| Well it's been a long road!
I doubt many reading this would remember "addressograph" plates - but they
were the standard in the early 50's and 60's for addressing mail. A metal plate embossed
with an address which was pressed against an envelope with an ink ribbon - Vwallah -
auto-addressed mail!
Of course this led to building of lists, which meant more plates, more room, more
people, and more weight! Building lists, even magazine subscription files were now
possible using metal plates...so Mailways hopped on that bandwagon too. By the time the
computer was a fixture - Mailways amassed some 10 million plates weighing in at some 130
tons!
By the late 60's, Mailways installed a Honeywell 115 system - about the size of a
battleship, slow, loud and able to heat the building. It took 4 analysts full time, and a
couple operators round the clock to keep the Honeywell running - now printing paper labels
called "Cheshire" - Mailways was one of the first in the country to produce
these labels and other small shops and printers flocked to our doors for their mailing
lists on those new paper Cheshire labels...(they still do!)
Mailways continued to build magazine relationships, one of our larger ones was Yankee
Magazine - who one day decided to promote gift subscriptions to about a million people -
needless to say - Mailways got swamped with new subscriptions that we had to find a better
way to handle it all...In these days, most everything was done by tab cards - punched with
holes, then read into card readers to become "computerized" This slow and
manually tasking job was soon replaced by real time data entry terminals - which could
check for errors, fix things like the new zip codes recently invented, and move the whole
process much faster. Our friends at Yankee we're pleased...and the founders still call on
us today from time to time...
Things started moving pretty fast in the 70's, Mailways employed about 120 people,
addressing mail, inserting envelopes on the new Pitney Bowes high speed inserters,
fulfilling subscription requests on our new IBM systems. We became well known for our
involvement with M.A.S.A by creating a list exchange directory which was used by it's
members to buy and sell "resident" mail lists - still in publication today by
M.F.S.A. Mailways has always been on the forefront of Postal Issues, rulemaking and how it
would affect it's customers.
The 70's also found Mailways in it's very own building - an 80,000 square foot, 120
year old historic mill building - we had space!
Through the 80's Mailways continued to grow, and automate anything we could so our
clients would have the benefit of speed and accuracy, always buying up the slick new
equipment, the new mainframe computers, and training the best people we could find. Having
some of the largest retailers on our doorstep made it important to us, and of course - to
them!
Today almost everything at Mailways is automated, but we always have time for those
really nice looking hand assembled packages that some companies or their ad agency wants
to create - and we've seen them all! Today we use dual IBM AS/400 systems running much of
our own in house, and innovative software, much of our loyal staff has been with Mailways
for a couple decades, some even a few decades so you KNOW they have mailing in their
blood. Our equipment is fast, reliable and always there when you need it..
We've been the clear choice to magazines, advertisers, and even national retailers for
many years, with new and cost saving ideas always being introduced. We hope you find your
way to Mailways and stick around for the next 50 years!
Oh..and just so you know, Mailways is still, after 50 years, a family owned and
operated company...the funny thing is - we still like each other!
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