for you.

10/06/2026

There is no single order-by date for holiday cards.

There is a sequence, and it runs backward.

Start with the day you want the card in someone's hands. Then work back through mailing, addressing and assembly, printing, proof approval, and design. Each step borrows time from the one before it.

That is why two projects placed the same week can need completely different schedules. A finished design on a standard stock is not the same project as a photo card on linen with foil.

Not sure when to start? The full timeline helps you work backward from the week you want your cards to arrive: https://www.postnet.com/blog/holiday-cards-planning-printing-mailing-timeline/

10/01/2026

The most important thing at your fundraiser might be the paddle numbers.

Great programs set the tone. But it’s the less glamorous pieces that keep the night running:

📖 Programs guests reference all night
🪧 Table numbers, signs + directions
🔢 Paddle numbers, item cards + bid sheets
🎪 Event banners that make it into every photo
💌 Donor thank-you cards ready to send after the event

And when the auction ends? Those items still need to reach their winners. Framed art, glassware, gift baskets and more, packed properly and shipped with care.

Fall is full of community events, and they run on the details nobody notices until they’re missing.

Save this checklist now. Thank yourself when someone asks where the bid sheets are.

09/30/2026

Fall fundraiser season is starting, and most of what an event needs is printed, packed, or both.

On the print side: paddle numbers, table signs, programs, donor thank-you cards, and a banner that shows up in every photo taken that night.

On the shipping side: auction items that have to reach the winner in one piece. Framed art, glassware, signed memorabilia, gift baskets — packed properly and quoted across carriers.

Running a gala, auction or school event this fall? Give us a call, and we’ll help organize the print and shipping pieces around your timeline.

09/29/2026

December shipping is decided in September.

Four things worth settling now:

Which carrier suits your actual mix of weights and destinations — UPS, FedEx, DHL* and USPS each win on different lanes.

Whether your packaging is costing you in dimensional weight, on every order, all quarter.

Your own cutoff dates, set earlier than the carrier's and published to customers now.

Who packs the fragile and high-value items.

None of it is urgent in September. That's exactly why September is when it gets done.

Tell us what you ship and we'll walk the options with you.

*DHL not available at all locations.

09/24/2026

Week one of a new business tends to go the same way.

The sign isn't up. The cards are ordered. And someone asks for a brochure that doesn't exist yet.

Ordering the kit in one pass fixes most of it — cards, brochure, flyers, banner, window graphics, folders, thank-you cards. Less back-and-forth, and everything matches because it was designed together.

Opening this fall? Tell us what you're launching and we'll build the list with you.

09/23/2026

Fall market season is here, and signage is what separates a booth from a table.

It works before you can. People decide whether to walk over from fifteen feet away, while you're mid-conversation with someone else.

Five pieces cover it: a retractable banner behind you, a poster on an easel with what you sell, a table sign with your name, cards at the front edge of the table, and a small QR sign for your online store.

Vendor fairs, farmers markets, trade shows, school nights — same kit, and it travels between all of them.

Tell us what you're setting up and we'll size the kit to your table.

09/22/2026

A new business gets judged on its materials before anyone has used the product.

Ten pieces cover it: business cards, brochures, flyers, postcards, banners, yard signs, window graphics, presentation folders, business forms and thank-you cards.

Ordered together, all ten match. Ordered one at a time as each need appears, they usually don't.

The full breakdown: https://www.postnet.com/blog/printed-materials-every-new-business-should-have/

09/17/2026

A thin white line along the edge of a printed piece has one cause, and it isn't the printer.

It's artwork that stops exactly at the trim line. Commercial cutting is accurate but not perfect to the thousandth, so a hair of variation leaves a sliver of white showing.

An eighth of an inch of extra artwork past the trim absorbs it completely.

Two minutes in the file. Or a reprint after.

Prevent the thin white edge before your file reaches production. See how bleed works in our latest blog: https://www.postnet.com/blog/what-is-a-bleed-in-printing/