A Family Business: Our Roots Continue

Publishers Clearing House started off as a family business back in 1953 when it was founded by Harold T. Mertz.  The business ran from the Mertzes’ home and from the beginning Harold’s wife, LuEsther, and their daughter, Joyce, were active participants.  As the company grew and employees were hired, the family business atmosphere was retained.

The Mertzes set a tone of being generous and caring to their employees, treating them like family.  Birthdays and anniversaries were celebrated, turkeys were handed out to everyone at Thanksgiving, and free coffee, tea and soda were provided in the company dining areas.  These traditions are still carried on today, nearly 60 years later.

The family ties have continued, too, as some of our employees are related to one another.  Joe and Pete N., for example, pictured below, are brothers.

They both work in the PCH online creative department.  Joe and Pete like to joke that they grew up at Publishers Clearing House because their mother, Chris, used to work here.

Some of our summer interns are sons or daughters of employees, too.  They have a great work ethic, already possess a general understanding of the business and have a built-in “carpool” ride to work, so their attendance is reliable.  Here’s a photo of senior creative director Matt L. and his daughter Melanie, examining one of our PCH mailings.

Melanie worked temporarily as an intern in our production studio, before going back to college.

PCHers often remark that our company has a family atmosphere.  True, some of us have relatives who work or have worked here, but that’s not the only reason.  Over the years of working together we’ve gotten to know each other, been through good times and challenging times and formed bonds.  We’ve worked extra hard with our teams to complete urgent projects, sat next to each other at All-PCHer conferences and mingled over morning coffee in the dining room.

Here at PCH we share a common goal, which is to please YOU – our fans and customers!  Our founders set the tone that customer satisfaction should be 100% guaranteed.  So, delighting our customers is also part of our roots!  We enjoy working together to bring you fun, new play and win opportunities and the kind of good quality, value priced merchandise you like – backed by our Free Inspection Privilege and No Hassle, Money-Back Guarantee.  We do this because we like to think of you, too, as part of our PCH family, and we’re happy to have you in our family business!

Sincerely,

Deborah Holland

Executive Vice President

PCH Publishers Clearing House