Retirees revive printing careers

When Dennis and Janice Seese moved to Ottawa two years ago, their intention was to retire.

They never dreamed they would end up running a commercial printing business just like they’d done for the past 35 years.

Dennis Seese said retirement just didn’t work out.

“You know, a lot of things don’t work out the way you plan,” he said. “I guess when you do something for 35 years, there’s no harm in doing it a little longer.”

Columbia Printing Co., 424 S. Main St. opened in April and Seese said he’s been pleased with the reception the business has received.

“Sometimes, it’s hard to get people to want to change or try a new business, but people in Ottawa really want to do business with local people,” he said. “Overall, I’ve been pleased. Businesses are accepting us and like the work we do.”

With the aid of five sheet-fed offset presses, Seese can print something as small as a business card and as large as a 19- by 25-inch poster. One of the more recent examples of large work completed by Columbia Printing was the posters for the Power of the Past tractor show.

Also in the pressroom are a bindery machine, a cutter, folder and stitching machine enabling Seese to offer a variety of services to his customers.

“We can do die-cut presentation folders, convention programs, church directories, instruction manuals, brochures, business envelopes, letterhead, business cards and product catalogs,” he said.

“We can do full color on the covers and black plus one or two colors on the internal pages.”

When the job is finished, Seese can deliver it nice and tidy because he also has a shrink-wrapper.

As technology has advanced over the years, so has the way printed materials are produced.

“The biggest change is the way the information is transmitted,” Seese said.

“It used to be we’d typeset it, paste it up, send it out for proof and then shoot the page on the camera. Now, folks design what they want on a computer, proofread it, burn it to a disk and hand the disk to me. It’s basically eliminated one whole part of the production department.”

Columbia Printing Co. is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.