Rising fuel costs are pushing prices up for everything we buy. Printers are seeing jumps in paper and every other thing they buy. The rising costs mean lower profit margins if a printer doesn’t react quickly, but we aren’t seeing a jump in print prices because customers tell the printer it isn’t happening. Every day I talk to printers who are concerned about raising their prices. They tell me that they can’t raise prices because their customer told them they could get the job cheaper somewhere else. When we drill down in the conversation, I find that usually the printer doesn’t have any facts to what the prices really are. He is just going on what he was told by the customer. Printers lose jobs every day...

At the annual Capitol Hill Fly-in, NPES and Printing Industries of America members will buttonhole members of Congress to promote issues that affect the printing industry. Fair trade, small business taxes, health care, and “legal reform†all are on the agenda. While I may have questions about some of the industry positions on these issues, there are two with which I am in total agreement – the importance of a healthy and viable U.S. Postal Service and the need to oppose the so-called “Do Not Mail†efforts sprouting up across the country. For some odd reason, those latter two issues got me to thinking about Ben Franklin. Most in this industry are aware that Franklin was a printer. Some may not know that he was the...

by Gale Grimmenga, Principal at Creative Impulse (www.creativeimpulseinc.com) Marketing technologies may change, but the goal remains the same: to capture the attention of and make a connection with a specific audience in order to inform, promote, educate, or influence -- increasing return on investment. Or is it? We used to develop innovation to a forecasted demand or anticipated need. But now that we are in a media and technology frenzy of evolution, we must sense and respond to demand 24/7. Whether you are trying to keep your company current with leading-edge equipment, digital technology, or marketing opportunities, you probably are asking, "Where are the controls to drive this baby?" The swift, fast-paced, immediate, no-editing...

By Deborah Snider Sr. VP, e-LYNXX Corp. Less than half of all printing handled by the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) is now produced by private sector printers. Previously, for many years back to 1982, the GPO procurement system had been one of the strongest public-private sector partnerships that existed, and it had served as a model for how business and government could work together to accomplish a common goal. In this case, that goal had been delivering top-quality printing, on time, with competitive pricing. When Congress passed Title 44 of the U.S. Code, its idea had been to have all federal government printing channeled through the GPO by all federal agencies, including the Executive Office of the President, Congress, the...