R & R Bindery Service Inc, Family Owned Celebrating 45 Years in Business!

By Cindy Ladage

R & R Bindery’s main office is located at 499 Rachel Rd, just outside of Girard.  This family-owned business is a purveyor of fine American bookbinding, finishing and digital printing.  This business is a busy place where they offer an array of services.  Alan McIntire, co-owner and son-in-law of one of the original founders, Bob Mullins, and Human Resources Manager Pam Hawkins took a few minutes to share information about the business.

The business began in 1978 when Bob Mullins and Rick Roberts, his son-in-law, decided to start their own business. “Bob worked for Phillips Brothers Printers, a printer and hard back binding business in Springfield,” Alan said, “he knew all about the business, and decided he wanted to go out on his own” Rick, worked for Kemper Insurance in Chicago and decided to join his father-in-law in this joint venture. Alan joined the company in 1980.

Alan shared Bob’s history at the company.  “Bob started out sweeping the floors, and moved up to the bindery manager, then moved into sales.  He left sometime after they got rid of the hardbacks line.”

Alan explained that when Bob Mullins left Phillips Brothers, he bought out some of the hard back machinery to follow his dream of making the best hardbound books in the industry.  His son-in-law Rick, along with his daughter Mona, and daughter Gayla and son-in-law Alan following.  As they share on their website, “Their vision, families’ hard work, and customer-centric attitude took them from a Virden, Illinois garage to a state-of-the-art book bindery and print facility in Girard Illinois.  Most recently the family business has grown to include Rick and Mona’s son-in-law Nick Graham.  Their passion for bookmaking is stronger than ever and it can be felt in every one of their books.”

In the front of the building entrance some of that early machinery on display as a reminder of the company’s history, and how they have grown and expanded over the years!

“We can digitally print and bind either hardback or softcover books.” Alan said.  How many books they print when completing a project just depends on the customers’ requirements.

“Our main business is taking brand new paperbacks and converting them to hardbacks for a customer to sell to schools and libraries,” Alan said. 

After a tour of the plant, it was easier to understand the process it takes to make this happen, receiving the books, inventorying them, removing the covers, cleaning the book spine, printing the new covers, and making everything fit and come together.  This is a very involved and intricate process that takes many skilled employees.

R & R Bindery also prints commercial books for authors and publishers as well.  The books they print varies greatly from cookbooks for churches and historical societies, to brochures for the local Chamber of Commerce, to books for local authors.

Some of the neat books that Alan and Pam recalled publishing included the Michael Jordan, and Pete Rose hardback books.  “We had to send copies to hotels for Michael Jordan to sign,” Alan recalled.

Another specialty coin book about the Gupta empire for a gentleman from India was recently included in a documentary.

The most popular local authors book they have published is a children’s book, “Where is Abe” by Carla Mayernick, which they said has had several runs!

Alan said they pre-bound some first run Harry Potter books that required security in the building before the release. Besides these prestigious jobs, Alan added, “We’ve done a lot of jobs others haven’t wanted to do, we had to take anything at the beginning.”

There are no designers on staff. They said that the books they print are ready to roll, they are designed and print ready when they arrive at their facility.

“We started business in 1978 in Virden, and we were there until 1994,” Alan said, “Then we moved here, but we left part of it in the southeast side of the Virden square, it is the funeral registry books section of our business.”

So, there are currently two locations for the R & R Bindery business.  All in all, R & R Bindery employees around 180 people when they take in the temporary employees as well.  Most employees are from within a 25 to 30 range.  They offer two shifts, the day shift which is from 6:00 a.m. until 4:30, and the evening shift which runs from 5:00 p.m., until 3:30 a.m. The employees work a four-day work week, Monday – Thursday, and sometimes they work overtime on Fridays.

At R & R Bindery Service, they are always looking to hire new employees.  “We are always looking to build on our employee base.  They receive benefits from the first day of hire,” Pam said.  “They get holidays off, and we are family friendly and have lots of perks like a matching 401K, health insurance, dental and vision, and we have a Health Savings Plan and more!”

This year the business is celebrating 45 years on March 17th.  “We just plan on celebrating internally.  We hopefully plan to do something fairly big for the 50th,” Alan said.

It is a big deal though, both being a family-owned business, and celebrating four decades and a half of working in the Macoupin County area.  Many of the employees that come to work at the bindery are long term employees.  While Bob Mullins is retired, Alan laughed and said, “I have been here for 42 years and don’t think anyone’s been here longer than me anymore, except Rick.”

Being part of the Virden/Girard community is important to the R & R Bindery family.  They are involved in their local communities, churches and local sports and festivals.  “We support festival days, create brochures for the Chamber, and are one of the major sponsors for the North Mac United Soccer Association,” Pam said.  Mullins Field, the soccer field is named after Bob Mullins!

With around 180 employees, R & R Bindery Service binds 20,000 books a day.  This doesn’t include all the other things they are doing.  It is an amazing place offering a unique place of business in the Macoupin County area!

For more information about R & R Bindery Service, check out their website at www.rrbindery.com, or check them out on Facebook.