The Interfolio Blog

Back in April, I wrote about how Interfolio processes your documents when they arrive at our office in Washington, D.C. Now that I have demystified that process a little bit, I’d like to talk about another part of our daily grind: the printing of our members’ academic credentials.

At Interfolio, we print. A lot. Last year, we delivered more than 1.55 million pages to various universities, application services and other receivers, all initiated and paid for by our members (thank you, btw). Because of our need to keep the business running smoothly and your documents shipping quickly, we decided it was time to upgrade our printers. With this in mind, we began scouring the DC metro area to find the best provider with the best equipment, searching high and low, even into Maryland and Virginia.

When Lex and I began our search, we knew exactly what we needed: a machine that could print upwards of 90 PPM (that’s “pages per minute” for all the non-printer geeks) and would not overheat to levels of unsustainable discomfort for all those around it. This would allow us to print deliveries a lot faster, both making me look better, and increasing the company’s efficiency. It’s a win/win.

The search has been narrowed with plenty of time to spare before the busy application season this fall (77% of our total volume in 2009 was printed between September and December). We’ve been meeting with many representatives and have checked out lots of different printers, the company’s customer service, repair response time, and whether the machine can be dropped out of the 6th story of our building at the top of our specifications checklist. Okay, one of those isn’t true, but we really did our research.

I really can’t wait to get my hands on the latest and greatest in print technology. The field is set, and we’re down to three finalists. These are the cream of the crop, and in the next two weeks, we'll see who rises to the top.

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