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Milestones: The Carrington Co.
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Business New Haven
11/24/2003
By: Priscilla Searles
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The Carrington Co.
P.O. Box 392, No. 3 Metals Drive
Southington, CT 06489
Phone: 860-276-0276
Fax: 860-276-0690
Web: www.carringtoncompany.com
Ownership: The Carrington family
Milestone: 50 years
Timeline: It all started with calculators.
In 1952, Lewis D. Carrington began selling Friden calculators to Connecticut businesses. These machines were larger than most of today's desktop computers, and very noisy. Carrington worked out of a small office in his hometown of Waterbury.
As more and more businesses began to employ electronic business machines as labor-savers, Paul Carrington left teaching to join his brother as a sales representative. After Friden was sold to Singer, the brothers incorporated their business as the Carrington Company.
By establishing their firm as an independent dealership, they were free to handle other business equipment as well. The Carringtons expanded their product line to serve customer needs, but made the mailing industry their primary focus.
Carrington has been a family affair for half a century. Four generations of Carringtons have participated in building the business, including their father after his retirement from Scovill in Waterbury. Lewis moved to Cape Cod some three years ago, but still keeps in touch with the business he helped found. His two sons and son-in-law are also in the business. Paul and his wife Vee are in charge of daily business operations.
Achievements and Accomplishments: As business needs changed, the Carrington Co. evolved with the clients it serves. Friden, now known as Neopost, became a leading international manufacturer of mailing equipment. And the mailing industry has become more computer-reliant, more automated.
Also, "We were the first Hewlett-Packard dealer in the nation," notes Paul Carrington. "We took that direction because our larger mailing and shipping systems relied on external computers." Now many of those machines contain chips and boards that perform the functions that used to require outside computers.
In addition to Neopost postage meters and equipment, Carrington sells and services machines, mailing software and mailroom furniture. The company carries Rena, SCLogic, Automecha, Hamilton Sorter, FirstLogic, OPEX and others product lines. Some items are custom-manufactured to meet client needs.
Carrington is now the nation's largest independent mailing equipment dealer. The company has 34 employees in its Southington headquarters, with additional operations in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Carrington also designs mailrooms and other office areas where papers are processed.
Paul Carrington is a frequent speaker for mailing industry groups, and has served as president of the Neopost dealers organization. Both Paul and Vee serve on local Postal Customer Council boards - he in Hartford, she in New Haven. They encourage employees to take an active role in promoting the USPS and the mailing and shipping industry.
Looking Back on a Changing Industry: "We're frequently asked, 'Is there a future for mail, with so much being done electronically?'" notes Paul Carrington. "I usually ask if those people remember when the personal computing industry started, and everyone was convinced we'd have a paperless society in ten years. That was more than 30 years ago, and we all deal with more paper today than ever before."
Carrington adds, "We're confident that there is a strong future for the industry. Both electronic and paper transmissions of information are growing and changing. Mailing and shipping will be different in the future, but they will not go away."
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