'Believe it or not' Carol and Michael Ripley formed the idea for Total Mail Ltd whilst endeavouring to stage a new musical production in the West End.

It took 6 years to eventually bring the production to the Dominion Theatre. During this time several thousand investors were brought together, which entailed continuous mailings to keep them informed as to the production's progress and the sending out of demo tapes as the show's music was being developed.

The problems surrounding bulk mail soon became apparent!! Information was hard to come by. They learnt about sorting mail for discounts, how do you do this in cramped offices and plastic bags hanging up in alphabetical order? Impossible. All the associated stresses were manifested from stationery supplies to printing and posting.

Carol and Michael, having experienced these problems first hand, then learnt how to overcome them, decided this was an industry to become involved in and expertise that should be shared with people who need the services.

SO they started that service in 1990 and here they are 14 years later with the additional help of their daughter Sarah, the third director.