Summer tourism season is quickly approaching!

If you want to attract these visitors to your business, consider using rack cards to catch their attention.  Rack cards can be placed at hotels, chamber of commerce offices, visitor information booths, and sometimes other area businesses.

Even in this age of online searches, an eye-catching rack card can quickly draw tourists to your business.  Rack cards are also an affordable option with a quick turn-time.

Are you a restaurant, family attraction, museum, ice cream shop, hotel, or spa?  Rack cards might be just the marketing tool to boost your summer business!

We extend a special welcome to customers of Olivieri Quickprint Centers in Granby and West Hartford! We are excited to work with you.  We have your artwork and order history, and we are committed to making this transition as easy as possible for you.  We will continue to process your jobs on-time and to our high quality standards. Please feel free to contact Michael or Lindsey directly with any questions.

In honor of Earth Day this Sunday, here is our fifth green tip of the week.  If you missed our previous tips, you can easily read them on our blog or Facebook timeline.

Green Tip #5

Spring is here and many of us will be freshening up the outside of our homes and businesses with new landscaping.  A good landscaping plan can actually increase the energy efficiency of your building.  According to the US Department of Energy, “On average, landscaping for energy efficiency provides enough energy savings to return an initial investment in less than 8 years.”  The organization also states that trees positioned for energy efficiency can save a household up to 25% of its energy consumption.

Energy-efficient landscaping looks at the following characteristics: climate, microclimate, shading, windbreaks, and water conservation.  For more details, visit the US Department of Energy’s Energy Savers landscaping site.

Think beyond begonias and past petunias.  When its time for new landscaping, some simple changes can have a big impact.

For more information on the steps we take to be green at Minuteman Press, visit our Earth Day 2012 page.

Many of us use computers for a large part of our work day.  If you’re reading this, you’re clearly a computer user!  Our green tip for today is just for you…

Green Tip #4

If you have the option, use a laptop computer (or a tablet or smartphone).  Laptops only use 15-20 watts, whereas desktop computers with monitors use about 150 watts.  Considering the number of hours we all use computers each week, this savings really adds up for your wallet and the planet.  This is also a good tip to remember when you’re shopping for a new computer.  Go small, and go green!

For more information on the steps we take to be green at Minuteman Press, visit our Earth Day 2012 page.

What a great way to start the day!  Thank you to the Chicopee Chamber of Commerce for honoring Minuteman Press today at the April Salute Breakfast.  The chamber gave us a salute for our new building and wished us continued success in our business.

Michael is shown above receiving a certificate from Jeffrey Hayden from the Kittredge Center at Holyoke Community College.  Jeffrey served as the Chief Greeter this morning.

Here we are at Wednesday, already half way through our week-long Earth Day celebration.  There’s still plenty of time to keep the dialogue going this week by sharing tips and talking about all things “green”.

Green Tip #3

When choosing to make green choices for your food and cleaning products, don’t overlook personal care products like hand soap, shampoo, and cosmetics!

“Our skin is highly permeable. Less than one-tenth of an inch thick, skin is a porous membrane that is highly sensitive to toxic chemicals. What we put on our skin affects our health just as much as, if not more than, what we put in our mouths.”  (Samuel S. Epstein, Cancer prevention expert, Prof. emeritus at U. of IL School of Public Health, Chicago)

Many personal care products contain ingredients that are designed to improve the feel of a product against your skin, or to extend its shelf-life.  Many of these ingredients – such as phthalates, parabens, and propylene glycol – have been shown to have harmful effects on our bodies.  Don’t be fooled by nice fragrances or packaging…read the labels!  You will be amazed at the number of products you use on a daily basis that contain these ingredients. Switching to natural products protects your body and the environment.

Excellent articles on this topic:

Risks From Toxic Ingredients In Cosmetics, And Personal Care Products (The Huffington Post, written by Samuel S. Epstein, Cancer prevention expert, Prof. emeritus at U. of IL School of Public Health, Chicago)
About Face – Toxic Cosmetics – Learn what ingredients used in makeup could be hazardous to your health (Time magazine, written by Bryan Walsh)

For more information on the steps we take to be green at Minuteman Press, visit our Earth Day 2012 page.

Our week-long celebration of Earth Day continues with our next tip for making green choices in your home and business.

Green Tip #2:

Have you heard the term “eCycle”?  This term refers to recycling your old cell phones, computers, and electronic devices to keep reusable materials out of our landfills.  Recycling materials like copper and gold from electronic devices also reduces the need to mine new material. eCycling also catches contaminants and prevents them from entering our soil and water.

For more information on where you can eCycle, click here.

For more information on the steps we take to be green at Minuteman Press, visit our Earth Day 2012 page.

Our week-long celebration of Earth Day has begun.  Each day this week, we’ll be posting ideas to help you make your business and home a “greener” place.  Please share your own ideas with us!

Green Tip #1:
Dust lightbulbs, lamps, and windows to let more light shine through.  If your lamp are dusty and dim, chances are you’ll turn on additional lighting to compensate.  Why not add this simple task to your spring cleaning list?

For more information on the steps we take to be green at Minuteman Press, visit our Earth Day 2012 page.

Michael attended the ACCGS April Breakfast at the MassMutual Learning & Conference Center in Chicopee, MA.  The guest speaker was the Mass. Dept. of Transportation Secretary and CEO Richard Davey.   He spoke about the transportation and highway system in Massachusetts.  It was a very informative and interesting presentation.

Michael attended a WPI Alumni event at The Hartford Club on Tuesday night.  President Berkey spoke about the development of the WPI campus in Worcester and some of the LEED Certified Buildings that the campus has built. It was a great chance to network with fellow alumni in the Hartford area.