One Muscatine company has new services that lets clients transfer old pictures and home video stuck on film to DVD

MUSCATINE, Iowa — Joseph Int’l Pack-N-Ship has found a new way to package memories.

The Muscatine store has formed a partnership with Art Image Video Productions of Cincinnati to transfer old film, including slides, 8 millimeter film, Super 8 film, 16 millimeter film, VHS and Beta to DVD.

“It allows us to have quality work done at a reasonable price for folks who have these old films and slides,” said Tony Joseph, Joseph Int’l president.

“Hardly anybody’s got the capability of playing [old film] back anymore,” Pack-N-Ship Store Manager Angela Joseph added.

In addition, Joseph Int’l Pack-N-Ship staff will take printed pictures or digital images, set them to music and create DVDs or PowerPoint presentations. Those projects are done at the store at 200 Cleveland Street, Suite A.

“It’s a perfect Christmas gift for anyone,” Angela Joseph said. “Being a shipping company, we’re able to send this out as a gift to almost anywhere.”

The cost to transfer old film to DVD is based on the length of the film. It costs $39.95 for the first 100 feet. Joseph Int’l will evaluate the length for customers.

The Josephs decided to team up with Art Image after seeing a display at an Association of Mail and Parcel Centers convention in Chicago last spring. They began offering the service in April, but said it has taken time for it to catch on.

Tony Joseph said many customers expressed interest right off the bat, but “then they realize they have to gather up stuff.”

Angela Joseph heads up the local team that transfers photographs to DVD.

“It’s fun for me because video editing was what I did before I got into the Pack-N-Ship business,” she said.

The possibilities are endless.

“My parents are still overseas so this is how we share photos with each other,” Angela Joseph said.

When her parents e-mail photos, she sets them to music, titles them and takes them home for her children to watch.

“Now, it’s added to our archive for the kids to watch whenever they want,” she said.

For the company Christmas party, Joseph Int’l employees will watch a DVD featuring pictures of the company’s earliest days, milestones, major projects and achievements.

Down the road, the DVD will run in the Pack-N-Ship lobby.

A DVD can also make a great gift for someone serving overseas in the military.

“A lot of them are not coming home for the holidays and it would be a perfect gift to send them a family video,” Angela Joseph said.

Tony Joseph likes using DVDs to archive photographs.

“You may have the skill and know-how to do it, but do you have the time,” he said.

It takes five to seven days to have film transferred to DVD. Local projects can be done in as little as 24 hours. The last day to ship items in time for Christmas is Dec. 21 for Priority Mail and Dec. 23 for Express Mail. FedEx Ground shipping will cut off Dec. 17.

Details

Joseph Int’l Pack-N-Ship is open 9 a.m. to  6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call 263-8336.