Page 2             Visions

   Zip 'N Sort counts sixteen people with disabilities among its twenty-eight employees. Each, according to Staples, is an integrated and integral part of the company's team.
   A short history of the company shows that in 1999, Zip 'N Sort  served twelve customers from a thirty-five-hundred foot space on   Merrill Road. But, as business expanded rapidly, Zip 'N Sort moved to a twelve-thousand-square-foot facility on West Housatonic Street.
   Now, with more than two hundred-eighty customers, Zip 'N Sort has moved its 28 employees and its state-of-the-art computerized equipment into an eighteen-thousand-square-foot operation at the Taconic Industrial Park in Pittsfield.
   David Staples, a former marketing professor who once worked in marketing and development at both Jacobs Pillow and The Norman Rockwell Museum, has managed the company from the beginning.
   "At 50, I decided I wanted to build something and make a difference," he said. "Here, I'm helping to build a company and build people's lives."
   Like any other business, Zip 'N Sort  develops its business by competitive bidding in the open market. The company has developed a diverse client base including banks and other financial services, government, insurance and education.
   Although many of its clients are local, including Berkshire Bank, Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, Crane & Company, K B Toys, GE

Plastics and Legacy Banks, among others, there are also a sprinkling of national clients.
   According to Staples, Zip 'N Sort received its first "big break" when it handled a million brochures for the Adelphia Cable System, supplying an area from Colorado to Kentucky.
   Without being too technical, Zip 'N Sort is so successful because it saves businesses significant amounts of money by presorting mail before it reaches the post office, thus cutting mailing costs.
   However, according to Staples, Zip 'N Sort is also an information resource that can advise businesses

on the best way to prepare mailings. "We've saved some clients $30,000 a year annually on mailing costs," he reported.
   Zip 'N Sort has its roots in the former Berkshire Unlimited sheltered workshop, but it was raised from those humble beginnings by the vision and hard work of Paul Gavrity, David Staples and many other dedicated people.
   Zip 'N Sort serves as a model not only as a well-run business but also as a wonderful example of the  way people with disabilities can be productive members of their community through the dignity of