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AD|MAIL HISTORY

IT ALL STARTED WHEN…

Our predecessor, Crane Letter Company, began in Portland in 1914. Located downtown, at 6th and Washington, they offered Multigraphing, Typewriting, Addressing, Mailing, Printing and “Show Cards.”

In 1930 the name was changed to Crane Advertising and in 1934 they became Crane Direct Mail Services. Gordy Anderson grew the business and made several moves around northwest Portland. They added IBM punch-cards, cheshire machines, and printing presses.

The name changed again in 1965 and has been Ad-Mail since that time. Many dedicated employees joined the team and stayed around for decades. Computer services moved to an IBM system 3 and then to Digital VAX.

Bill Stevens and Susi Anderson Stevens joined Gordy in 1983 and 1981. Postal regulation changes grew increasingly complex, and word processing services were added. Magnetic tapes gave way to floppy disks.

Bill Stevens became President in 1991. Ink Jet addressing and laser technology for personalization were added. A PC server network replaced the VAX and electronic files replaced the disc. Digital Color Printing and Variable Data were new acquisitions.

In 2011, with competition from e-mail and social media, Ad-Mail adds pURL capabilities to enhance variable direct mail and provide customers with analytic response tracking. The USPS leads the industry to the next generation of postal preparation with the Intelligent Mail barcode.

In 2016, Ad-Mail teamed up with a local printer, Premier Press.  In joining the Premier family, Ad-Mail inherited cutting edge printing technology and moved to its present location on Swan Island.

Technology, postal rates and regulations continue to change, and Ad-Mail adapts.