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Printing & Imaging
Association Mountain States (PIAMS) is an
Affiliate of Printing Industries of America and the
Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF).
Located in Denver, Colorado, and covering Colorado,
New Mexico and Southern Wyoming, PIAMS is a trade
association with members representing companies in
every aspect of graphic communications. Members
include Graphic Design Studios, Prepress Facilities
& Service Bureaus, Printing Companies of all shapes,
sizes and specialties, Binders and Finishers, Mail
and Fulfillment Houses, and Manufacturers,
Distributors and Service Providers of equipment,
supplies, and other materials and services that are
used by the industry.
Membership is broken
into two categories - Active and Associate, and are
for individual companies and corporations.
Active Members are those
who participate in all areas of production in
graphic communications from the design through the
distribution of printed material and accompanying
web page design.
Associate Members are
those who manufacture and distribute the items
needed for the production process. They
include: Paper distributors; hardware and software
manufacturers (from computers to printing, copying,
binding and mailing equipment); manufacturers and
distributors of film and printing plates, ink, and
all other products and services related to the
industry, but are not involved in the production
process.
Membership in PIAMS
automatically includes membership in PIA/GATF.
Resources & Services
Educational Opportunities
Industry specific programs
on Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Supervision,
Electronic Prepress, Financial Management, and more
are offered at special rates to member companies.
Through Mountain States Printing Education
Foundation, newly developed Apprenticeship training
is available in Customer Service, Press Operations
and Binding & Finishing. Members are also offered
special pricing to attend national conferences,
training programs and trade shows.
PIAMS offers Print Buying Basics
classes twice a year to assist buyers in becoming
more knowledgeable in working with their printers.
Classes are offered in July and December.
Employee Referral Service
For Only $150 per year,
members receive resumes from potential employees who
respond to ads placed in local newspapers and
national trade publications.
Insurance
Dental, Life, Short Term
and Long Term Disability insurance coverage’s are
all available through the PIAMS Insurance Plan.
"Bona Fide Association" Medical Insurance is
available exclusively to member firms through
Benefits and Incentives Group. Business &
Workers Compensation Insurance coverage is made
available through Sentry Insurance Company.
United Insurance Company offers member firms
excellent coverage for Employment Related Liability.
An industry specific 401(k) program is also
available.
Surveys
Industry specific, local
and national surveys are compiled annually.
The PIAMS/Mountain States Employers Council Wage,
Benefit and Sales Compensation Survey, is a staple
in the Rocky Mountain region. The
PIA/GATF Financial Ratio Studies are used throughout
the industry, by industry professionals as well as
their accountants and financial institutions.
Buying Power Programs
National
Programs
Through PIA/GATF members
can take advantage of special discount rates with
Concord EFS (for credit card processing),Enfocus
Software, FedEx, and, Xerox just to name a few.
Local Programs
Through PIAMS, members get
special pricing on Experian credit reports &
collection services through Mountain States
Commercial Credit Management, and are offered a wide
array of other discounts and special incentives from
a myriad of other providers to assist them in their
businesses. Consulting Services are available
for technical assistance, OSHA compliance and more.
Special Industry Groups (SIGs)
Design to Print Denver
Media Group is a special industry group of Printing
& Imaging Association Mountain States. It was
established in 1991 to address issues facing graphic
designers, printers and publishers as the industry
moved into the electronic era. The group meets
monthly and addresses pertinent topics through
qualified speakers.
PIA/GATF has a number of
SIGs that address a multitude of specialty areas
along with special sections for Sales & Marketing
Executives (S&ME) and Printing Industries Financial
Executives (PIFE).
Committees & Other Entities
Committees are in place
to address all aspects of association/industry needs
in order to work for the best benefit of the PIAMS
members.
The association also
boasts of its Mountain States Printing Education
Foundation that raises tax- deductible funds, which
are distributed annually to assist graphic
communications (printing) programs with grants
applied toward needed projects and equipment.
The Foundation also distributes scholarship money to
students interested in making graphic communications
their career choice. The Foundation has also been
instrumental in updating industry information on a
Federal Government level, that had not been changed
for decades, and writing modern apprenticeship
programs in the areas of Customer Service, Press
Operations and Binding & Finishing.
National Support
Every PIAMS member is a
member of PIA/GATF, which enables them to access
many products, services and programs that would be
unavailable or more expensive otherwise. PIA/GATF
opens a window to Special Industry Groups and
Special Sections that address industry needs in a
variety of segments for specific production areas of
the industry to groups & individuals with similar
interests. PIA/GATF also handles national lobbying
efforts on behalf of the industry.
PIA/GATF’s technical arm
enhances the support system. PIA/GATF offers a
library and information services - unsurpassed in
the industry. They also offer product testing to
suppliers, as well as laboratory testing with
unbiased and confidential results to help you find
out why you are having a problem. They offer a free
technical hotline to members, have consulting
services available, manage the PIA/GATF Bookstore,
and produce a wide array of conferences, technical
workshops and webinars. Products available through
PIA/GATF include a variety of control devices and
test sheet forms.
Membership in PIAMS
gives a member firm access to just about everything
imaginable to help on both the technical side and
business side of their business. If “it” has any
relationship to the industry - by calling PIAMS you
are one step closer to getting the answer, help, or
support you need!!
Simply stated - PIAMS is here to help members
Make
Money - Save Money and Stay Out of Trouble.
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“Frequently Asked
Questions”
Question:
What is the purpose of a trade association?
Answer:
A trade association is not a business you buy
service from. It’s a non-profit organization formed
by many companies to provide a structure so they can
work together to protect and advance their industry,
and to provide services and benefits that would be
hard to provide or more expensive individually. It
depends on both member dues and member volunteers to
carry out its mission, and does not have an
existence separate from the member companies.
Question:
If we’re working together to carry out the PIAMS
mission, what is that mission?
Answer:
The mission of the Printing & Imaging Association
Mountain States is to help its members achieve
success by providing the benefits of group effort,
and by providing those services and activities which
are of value to members in operating their
businesses.
Question:
Explain PIAMS and PIA/GATF to me. Why all of these
organizations?
Answer:
PIAMS and PIA/GATF is one association with three
parts. Printing & Imaging Association Mountain
States is one of 28 regional affiliates that make up
PIA/GATF, and covers Colorado, New Mexico, and
Southern Wyoming. PIAMS represents the industry at
the state level, and provides local benefits,
surveys, education, and services. Printing
Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical
Foundation is the national trade association for the
graphic arts industry in the U.S. and Canada. It
performs the absolutely vital functions of
representing the industry before the U.S. Congress
and Federal agencies. Without this representation,
well-intentioned government actions would soon
squeeze every penny of profit out of our industry.
PIA/GATF also conducts statistical research
nationwide on operating ratios, wages, printing
markets, and other necessary economic data. PIA/GATF
provides management education and information, and
many others services and benefits. PIA/GATF
is also the technical arm of your membership. It
provides technical information, training, and
research for the industry. Companies that join
PIAMS are also automatically members of PIA/GATF,
all for one dues payment.
Question:
Our parent company belongs to a PIA in another
location. Why should we have to
join?
Answer:
Membership is by plant, through the local affiliate,
and your parent company is paying only the dues that
cover their location, not dues to cover your
facility. If the Bob’s Quick Printing and Bagel
Shop franchise and headquarters in San Diego belongs
to the local affiliate and PIA/GATF, their dues do
not cover membership and services for a hundred
other BQPB Shops around the country. Your dues to
PIAMS support both the local lobbying effort to
protect your profitability at the state level, and
the provision of local services and benefits, as
well as your facility’s share of supporting PIA/GATF’s
efforts on your behalf.
Question:
How are dues determined?
Answer:
Each affiliate sets it’s own dues structure, based
on a company’s size and the needs of the local
organization to carry out the activities and provide
the services determined necessary by the affiliate
Board of Directors, elected by the local members.
PIAMS dues are based on a formula for sales volume.
Minimum PIAMS dues are $300 per year. Maximum PIAMS
dues are $6,000 per year. A percentage of each
local affiliate’s dues are paid to PIA/GATF as
determined by the national Board of Directors.
Since PIA/GATF have other sources of income, a
significant portion of the dues paid by members
stays at the local level to support local programs.
Questions:
Isn’t that a lot of money for membership?
Answer:
Not if you think of dues in terms of labor costs.
By joining with other graphic communication firms in
our region, you can put dozens of PIAMS and PIA/GATF
employees to work for your company, and have experts
in every facet of your business as close as a phone
call. And, all for less money than you’d pay a high
school student to sweep the floor part-time, without
paying for benefits. Think of PIAMS and PIA/GATF as
your most-knowledgeable, least-expensive employee.
Question:
The long list of benefits and services provided by
PIAMS and PIA/GATF is impressive, but in reviewing
it I wouldn’t use most of what’s available. Why
should I pay full dues for things I wouldn’t use?
Answer:
No member company uses most, or even a large
portion, of what’s available. PIAMS and PIA/GATF
must have services, products, and benefits available
for a wide range of companies, varying from one to
hundreds of employees, and with a great difference
in needs. PIAMS for example, may select a business
partner to offer a discounted service to members
that only five or ten members can take advantage
of. This is worth doing if the association doesn’t
have maintenance costs, because it provides a
benefit to at least a few members. Even if you
don’t use that service, the next time it might be
your company that benefits. Plus these discounts
are established and available if you ever need them.
Question:
My company pays dues, but then there’s a charge for
individual services like educational seminars. Why?
Answer:
The association loses money on every activity if
overhead is figured in. PIAMS like almost every
trade association uses dues to cover industry-wide
activities like lobbying and workforce development,
and to cover general overhead. Individual direct
services carry a charge to cover the direct costs.
For example, the price for a seminar will cover
costs such as the speaker’s expenses, meals, room
rental, materials, and mailing, but not the
allocated staff time or overhead. Non-members pay a
premium for seminars. Things that appear to be
association “profit-centers” are really not when
indirect expenses are allocated to them.
Question:
Do any of our dues go to politicians?
Answer:
No. PIAMS and PIA/GATF are corporations, which are
prohibited by law from making political
contributions. At the national level, candidates
for Congress who support the goals of the industry
may receive contributions from PrintPAC, the
printing industry’s Political Action Committee.
Contributions to PrintPAC must be personal, from
individuals not corporations. Members are always
encouraged to make individual, personal
contributions to pro-business candidates for both
their state legislature and the U.S. Congress. The
affiliate managers all contribute to PrintPAC from
their own personal money.
Question:
If we have PIAMS and PIA/GATF to lobby for us, why
are we asked to write to our Congressman or state
legislator?
Answer:
An association can monitor proposed bills and
regulations, develop strategies, form alliances, and
present the industry’s arguments on important
issues. This works, and is especially effective
with agency lobbying where merit has the most
weight. With political/legislative lobbying, you
are most effective if you have good arguments from
your position, and muscle votes and money at the
local level. You are more interested in hearing
what your customer thinks about your work than what
some expert in Washington thinks. Likewise, as a
constituent, your opinion carries much more weight
with your legislator than the opinions of a “hired
gun” lobbyist. The opinions of political
contributors and campaign workers carry the most
weight of all.
Your
associations are pretty effective in the lobbying
business, because you have good staff at the
national and regional level, and a small corps of
dedicated volunteers. But an industry of this size
should be ten times more powerful and would be if
more industry members were politically involved.
The lack of political involvement by a majority of
company representatives adversely affects the
industry’s profitability.
Question:
My company pays dues to support lobbying, and I get
personally involved. But don’t non-member companies
benefit from our efforts as much as we do? Is that
fair?
Answer:
Just as some employees in a large company are hard
workers and others are featherbedders willing to
coast, we will always have those in the industry who
are willing to take free advantage of the efforts
and contributions of active members. That’s just a
fact of human existence. It just means those of us
who are fighting for our industry have to do more
than our share.
Question: Lobbying is fine, but I’m struggling
to stay above water. How does the association help
with that?
Answer: We believe that most companies, who
belong and really use the association, recoup their
dues many times over. But it’s like buying an
exercise bike. The investment does nothing unless
and until you use it. Review the benefits list
frequently. Talk to the PIAMS business partners.
Be active, much of the benefit comes from networking
and information. Attend association functions, and
send your employees. Serving on the Board of
Directors or an association committee is a service
to your industry, but it also puts you in a higher
information loop.
A large part
of what your association does is to help you avoid
losses. If PIAMS gives you HR advice that prevents
a lawsuit, if GATF gives you technical advice that
saves re-running a job, or if PIA/GATF’s management
conference teaches you a more cost-effective way of
doing business, it won’t show up on your bottom line
at the end of the year. It only shows up if you
aren’t a member, or don’t use the services, and take
the loss. Unfortunately, every day graphic
communications firms are taking losses that could
have been prevented by their association, if only
they had belonged and used what was available.
Question:
How do I get help or find out what’s available?
Answer:
Contact one of the staff members at PIAMS (303)
771-1578, and they’ll get you what you need, or
check the PIAMS website at www.piams.org.
Question:
My company belongs to PIAMS and PIA/GATF, and we’re
active in the association. What else can we do to
help?
Answer:
Two things are key. Talk to colleagues in other
companies about their responsibility to join you in
supporting our industry through PIAMS and PIA/GATF
membership. The stronger your association is, the
more effectively it can work for you.
And get
involved in politics by building relationships with
your state and federal legislators. It’s easy, and
can take as much or as little time and/or money as
you can afford to devote. Government is the one
business partner that can break you with a single
bad decision. We simply have to be involved. |
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