THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 18, 1997 TAG: 9701180351
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 56 lines
You'd think Hampton Roads' commercial printers would be rejoicing in the change in the region's area code from 804 to 757. Think of all those business cards, brochures and other materials that would have to be reprinted to reflect the new code, which becomes mandatory Feb. 1.
Truth of the matter is, the reaction among local printers to the change to 757 is: ho-hum.
``I haven't seen a tremendous increase in business,'' says Al Koonin, owner of Variety Printing Inc. of Norfolk. ``It's more or less what I anticipated - that people weren't going to rush out and spend a lot because of the change.''
Local printers say Bell Atlantic and GTE, Hampton Roads' two local phone companies, allowed such a long grace period for using both 804 and 757 - seven months - that most of their customers ran through their supplies of printed materials using 804.
Then it was a simple matter of reordering materials printed with 757 instead. For existing customers, many local printers say they even absorbed the extra cost of making the typesetting change.
``I'd say I've seen an increase of 10 percent, maybe,'' in sales since last July, when the 757-804 grace period began, says David Lauderback, owner of Merritt Press in Virginia Beach.
Some customers bought labels to paste over the old code on their brochures, Lauderback said. But for the most part, he said, ``people have been able to get the last mileage of anything they had.''
Paul Miller, a Bell Atlantic spokesman, says the printers' stories are in keeping with the overall climate of the change to 757 - which he said has been smooth.
``We're hearing from some customers who say that people who tried to call them from outside the area could not get through using the new code,'' he says. ``But we really expect this overall to be a non-event.''
Miller adds that even if customers forget and dial 804 by mistake after Feb. 1, they'll hear a recording reminding them that they need to hang up and retry their long-distance calls using 757. Bell Atlantic and GTE say they'll use that recording for a year.
At local printers, a large part of the last-minute orders caused by the new code is for business cards.
Margaret Butt Richard, owner of Greenbrier Printers & Office Suppliers Inc. in Chesapeake, says she recommends businesses bulk-order cards for all employees. The savings can be substantial. A high-quality color card that would cost $80 to $90 for a batch of 1,000 for one employee can run as low as $60 per 1,000 if it's part of a 20-person order, she says.
Variety Printing's Koonin concedes that some of his customers are just crossing out 804 on their cards and scribbling in 757 - to heck with appearances. More and more employers make workers pay for business cards, and a lot of others who use cards are sole business proprietors with limited budgets.
``I think you should have nice cards,'' Koonin says, ``but if you're on a shoestring, I can understand why people would stick with what they've got.''
KEYWORDS: AREA CODE 757 HAMPTON ROADS