Howling Press

Just arrived at the Printing United Expo in Las Vegas! Time to see what the rest of the industry is up to!

There have been 8,386 missing persons cases in NC this year, with 450 still active right now. Behind every one of those numbers is a family waiting for answers, which is why this is one of the most important projects Howling Press has ever been trusted to take on.

Our relationship with the NC State Highway Patrol and the NC Center for Missing Persons started with event printing. After trusting us with that work, they came back with something much bigger: helping rebuild NC’s Child ID Kits.

For years, those kits were generic, off-the-shelf products produced by an out-of-state mass printer, with little ability to tailor them to NC families, resources, or the realities of how children live today.

This time, they wanted something built specifically for this state.

Howling Press worked directly with both organizations to design and develop a new generation of Child ID Kits from the ground up. We helped shape what information should be included, how it should be organized, what parents needed to know, and how every part of the kit should work together before anything went to print.

As a company founded and operated by someone born and raised in NC, that mattered deeply to us. This was a chance to replace a generic national product with something built for families in our own communities.

The printed pieces you see here are the first components coming off the press. Once complete, each kit will include critical identifying information, an at-home fingerprinting kit, NC-specific guidance, and a resealable bag to keep everything protected and together.

The completed kit stays with the parent or guardian. Howling Press does not collect a child’s personal information. Parents keep possession of it and provide it to law enforcement only if it is ever needed.

We are also producing a Spanish-language version translated by a native Spanish speaker, because clarity cannot be an afterthought when the stakes are this high.

The fingerprinting materials and bags arrive next week, and we’ll share a closer look once the kits are fully assembled.

We did not just print this kit. We helped build it.

That is what it means to be more than a printer.

We’re excited to see the first shipment going out with our new Howling Press box stickers. However, what they really represent is something we think about a lot here: the experience someone has with our brand.

That experience is not just the finished piece they ordered. It starts with the first conversation and carries all the way through to the moment the package arrives. The box we choose, the tape we use, the quality of the shipping label, the way the package is presented, and yes, even the sticker on the outside all become part of that experience.

Those details may seem small, but together they shape how a customer feels about doing business with us. A package that looks thoughtful and intentional tells a very different story than one that feels rushed or careless. We want every touchpoint to communicate the same thing our finished work does: that we care about quality, presentation, and getting the details right.

That matters even more because our customers trust us with their own brands. The brochures, booklets, postcards, signs, packaging, and other pieces we produce are often some of the first things their customers see. Those materials help shape how their businesses are perceived, and we take that responsibility seriously.

That is also why Howling Press was never built around being the cheapest printer. There are plenty of companies competing on price alone. We built this company for customers who care about craftsmanship, consistency, presentation, and the way their brand is represented.

And if we are asking customers to trust us with their brand, then our own brand should demonstrate the same standard we are asking them to trust us to deliver.

So yes, it is a box sticker. But it is also one more touchpoint, one more detail, and one more opportunity to make the experience feel like Howling Press.

That’s Precision in Every Impression.

There’s something satisfying about seeing a full USPS tray after a job moves from artwork and address data to finished postcards ready for the mailstream.

This batch includes 1,041 postcards, each featuring a scratch-off element that adds a little interactivity and curiosity to the piece. Instead of simply seeing the message, recipients have a reason to stop, engage with it, and find out what’s underneath.

Our client also took advantage of Howling Press’s mailing services. We handled the printing, address verification, variable addressing, postal preparation, presorting, paperwork, and delivery to USPS. With presorted mail capabilities, we can often mail postcards at a significant savings over USPS retail postage rates, especially on larger campaigns like this one.

And the value doesn’t stop once the trays leave our shop. Each postcard carries a unique Intelligent Mail barcode, allowing our customers to track the status of individual pieces as they move through the USPS network toward delivery. After the mailing, we can also provide address-correction information so customers can update their own records when recipients have moved. That’s the power of data and transparency.

For businesses that want to use direct mail without figuring out all the postal details themselves, that’s the goal: send us the project, and we’ll help take it all the way from print to mailbox, with better visibility along the way.

Printed, prepared, and mailed right here in Durham, North Carolina.

Friday afternoon entertainment, Howling Press style. A few days ago, we posted a 30-second video of one of our machines running and got way more interest and questions than we expected, so we decided to make our first full workshop tutorial.

In this one, Chris walks through how he cuts postcards using our Duplo DC-618 slitter/cutter/creaser, including how the machine is set up and what it looks like once the job gets running. And yes, the workspace is a little messy. This is a production floor, not a modeling studio. Around here, a perfectly spotless shop would probably mean something has gone terribly wrong.

If you need a little Friday afternoon entertainment, give it a watch on YouTube and let us know what you think. We’d especially love to know if you’d like to see more videos showing the equipment, processes, and behind-the-scenes work that goes into what we produce at Howling Press.

How Howling Press Cuts Postcards using the Duplo DC-618 In our first shop tutorial, Chris shows you one of the ways Howling...

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