As we prepare the office for the new year, it‘s always interesting to reflect on past years. Looking through an old file drawer, we noticed the many changes thru the years in the catalogs.
For years, the Numberall catalog was a plain brown card stock cover with assembled pages inside with a metal clip (that used a 2 hole punch on the pages). In the beginning the pages were printed in the office. Wooden letter press print blocks in our archives, are a testament of the printed pages. Office help then assembled the catalogs. Then each catalog was mailed. It could be 2/3 weeks before you received the catalog. Then, you had to call in or mail a purchase order. The time from receiving the catalog to the purchase order could be 2 months!
Years later the plain brown card stock gave way to a new reflux blue glossy cover. The catalogs were still assembled in the office with a spiral plastic binder. Pages were printed by the local print shop. The catalogs were still being mailed.
Slowly the pages were updated, new pictures and additional technical information was added. The printer then bound the catalog to a finished product. We were still mailing the catalog, but along came the fax machine. We were able to send pages of our catalog to our customers in just a couple minutes.
The last major revision was a complete new design. Color photos were added along with a more information and charts. A new web site design was also accomplished. The web site and catalog now have the same information. However, the web site is slowly getting more updated with new pictures, blogs and video presentations. The web site is also mobile friendly. Web based ordering is also available for some of our standard products.
The pictures show a range of catalogs from the early 1970‘s to 2021. What will the next 50 years bring us for catalog revisions?! As always Made in USA!
