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Tom Aprile, associate professor of sculpture, can tell you what a vital role it plays in the School of Art and Art History. Not only does Surplus provide office, classroom, and studio equipment for its faculty and students, it also provides source material for their artwork.

"When we were first setting up, we got all of our tables and chairs there," says Aprile. While grant funding now allows for new furniture purchases, surplus desks, tables, and lots of chairs still furnish some areas.

About 20 hot plates that had come from chemistry labs were purchased recently for melting wax, which is used both in bronze casting and as a sculptural material, says Isabel Barbuzza, assistant professor of sculpture. "There's always a need--things get dirty, things get old. So we're always replacing," she says. Students in one of her classes are currently working on assemblage, creating structures that incorporate found materials. A surplus television and assorted other found materials, for example, grow into an assemblage titled "Hurricane" with the help of art student Shane Rundall.
(View photos)

Combining found objects to create a new one, an art form called Junk Culture by some, originated in the 1920s with Dadaists such as Marcel Duchamp. The idea is to "combine diverse everyday objects together in order to bring new and interesting meaning to them," says Aprile. "The past histories of the found objects are also combined in creating these new 'impossible objects,'" he says. The source for assemblage is "obsolescence, the throwaway material of cities...as waste, they are scarred by the use but available again.... Assemblages of such material come at the spectator as bits of life, bits of the environment," according to 1960s art critic Lawrence Alloway.

Barbuzza puts Surplus at the top of her list when recommending places for students to prospect for source material. "Test tubes, televisions, chairs get used a lot," she says. Students in her current class are using a TV, lamp, chemistry equipment, and some items with less obvious purpose.

Dalya Moss, for example, found dental tools to use for wax work. That was easy. But the three-pronged, notched metal device she also picked up and plans to use in her next project remains a mystery. "I have no idea what it belongs to, but it's very seductive," she says, adding that Surplus offers a wealth of source material. "You can let your imagination run wild."

Andrea Gertken fashioned the support rings in a hot water bath from a chemistry lab into a shade that sits on a lamp base, all Surplus material. The effect of the rings' copper inner and bottom surfaces glowing against their gray metallic top and outer surfaces "looks as if it's heated when the lamp is turned on," she says.
(View photos)

Reuben Merringer addresses the relationships between math and nature in his juxtaposition of a keyboard plugged into a plant. He painted the keys black and repainted each of them with the letter "n," commonly used in mathematical notations, he says.
(View photos)

Sculpture lab coordinator Anthony Sutowski says that surplus material helps students "look at an object and realize its potential beyond its normal use. This helps send it into the realm of art." A ready supply of surplus material "allows them to think on their feet," he says.

The number of students who use Surplus in a year ranges from 200 to 300, estimates Aprile. This includes sculpture, intermedia, and graduate students, many of them visiting repeatedly. "It's a resource that the students need to have," he says. "They're always looking for furniture for their studios, for second-hand computers."

And, of course, for source material. A sampling of projects includes a chair-and-couch sculpture; a lie detector used to test what people say about the student's artwork; a suggestion to use an old record player as a turntable for sculpture....

"It's a Mad Max movie over here in the sculpture area! We watch Junkyard Wars on the Cable Learning Channel and get really excited about it!" says Aprile. "Every time a sculptor walks into a junkyard, he or she walks into the raw material of 20th Century art history."

We also offer the following customer training on request:
DocuTech: On-site training and assistance for creating, saving, and sending files to the DocuTech publishing system. Contact Tim Blake at the IMU Document Center.
MIGS, SIGS: How to use General Stores' online ordering systems; instructions are also at www.uiowa.edu/~fusmm/stores/migs/migs.html and www.uiowa.edu/~fusmm/stores/sigs/sigs.html. Contact Judy Rockafellow at General Stores.

"It's a chance to better myself, to make me a better manager," says Stan Reuter, production manager for the Printing Department. The participants' initial task involved an online self assessment to evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses. "The evaluation alone was worth every dime, every penny," says Reuter. [There is a nominal enrollment fee.] "One of the best parts so far is meeting other people from around the University," he says.

Enrolling in the program requires a commitment to attend all nine courses in the series. The 2002 topics include emotionally intelligent leadership; effective people skills; performance coaching; conflict management; time management and delegation; evaluation and measurement; team-building techniques; and conducting effective meetings.

Participants may also elect to have an advisor (another UI manager who meets with them and supports their development) and to enroll in stress management and creative problem solving classes.

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Many people wonder why postage rates go up as often as they do. It's simple: costs go up, as do those of any other business or household. Increases in fuel, salary, and health benefits costs are the two main factors that affect postage rates. Additionally, the Postal Service workload increases by approximately 1.6 million deliveries each year. It receives no tax dollars for operations and relies solely on product and service sales to cover its operating costs.

People's perception of the U.S. Postal Service is that it raises rates every year, but the facts are quite different. It does not set rates unilaterally. Instead, the Board of Governors and the Postal Rate Commission (PRC), bodies appointed by the President, set the rates.

When the Postal Service determines that its revenue needs require increased rates, it asks for a recommendation from the independent PRC, which holds public hearings on the request. During the hearings, interested parties--Postal Service customers, competitors, mailing groups, and members of the public--have the opportunity to provide evidence and arguments reflecting their concerns.

From the time the Board files the case, the PRC has up to 10 months to conduct hearings before making a recommendation, which the Board then acts upon. It may order new rates as recommended, or, in some circumstances, modify the recommendations. The PRC has recommended the following rate changes, which will take effect July 1 if they are approved.

First-Class mail
The basic, First-Class, one-ounce letter rate will increase from 34 to 37 cents, with the rate for each additional ounce going up from 21 to 23 cents. The basic postcard rate also increases from 21 to 23 cents. Overall, First-Class rates will increase 8.2 percent.

The Postal Service offers deeper discounts, called work-share incentives, to organizations that take on some of their own mail preparation work. The proposed rate changes include a half-cent decrease in the additional-ounce rate for work-shared First-Class mail. Automation rates would see possible larger discounts based upon work-share incentives.

The nonmachinable (formerly "nonstandard") surcharge increases from 11 to 12 cents for single-piece letters and 5 to 5.5 cents for presorted letters and flats. This will be the first surcharge increase since 1995.

Business reply mail continues to offer a convenient, customer-friendly solution for recipients to send First-Class and priority mail back to companies without paying postage. These fees will increase an average of 19.8 percent.

High-volume qualified business reply mail (QBRM) will increase from 32 to 35.3 cents; the low-volume QBRM total-piece charge increases from 36 to 40.5 cents.

Regular basic business reply mail, the charge applicable when items are handled individually, increases from 69 to 97 cents. The total-piece charge for high-volume regular business reply mail increases from 44 to 47 cents.

Standard (bulk) mail rates will increase an average of 7.3 percent. Within each subclass flats will increase more than letters, on average.

Package services
Package services mail is material that is neither mailed or required to be mailed as First-Class, nor entered as periodicals. The subclasses are parcel post, bound printed matter, media mail, and library mail.

Parcel post will increase 10 percent overall. Within the subclass, the inter- and intrastate-BMC (bulk mail center) rates increase 17.6 percent and parcel select 4.8 percent, primarily due to dropship discounts and less postal handling. Bound printed matter rates increase 9.1 percent, media mail rates 4 percent, and library mail rates 3.3 percent.

Special services
These services provide greater security and accountability; confirmation of mailing, delivery, and receipt; special handling; and payment and acceptance options for mail. They also provide delivery alternatives and secure options for sending money through the mail. The fees are in addition to the regular postage. The return receipt fee will increase from $1.50 to $1.75. There are no proposed increases for COD fees.
Chris Kula

It's no secret that we have had equipment problems in the recent past. We expect the new system will eliminate the kinds of quality and turnaround problems we've had, allowing us to better assist our customers with all their mailing needs.
Chris Kula

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Non-uniform rental customers who receive pick-up on Tuesday and delivery on Thursday will now get pick-up and delivery once a week, on the same day. This change affects research labs and small volume customers only. We feel this can be done without compromising service to our customers, and, after testing, will decide whether to modify or keep the new schedule.

If you have any questions about how or if the new schedule affects you, contact Monica Fuhrmeister, 335-4940. We want to give our customers the best service possible, and we appreciate your input.
Jo Anne Worley

The Laundry processed 1.09 million towels last year for UIHC. If you laid the towels end to end, they would reach from Iowa City to Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Laundry processed enough flat sheets to cover all of Kinnick Stadium---240 layers deep.

If you took each washcloth processed by the Laundry and stacked one on top of another, the stack would measure more than 4,000 feet high (and require one very tall ladder!).

Dave Gray, Laundry Service manager, asked Mike Breedlove of Standard Textile to translate the inventory numbers into visual descriptions for our staff to enjoy. The results give a unique perspective to quantifying linens and to the tremendous job the Laundry staff performs each year for UIHC.
Jo Anne Worley

During her first day on the job, the supervisor showed Jani a small mountain of blankets and asked if she knew how to fold. "I guess so," she replied--and has been folding clean laundry ever since.

There have been few changes in the job over the years, Jani says. Hand-operated presses that were used to iron garments were replaced with a steam conveyor, which steams and shakes garments on their hangers as they pass through a steam tunnel. And those blankets are now folded by machine, but mostly the job is the same.

Jani lives in Riverside with her mother. Both are non-drivers, so she really appreciates the convenience of UI vanpooling. But she confesses to having a serious case of wanderlust, because she loves to travel and take photos of her journeys. On average, Jani and her mom take two tours a year. Her supportive brother and his wife play chauffer when they need transportation to and from the airport or bus station.

The only states they haven't visited are Hawaii and Alaska, and Jani would really like to see Hawaii. Although she has toured most of the United States, her favorite place to visit is nearby, in Branson, Missouri. "I just love country music. Clint Black and Alan Jackson are my two favorite country singers," Jani says.

Her other loves are reading mysteries, doing word-search puzzles, and tuning in to Hawkeye sports on television or radio. Her next adventure will take her to Texas. If you're there, you may even spot her strolling down the River Walk in San Antonio, cheering the Hawks along while listening to them on her radio!
Jo Anne Worley

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In addition to General Stores' Steve Poggenpohl, who oversees the gas cylinder service, the team included UIHC employees Jackie Heinle, Denise Hochstedler, Bob Kempf, Sue Miller, Mike Minchk, Barbara Schuessler, Terri Stoner, Twila Whipple, and Sheila White.

The team's charge was to develop a process to manage the inventory of oxygen regulators, the devices that sit on top of oxygen cylinders to regulate the flow of the gas. When the team reviewed current inventories, it found more than 10 different brands and a variety of regulators between 5 and 20 years old. The regulators are always in short supply because often they are not kept with cylinders but in drawers, hidden away in the area that has purchased them.

Cylinders are rented on a daily demurrage (cylinder rental fee). Because they are rented from a commercial supplier, the tanks look like cylinders from any hospital. Unfortunately, they do get lost, and we continue to pay the demurrage on them.

Originally, the goal was to review and improve the efficiency of and investigate whether centrally managed inventory could improve the entire process. The team went beyond that and accomplished a great deal more: it recommended upgrading and standardizing equipment and centralizing the purchase of it; analyzed renting vs. purchasing cylinders; and evaluated the need to distribute regulators and cylinders together as units.

The team is now implementing the practice of purchasing, instead of renting, oxygen cylinders and standard regulators for hospital use. Its members have worked diligently to create an educational program that includes a picture of a new label to be placed on each cylinder.
Judy Rockafellow

For those who recycle their inkjet cartridges: Please do not put any kind of tape on the print head. This will ruin the cartridge.
Judy Rockafellow

2001-'02 herd books
The 2001-2002 University directories (herd books) continue to be available. The price is $3.45; the stock number is 10000. Place orders through our SIGS online system or fax a General Stores requisition to 384-3918.

US West phone books
US West telephone books for 2001-2002 are also available. Fax an order to General Stores for phone books only. There is no charge for this service.

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The annual survey ranks in-plants using several citeria, including sales, number of employees, number of jobs per year, and percent of parent organization's work printed. The magazine then publishes the results, listing the top 50 in-plants. The survey ranks the Printing Department, established in 1933, thirty-eighth overall with $7.7 million in sales; a staff of 62 full-time employees; and a workload of 10,300 jobs per year--72 percent of the UI's printing.

University in-plants comprise 38 percent of the respondents in the survey. Among the top 20 of those, the Printing Department ranked thirteenth. Most of the Big Ten schools operate in-plants; Penn State, Michigan, Illinois, Minesota, and Purdue were also in the top 20. Iowa State University ranked nineteenth. In another In-Plant Graphics survey, aimed specifically at college and university in-plants, the Printing Department ranked twelfth in number of employees among the 194 printers that responded.

So, what can an in-plant do for you?
One important benefit of an in-plant printer is that it is poised to respond quickly to its customers' urgent needs. For example, just after the terrorist attacks on September 11, a crisis center was established in New Jersey, across the river from the World Trade Center site. Staff members quickly realized they needed copiers and made a call to the state printer, who arranged for a "loaner" to be delivered within hours and nine new copiers by the next day.

A few days later, in Washington, D.C., the White House ordered 4,500 programs for services scheduled at the National Cathedral. The Government Printing Office received the call at about 1 a.m. and delivered the eight-page, saddle-stitched programs by noon that day.

In-plant printing facilities exist to serve their organizations. Call us if you need us.

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