One-man Workout

There aren’t too many private athletic clubs that have their own in-plants. But for nearly 17 years now, John Ashby has been serving as the one-man print shop for the Washington Athletic Club, a 17,840-member club in downtown Seattle.

Using a two-color Ryobi 512, he produces more than a million impressions a year, handling about 80 percent of WAC’s printing. This includes four-color jobs, like the 28-page “menu of services” he recently printed. He single-handedly cranked out 2,500 of the 4x5.5˝ pieces, each with an 80-lb. cover.

“That job took me a little while,” he recalls.

Ashby prints three membership mailings a month, plus forms, handbooks, business cards, letterhead, pamphlets and more. In addition, he provides poster mounting and custom framing services for pictures and certificates that hang in the facility.

The reason his small in-plant has stayed in business so long, Ashby feels, is because of the personal service he provides. He picks up and delivers work and provides same- or next-day turnaround.

—By Bob Neubauer