AAA Mailing Service, Inc. and Surface Printing celebrated 15 years of service to Mid Missouri by opening their new 16,500-square foot facility in August, 1997.

AAA (triple A) Mailing Service first opened its doors in February 1982. It was started by Norman Thompson, who had recently retired as the Jefferson City Postmaster, a position he had held for 10 years.

Joining Thompson full-time later in 1982 was Garry Surface, the present Vice President and General Manager. Also Active in the business as Office Manager and Corporate Secretary is Debbie Surface. Norm Thompson remains the President of the corporation. Thus, the enterprise is still family owned and operated after 15 years.

The business first occupied about 750 square feet of the building at the corner of Monroe and Dunklin. Within 2 years, the increased volume of business required 2,200 square feet. By November of 1985, it became apparent the business was in need of expansion again. It was decided to purchase a building for the business. The 6,500 square foot building at 215 Metro Drive served AAA Mailing for the next 12 years.

Also in 1985, Surface opened Surface Printing to complement the mailing business. Now the sister companies had the combined capabilities to earn the motto "Your One Stop Letter Shop"

The mailing business began by offering sorting services to customers who could earn better rates if their mail was delivered to the post office presorted. For many years this presorting was done manually by persons "throwing" mail into cabinets with compartments corresponding to the various zip codes.

Since then, AAA Mailing has automated their operations with optical character reader (OCR) barcoding machines. A barcode is a sophisticated machine 40 feet long that reads the address on an envelope, looks the address up in a database containing every address in the United States, and sprays the barcode for that address on the envelope, and sends it into one of 44 sorting bins, all within a fraction of a second.

In addition, to the ability to secure these mailing discounts, AAA Mailing Service, Inc. and Surface Printing can print brochures and flyers of all kinds, fold, insert, collate materials, affix postage and more.
They have since, continued to update and add new machinery and services.

Another service that has contributed to their success is the bursting of computer forms. This means trimming off the pinholes and separating sheets at the perforation of computer forms such as statements. This service has given many businesses an economic option for the collating, stuffing and mailing of their statements.

With four delivery trucks, over 25 employees, and 16,500 square feet in their new facility, both companies have entered a new watershed for quality, service and capacity. This capacity allows them to comfortably serve a 75 mile radius market area including Columbia and Moberly, Fulton, Linn, Lake of the Ozarks, and Sedalia.

Dan Mustoe, Vice President of Operations and an 18 year employee, heads up our Customer Service Department along with Robbie Hoskins. Robbie has been with AAA Mailing for 3 years and has the experience of working from the bottom up.