Ronnie H. Davis

Stay calm, and remain focused: That’s good advice for print services providers as they confront legislation on Capitol Hill, proposed postal reform and regulatory trends that will impact their businesses in 2019.

SAYING THAT 2008 is ending on an unsettled note may be the mother of all understatements, but it is the most meaningful way to characterize the economic outlook for 2009. And, bad news for the economy is worse news for printing industry sales.

PITTSBURGH—Feb. 25, 2008—PIA/GATFPress is pleased to offer the latest Economics and Market Research Reports—Looking Forward: What’s Next for the Economy and Print Markets in 2008–2009 and Expanding the Print Market Space: Printers’ Diversification into Ancillary Services by Ronnie H. Davis, Ph.D. and Ed Gleeson—to help printers as they face an uncertain economic future. As fears of a recession in the United States loom larger and larger, it is becoming increasingly important for print and graphic communications firms to know what to expect and how best to protect their bottom lines in the coming months. “The Looking Forward report provides a comprehensive analysis

BLOODY MARY, Bloody Mary, Blood. . .Wait, does the curse still hold if one simply writes her name three times? Economists seem to have developed their own urban legend about the “R” word. There’s a fear that simply saying the word “recession” out loud will be enough to cause one to happen. In a sense, though, that may be true. Consumer spending has been a big part of what’s kept the United States economy going as well as it has been. How people feel about their personal situations today and their prospects in the near term—or consumer confidence—has a strong bearing on their willingness

BY MARK SMITH Technology Editor Printing industry sales may no longer track exactly with GDP, but the two remain inextricably linked. Unfortunately, recent events have greatly increased the difficulty in trying to forecast the economy's track in 2006 with any degree of confidence. In the fall, the National Association for Printing Leadership's (NAPL) economic team revised downward both its printing industry forecast for 2005 and projection for 2006, reports Andrew D. Paparozzi, chief economist. Growing concern about the economy and ongoing resistance to price increases in the marketplace were the main reasons. "In an industry as competitive as ours, it doesn't take a

Automation has been a central theme of efforts to keep the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) viable and to make it more competitive. The printing industry has a vested interest in the success of such efforts, but also must contend with some negative consequences. According to a PIA/GATF estimate from Ronnie H. Davis, Ph.D, chief economist, about 45 percent of the dollar volume of printing in the United States ends up being mailed. That figure represents materials entering the mail stream directly from the printer and indirectly via a mail house or the print buyer. In dollar terms, this amounts to some $70 billion in