Our History
The original company was named Hunter & Hodge Printing in the early 1940s. In 1946, the company was named Hubert E. Hodge Printing Company. The company printed using letterpress and cylinder press technology. The company started printing with offset presses in the 1950s. Offset technology required using cameras and film. The application of design is translated from cameras and film to computer generated files. The company was a family owned business from the start. Hubert Hodge started the business then it was passed down to his son, Ken Hodge. When Hubert and Ken passed away the company was owned by Mary Hodge (Ken Hodge’s wife).
In 1991, Mary Hodge sold the business to Dennis Russell. The company was renamed Russell Printing Options Inc. At this time the company transitioned to expand its capabilities with new equipment and by hiring more employees. Over the past 30 years the company has established a relationship with many local businesses and some nation-wide clients. We now offer complete computer service to our customers. We provide offset and digital solutions to the printing needs of the community. Our options include the concept of your project to its completion, including a full mailing and distribution service.
Starting and still operating as a family business, Russell Printing Options will continue to provide commercial printing services to Knoxville and the surrounding communities.
Our Mission Statement
At Russell Printing Options, our goal is to provide our customers
with a quality product, produced on time and at an affordable price.
Our Focus
We believe that service is still the most important part of a business relationship.
We understand that your deadlines are vital to your success and that a printing
company should conform to your schedule, not just a typical 9 to 5 workday.
RPO IS GREEN!
At RPO we care about the environment. Our business is ink on paper, and without a concern for one of our most vital resources, we have no business being in the printing business. We practice recycling in several different ways. The inks that we use are now made with higher proportions of renewable raw materials and do not contain the high levels of solvents that inks used to contain in years past. The ink waste that we generate is disposed of properly and with the least amount of impact on our environment. We work with paper merchants that support recycled paper. These days most paper that is used in the industry has at least a percentage of recycled material. The amount of recycled content in all printed products has grown substantially in the past 10 years. The paper that we generate as waste is shredded for recycling and we are paid for this waste material. The money we raise from the recycled paper then pays for the proper disposal of our inks and other standard commercial wastes, which makes RPO environmentally responsible and financially efficient. Our plating process is state of the art and is also environmentally friendly. Our plates are made from a chemical free process unlike many commercial printers still using machines that require chemicals and a contaminated water waste system. After we use these aluminum plates on our press, we then recycle this aluminum. So we practice recycling with our ink, paper, corrugated materials, aluminum from our plates, and oil that is used in our machines. Our practice also includes the purchasing of recycled products.
Support Local Economy
While it’s easy to be lured by cheap on-line pricing now, consider how that purchase
is going to impact our local economy later. The less money we spend locally,
the less money we have to support our local businesses,
and the fewer jobs we create for our local residents.
RPO provides responsible wages and health benefits to all its employees.
We also adhere to a plethora of regulations, most of which
are non existent in foreign countries. Supporting these foreign services
undermines the stability of our economy, both locally, and nationally.
So whether you choose RPO or one of our local competitors, make certain to
consider US products first in your purchasing decision. At RPO,
we make it a point to spend locally first. Our product is “MADE IN USA”,
by local workers, who support our local economy.
The printing industry itself is one of the few remaining
manufactures left in the entire US.