Print Shop closes, causing job loss

Karen Christian, copy clerk at the Amarillo College print shop, operates a machine. The shop will close in January due to budget cuts.
Karen Christian, copy clerk at the Amarillo College print shop, operates a machine. The shop will close in January due to budget cuts.
Karen Christian, copy clerk at the Amarillo College print shop, operates a machine. The shop will close in January due to budget cuts.

Amarillo College’s print shop will close at the end of January 2016. President Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart and his cabinet made the decision in September. The print shop is closing due to budget cuts as well as profit loss in the past. “The college needs to cut expenses, and the printing and a lot of the printing business will be outsourced,” said Terry Berg, vice president of business affairs. “It was a business decision.” A request for proposal was sent out to printing businesses that wanted to bid on AC printing work. A committee of three people from across the campus examined the bids based on price, customer service and quality. The proposal was awarded to two companies in Amarillo: Zip Print and Cenveo. They will split future AC printing business for one to five years. Departments and faculty are encouraged to use department copy and print machines, and other print jobs that require more work will be sent to Zip Print. “Zip Print is the printing business who won the RFP, so for most jobs, people will be going through Zip Print,” said Ellen Green, vice president of communication and marketing. “For certain jobs such as letterhead, business cards and envelopes, we’ll go through Cenveo.” The print shop offers a wide range services for AC faculty and departments, such as big copy and print jobs, certificate printing and binding and shrink-wrap for textbooks. “They copy notes from various instructors or departments that they wanted to have available for sale for the students,” said Dennis Leslie, bookstore manager. “Since it won’t close until the end of January, they will get us through the spring rush.” The shop has two full-time employees, Tamara Hughes and Karen Christian. “It does involve the layoff of two individuals, and we are trying to find positions for them in the college,” Berg said. “If positions become open that they are qualified for, they will be first in line for those positions.” Leslie said it is hard to see the print shop close. “It was a good service for us, because if we ran out of something, Tamara and her crew would have it by the next morning,” he said. “I doubt we are going to get that kind of service anywhere else.”

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