We all know this is such a busy time of year, and as the holiday volume inevitably goes through the roof, it's often hard to take the time to stop and just appreciate the many joys of the season. When FSI was founded in 1996 we started out with a great business model that continues to bring dividends to our many Clients. But in spite of all our automation and investment in systems, fulfillment is a labor-intensive process. So it is with great pleasure that the management team at FSI reflects on the amazing associates of FSI who make this all possible. We are truly proud of them and of their many accomplishments, and greatly value all that they bring to the table throughout the year.

Our hope and prayer is that you also will take the time to enjoy the season and remember the reasons you're in business. You offer great products, great services, and you know how many smiles you put on the faces of the people you come in contact with. Let those memories serve us well as we enter the most challenging time of year. And thank you so much for allowing FSI to continue as your strategic fulfillment partner. Merry Christmas from all of us!

Pictured left to right: Jay Gustafson, Lance Smith, Ken Donnelly, and FSI's Ken Marbutt

FSI has been an active member in the Printing & Imaging Association of Georgia for years, so we figured we might as well have the decency to win the 2009 golf outing. So just to show our support for this fine organization, FSI Founder and President Ken Marbutt and his team took first place in the Low Net division.

Now wait a minute. The number of golfing events Ken has won sure is growing lately. How can he have time for this and make sure FSI keeps Clients happy at the same time? We must be doing something right while he's out on the links...

Atlanta, Georgia



Early projections for the 2009 Holiday buying season are up from 2008 numbers, but spending could still remain flat at $438 billion. This is why FSI is working feverishly with our Clients to deliver their new products and Holiday lines to market to secure a slice of valuable early Holiday purchasing.

In the consumer electronic sector, the latest gaming devices and gaming software will likely be in high demand for the 2009 Holiday season. With the economic downturn, more families are spending less on expensive outside entertainment options and travel. Home entertainment systems and game software become a great way to spend quality and fun time together. FSI is helping our gaming software Client to deliver three new product versions to market at strategic in-market deadlines beginning Oct. 27th and ending in mid November - right before for the busy Thanksgiving weekend and Black Friday. We hope this strategic timing on delivering product will put our Client right where they need to be, just in time for families looking for that special Holiday gaming purchase.

Our many apparel and accessory Clients are also pushing their product to market quickly during this pre-Holiday buying season. Containers from all over the globe are coming into FSI to be quickly turned around as merchandise is packed out for retail store deliveries. The quicker we get these orders to retailers, the sooner our Clients can reach the pocketbooks and reap the benefits of the savvy retail shoppers. More...

One of the great things about working at FSI is the chance to be involved with some really cool promotional campaigns for startups and Fortune 100 companies alike. Take our very first kit-packing job when the doors opened in 1996 for example. The job entailed 200,000 fun packs of various Spider-Man comics and a dozen related items for a national hotel chain. Or more recently assembling what appear to be giant Chinese-style takeout boxes filled with fortune cookies for a global news organization (no added MSG!). Or even a customized box sent to over 25,000 employees of the IRS that, when opened, an animated hand playfully pokes the recipient in the eye.

Now maybe I made up that last one, although of course we all agree it is a terrific idea. Please contact the FSI sales team if you’d like to partner with us on that one. But the point is we enjoy working with Clients who make an impact with novel and imaginative products and promotions.

And in this economy, innovation is key. Certain types of cutbacks are unavoidable, but bland marketing campaigns are almost worse than doing nothing at all. Check out the article Humor Me, written by Phaedra Hise and published in Deliver Magazine. It caught our attention because FSI is so good at handling these types of custom kit-packing jobs, which, as the article points out, can be enormously effective marketing tools.

Maybe your customers don’t need an enormous box of fortune cookies, but give them something to remember you by with the confidence that FSI delivers on each and every job.

A total of 27 FSI employees and friends joined in on October 17, 2009 for a 5K run sponsored by the Make-A-Wish foundation. Taking us through the historic Marietta Square district, the event was just one of many that occurred all over the country to raise money for children with terminal illnesses. The event organizer noted that FSI had one of the largest number of participants in the event that drew an estimated 1,015 runners. Wish.org reports that as of the time of the event, over 184,000 wishes have been granted. FSI is proud to have had a small part in the next one.

Check out fulfillment consultant Curt Barry’s article in Multichannel Merchant magazine titled “Is Outsourcing an Option for You?”. Here he discusses steps a company should consider in deciding whether to handle this very important piece of your business in-house or to outsource it to an outside fulfillment company like FSI.

One of the main areas that the article touches on is the risk you take in achieving the same level of customer service as you now have in-house. FSI clients know this to be one of our strengths in that our CSR’s have been with FSI an average of 5 years, one of which has been with FSI all 13 years we’ve been in business! When you choose FSI, you are choosing experienced fulfillment industry veterans. Check out the article here:

http://multichannelmerchant.com/mag/outsourcing_option/

It is always nice to be recognized, and we are honored to have made one of the most prestigious lists around, the Inc. 5000.

Click here to see the full press release.