It all started in 1985 when...

    I got out of college and decided to follow what is sort of the family trade. My father was a printer, as were two of my uncles, and my great uncle too. There were several cousins and later my brother - if you count sign making. I guess it is in my blood. My name is Joe. I started Pioneer Printing in 1985 in Trumansburg, NY as a copy shop-commercial print shop. We did mostly offset and a little copying. Things were good, but we needed a letterpress to do some numbering, perforating and stuff like that. 

    We bought a Chandler and Price hand fed press for $250 and got started. Things were good, so in 1992 we moved to a larger space in Lodi, NY. We bought an ATF Little Giant, and a Kluge Foil Stamper. We kept finding work for these machines, so we got more - a Heidelberg Windmill and a Miehle Vertical. Then we found a larger Chandler and Price press in a field full of rusting farm equipment. We restored it and added it to the menagerie. A while later, a customer had an old Golding Jobber and paid us to fix it up. Currently we're working on another, smaller Chandler and Price. Seems there's always another press.

    Over the years printing has changed dramatically. Offset was king. There was no digital, no computers when we started. Analog copiers were just becoming a thing. In our shop we have added digital printing and it is a growing area for us. Offset has diminished as the workload is transferred to digital presses. Letterpress has also grown for us. We do a lot in where we add some finishing touch to offset or digital jobs - for our customers and for other printers. Letterpress printing has also become popular again in its own right; and that is what led us to set up this web page.

    We want to offer quality letterpress printing to people at reasonable prices. We have decades of experience producing quality work. To start we will only offer limited items, calling cards and business cards. We hope to expand our offerings before long. We are also open to doing custom work. Just drop us an email with a description of the project you have in mind. We'll get the ball rolling.