Wednesday 17 November 2010

Unpredictable weather

Well, November seems to be here with a vengeance.

Here in London we've had rain, frost and cold. The weather forecast was predicting fog recently, but so far we seem to have been spared. On the other hand we've actually had a few really warm days.

This time of year is traditionally a pick-up time for printers, who get increasingly busy in the run-up to Christmas. It seems to have been a funny year so far, with print buyers hesitating till the last minute before committing themselves, and with shorter but more frequent runs.

Most printers I've spoken too say that business is actually quite good - it's just that the short notice they've been getting means they can't plan ahead, and the shopfloor is either working round the clock or strangely idle.

I suppose the reason is that the work's still out there - it just arrives in different patterns, and we're going to have to get used to it. Just like the weather - except that unlike the weather, I think that as usual the industry will 'hot up' in December.

On a different note (blowing our own trumpet) I'm pleased to say that former users have recently been flocking back to Printpak - we signed up 10 in a single week recently. We're obviously doing something right!

It's been good to catch up with them all.

warm regards

Richard Fergusson