NVMUG eNews 11/16/2002
Last updated 1/23/2003
Neil and Jan Raphel Presented Raphel Marketing
Neil and Jan Raphel hosted the meeting in their home office of Raphel Marketing, and told us the history of their company, what it does, how it works, and how it helps small and medium sized businesses. Oh yes, it runs on Macintosh computers.
1. The Warm Up, Questions and Discussions
Richard Smith brought us up to date on his eMac. The screen on the eMac worked, but gradually rose. The AppleCare specialist told him to take it to Ormsby's as the nearest dealer to replace the CRT. The technician at Ormsby's reset the pmu, and it worked fine but the adjustment was $40 and not covered by AppleCare. Richard called Apple to see if they would cover the $40, and was told tell Ormsby's to install a new CRT. It has worked just fine for the 12 hours that he has had it back. Tom Cudahy said he has had no problem with his eMac.
Stephen said this raises the age old question, is AppleCare worth it. Neil said he had a problem getting his mouse to work. The AppleCare technician asked him to plug the mouse directly into the computer instead of his keyboard. The mouse worked, and Apple sent him a new keyboard overnight.
Richard says since he is in education, his free tech service never ends, so he has less need for AppleCare. And I told about the good service I had with AppleCare on my iBook external connections.
The general consensus was that if you have an iMac, eMac, or G4 Power Mac, any problems are apt to occur within the first year, and you probably do not need AppleCare unless you use your Mac to earn your living. Most Macintosh computers run for years without any problems. If you have a Power Book, or iBook or your livelihood depends upon you Macintosh, AppleCare is probably good insurance to have even if you never need it.
The talk then turned to problems with drivers. Apple has been innovating so fast, and changing specifications which make it difficult for manufacturers of printers, scanners, and other devices to keep up.
This rapid pace of innovation may not be noticed by the new buyer who simply buys a newer and often easier to use system. However, for those who got Mac OS X 10.1, the change to Mac OS X 10.2 came awfully fast. The upgrade cost should include a purchase of a new Missing Manual in addition to the new system software. For those who use their computers to do things, not just a hobby to study, the time required to learn a new upgrade may not be worth making the change unless some new capability is very important to them.
Geof said he reads newsgroups regularly and uses OS 8.6. Going all the way to Jaguar would require all new software as well as new hardware, and he couldn't afford to do it. Stephen said that a person who makes ads and layouts has to be able to get copy from clients and send results to a printer who may be running an old press. The person has to be very careful not to get ahead of those with whom he or she works. Neil said that, unless the new feature set is essential and the old one works, a business cannot afford to change. Most businesses who went to Windows 3.2 stayed there. Faster speed makes a difference, but that's not the operating system.
People forget that computers are tools that require an investment in time as well as money. If they work, especially if there will be scanner driver and printer driver problems with a change, the change often may not be worth the investment. Not much has changed that would affect business except audio and video. Final advice, make sure it will work before you make the change..
2. The Main Event, Raphel Marketing
Raphel Marketing recently moved their office into a beautiful older home at 211 North Avenue in St. Johnsbury. Neil attended our last meeting, and asked about the best way to connect a router on the third floor to computers in the house. On Saturday he and his wife and partner, Jan, hosted our meeting, treated us to donuts, and showed us their business, Raphel Marketing.
Neil and Jan Raphel and some of the printers they demonstrated to the NVMUG
at Raphel Marketing in St. Johnsbury on Saturday.
Neil followed the recommendation from our last meeting, and the connection between the router outside the house and back in to the computers with an Ethernet cable at a cost of only about $150. Neil's third floor office has six special Lexmark laser printers, three iMacs, and three other Macs.
As reported in the Caledonian:
The Northern Vermont Macintosh Users Group met at the home office of Raphel Marketing in St. Johnsbury Saturday to hear Neil and Jan Raphel described their business which is run on Macintosh computers. Raphel Marketing provides direct mail service to help small and medium size businesses nationwide to increase local sales.
Neil's father had a marketing business. His dad went around the world telling people how to run a business using direct mail, but nobody would do it. Retail businesses did not have the time to use direct mail to increase sales.
Neil and Jan developed ideas to make it easy and economical for medium and small businesses to use jumbo 5 x 8.5 inch post cards for direct mail promotions, targeted to local markets, and at a low cost.
To keep the cost low, they begin with a choice of cards with a preprinted graphic on one side. They buy 100,000 at a time.
Neil and Jan described how they print the sales offer with graphics, often including a scanned copy of the business logo, on one half of the other side of the card. They can put any offer the business wants to make in here. A typical promotion might be a gift certificate for $5 off, with a minimum purchase of $25.
The preselected and presorted address is printed on the other half. The cards require first class postage, however they obtain lower rates by presorting. A special Macintosh program is used to do this postal presort of the addresses. These presorted addresses are stored with the sort number and the business information in a FileMaker database program.
The lowest postage rate is one with every person in the postal route walk sequence order, or addressed within each postal route To our neighbor at
The Jan Plan is customized mailing to individuals based upon the ZIP code, the distance the address is from the store, and demographics such as income and family size.
The cost per card for the Jan Plan depends upon the number of cards mailed, from 500 up to over 10,000 per month. One economy store chain sends their mailing to the lowest income families. Raphel Marketing purchases demographic information and can provide complete demographic maps and tables for any ZIP code areas.
The most expensive, $1.00 per card, is mailing to a list of new move-ins to a marketing area. Raphel Marketing purchases the names and addresses of new people, does the creative work, the four color artwork, the laser printing of the logo, the offer, and the address, and all postage and handling. There is a lower cost three month introductory offer.
An order might be for a mailing of 5,000 cards for 50 stores and require a separate layout and print command for each store in addition to the separate addresses involved. Most printers do not handle the 5 x 8.5 inch heavy stock cards very well. To keep costs low, Neil searches for low cost printing options. Currently he is using a bank of six Lexmark printers which can be run from one iMac computer, or from separate Macintosh computers depending upon the print jobs.
Neil and Jan gave each NVMUG member at the meeting a copy of The Entrepreneurs Club,
one of the marketing books they publish. They sell their books through their web page and Amazon.com, and have books published marketing books in Russian and Japanese.
For more information check their web site,
http://www.raphel.com
The purpose of the Northern Vermont Macintosh Users Group is to share what the members have learned so people can get more value and enjoyment out of their Macintosh computers. One thing I learned and will have to remember is to reset the camera to automatic after taking a digital picture using a special setting, like a sunset picture,. I took nine pictures to get one to illustrate this article, all at a sunset setting. The the camera did not flash and the lens stayed open to get enough light. The other thing I learned was that for important pictures, I should preview them on my iBook before going home. The images did not look blurred on the 1.5 inch screen on the camera.
3. Follow Up Discussion
They published another book, Slam Dunking WalMart.
Unions are buying it now. There was quite a bit of discussion about WalMart which uses its power as the largest supermarket, and largest retailer, to control markets and even to decide what you can buy. Do not assume that the less expensive Weber Grill at WalMart is the same Weber Grill that is in your local hardware store.
Neil and Jan like having their office in their home. They have no employees most of the time, and there are not customers coming to the door. Deliveries are a problem. Richard Lubot said that he often would like to be able to go to their office for 15 minutes to get something done, but for their longer drive it is not worth going in for less than a three hour commitment.
There was general agreement that Stephen Farber should have Mac OS X Pocket Reference
and Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Second Edition.
Stephen offered to do a presentation on the differences between Mac OS X 10.1.5 and Mac OS X 10.2.2. Richard Smith said that Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, first edition
would help him. Tom Cudahy has read the iPhoto: The Missing Manual,
and is willing to let anyone else use it that wants to.
We agreed that the Old Mill would be a good place to meet, and that we could afford $20 a meeting out of our old MacJam money. Neil said suggested that UVM might be willing for us to use their space which might be better. He will ask.
4. OS 9.2.2 On Older G3s From Geof
From: Geof Gonter gcubed@nh.adelphia.net
Subject: OS 9.2.2 on Legacy Macs
This may be of interest to to some of our members. Just got it from the Other World Computing email list.
OS 9 Forever! 9.2.2 on Unsupported Macs Made Easy*
Submitted by the 'creator', Ben Ralston :)
OWC is exited to announce continuing support of legacy Macs with the addition of OS9 Helper to our freeware lineup. OS9 Helper is a utility that installs Mac OS 9.2.x onto Pre-G3 era macs that Apple dropped support for after 9.1. It works much in the same way, and with the same models, that XPostFacto works with.
There are many benefits to having the latest 'classic' OS installed, including being able to use your iPod, video editing with Final Cut Pro 3, or DVD mastering with DVD Studio Pro 1.5. 9.2.x also brings full compatibility to ATI's latest drivers, which require the OpenGL extensions from 9.2.1 or higher. While OS X is destined to be the mainstream OS, many of us still need to be able to run Mac OS 9 on our legacy systems. OS9 Helper helps you stay as up to date as possible.
OS9 Helper is available as a free download from here:
http://eshop.macsales.com/link.cfm?id=2566-172Like the product and want to support it or get support for it? For a $10 freeware registration fee, you can be assured of both!
http://eshop.macsales.com/link.cfm?id=9703-552There are plenty of things you don't need a new computer for, just the latest 9.2.x OS. OS9Helper has you covered! We don't exactly why Apple didn't just support 9.2.x on legacy Macs to begin with, but we sure are thankful that Ben has. So thanks to Ben, OS 9 is covered, and thanks to Ryan Rempel, you've got your OS X too!
GGG---
