The PrintSum Blog

In this job we get to talk to a lot of printers, and a question I always ask is “so how’s it going? Are you busy?” which I must say I have been asking with greater trepidation recently. The interesting thing is that some printers do seem to be extremely busy.

On the face of it that would appear to be encouraging, as it means that companies are trying to promote their way out of recession. On the other hand the recent BPIF Printing Outlook survey reports that almost half the printing industry has been forced to cut prices despite rising raw material costs. This is obviously unsustainable in even the short turn, so what is happening?

The obvious answer is that many printers are reverting to their discredited old motto ‘Turnover is king’, or as I once heard it put ‘If I work all the hours God sends I must be doing something right!’

Well, OK. If you’re working round the clock you may be making fuller use of your resources, and your rent and admin. costs etc. are spread over more jobs, which could, if you're careful, bring your print costs down by as much as 10%. The problem is we’re beginning to see reductions in price of far more than that, which in an already squeezed industry is not, on the face of it, healthy.

But there is a rather paradoxical light at the end of the tunnel, which is that people who reduce their costs that far are actually chasing turnover for immediate survival – they simply have to, in order to pay the wage bill at the end of the month. That £30,000 job they are doing for £23,000 can be factored for £18,000 which gets them neatly out of the mess - for this month. What about next month? I suspect that we are about to see a major shake-out of those printers who do not stick to their guns when pricing.

We live in interesting times!

Richard Fergusson