What you think about this story will probably depend on whether you belong to a union.It shouldn’t.Some things just aren’t right, no matter which side of the labor fence you’re sitting on.Our tale begins with Regan Teague, a strapping, earnest, energetic young man who works in his family’s business in Green.The firm, GBT, is a franchised wholesale printing company that specializes in business cards.The Teagues don’t sell directly to the general public. Most of their work is done for mom-and-pop print shops that farm out the work because GBT can do it more efficiently.But a little while back, Teague figured he would see whether he could generate some extra business while at the same time saving Summit County taxpayers some money.He landed an appointment with Jim Bernhart, a “purchasing specialist” in the county’s Central Purchasing Office at the Ohio Building in downtown Akron. That’s what it says on Bernhart’s business card.The card also contains a tiny little logo, so small that it’s almost imperceptible. You couldn’t figure out what you were looking at unless you already knew what you were looking at. Which is actually the point.It’s a “bug,” in printing parlance, indicating the card was made in a union print shop. People in unions recognize the logo.If you put his card on a copy machine and blow it up 400 percent, you can make out the inscription: “Allied Printing Trades Council, Union Label, Akron, Ohio.”Cards like Bernhart’s cost the county $75 per 500. In terms of quality, they’re nothing special — flat green ink, thin paper and, at least in
Bernhart’s case, badly cut, with his name nearly lopped off on the right edge.Teague showed Bernhart a couple of samples of the cards his company has made for other public employees, such as an administrator for the city of Lorain and an investigator for the Veteran Services Commission in Canton. Those cards have raised letters, are on thicker stock and are perfectly centered — just like the ones GBT makes routinely for the cities of Green and Dayton.Then Teague told
Bernhart he could provide the same type of card for Summit County at a cost of $20 per 500 — an enormous savings over what the county is paying.According to Teague,
Bernhart was impressed but said the county would never go for his offer because Teague’s family runs a nonunion shop.“The first thing he asked was, ‘Are you guys union?’ ” says Teague.The encounter “made me sick to my stomach. The people who are in office are doing it so that they can get the support of the union workers when they run for re-election.“As a taxpayer, it’s not my job to pay for the campaign of a public servant.”Amen. The majority of taxpayers are a lot more interested in saving money — particularly when the cheaper product is also better.The Teagues have been in the printing business for a quarter-century, first as a mom-and-pop shop and, since 1995, with GBT. They employ more than 20 Summit County residents. Should their company be eliminated from contention for public jobs simply because their employees have not felt a need to organize?When I left a voice mail asking Bernhart to call me, I got a return call from county spokeswoman Jill Hinig Skapin. Skapin — whose business card is among those carrying the union label — says the county has no official policy of favoring union shops.When asked why the county would turn down such a great deal, and for superior cards, she speculated that perhaps GBT asked for a setup fee that wasn’t being factored in.Wrong. Not only was there no setup fee, but Teague offered to establish an online ordering site that would streamline the process by showing the county what each card would look like, eliminating the need to tote proofs from the printer to the purchasing office to the recipient.Skapin declined to hook me up with Bernhart, but she did pass me along to his ultimate boss, Brian Nelsen, the county’s director of finance and budget since 2009.Nelsen also insisted the county does not favor union printers and said that practice “was probably done under a prior administration.”When I told him I was looking at an array of 14 different employee cards that also include the name of current County Executive Russell Pry, he said wasn’t talking about the cards themselves but old habits.“It’s just that we continue to use the same vendor we used several years ago.”Nelsen said one county department is using a nonunion printer in Cleveland and another is producing its cards in-house.Granted, in the overall scheme of things, business cards are not exactly a big-ticket item. Nelsen says the county spent a mere $3,100 with its union printer last year. But these days, every dollar counts.“Yes, it does,” he responded. “We’ll take a look at it and, if there’s a way to reduce costs there, we’ll certainly do something.”He said his options include printing more cards in-house “and we may look at a service called Hotcards, which I think may even be cheaper than what this fellow is offering.”Or maybe not. I’ll save the county some work: According to an online calculator on Hotcards.com, 500 one-sided, one-color business cards would cost $45.Meanwhile, the fellow Nelson was talking about continues to seethe.“I’m fresh out of college, so I guess I’m naive to the world,” says Teague, a finance major and a catcher on the baseball team at Ashland University. “We hear all these governments crying poor-mouth — ‘We can’t afford to do this, we can’t afford to do that.’ This is a simple business card! Who knows what else they’re wasting money on?”To be sure, the county has made significant budget cuts during the recession. But just as clearly, there’s room for more, and some of it starts with a change in mindset.Bob Dyer can be reached at 330-996-3580 or bdyer@thebeaconjournal.com.