Newsletter
Issue No. 159 February 10, 2006

Bindery
Folding
- Miniature to Map
- Closed Gate
Presentation Folder Gluing
Stitching
- 10 pockets
- Loop Stitching
Trimming
Rotary Perf & Score
Gathering & Collating
Perfect Binding
Wire-O™
Plastic Spiral
- Autospin 30mm elements
- 2.5:1 Oval Hole Pattern
Kleensticking
Drilling
Round Cornering
Shrink Wrapping
Eyeletting
Film Laminating

Tabbing
Custom Index Tabs
Copier Tabs
Tab Reinforcing
Spine Reinforcing
Patch Edge Reinforcing
5 Hole Drilling

Finishing
Autoplaten Diecutting
Diecutting to 41"
Scoring & Perfing
Embossing
Foiling
Numbering

1. Seahawk Hangover. The Seattle Seahawks made it to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history. Sadly, we lost. We’ll have to continue to make due with our 2004 WNBA championship. The pertinent question here is, what can a business learn from Sunday’s Super Bowl? The answer: Don’t promise what you can’t deliver. Jerramy Stevens, the Seahawks towering tight-end, engaged in some trash talk this past week. On Sunday he dropped a number of critical passes that could have turned the game in his team’s favor. In sports, blowhards lose games; in business, they lose accounts.

2. Online Reader Impact. According to a survey released by Jupiter Research, Internet users are more likely to spend less time reading books than they are reading magazines. The findings are counterintuitive, but upon reflection make perfect sense. Magazines sell lifestyles – they welcome readers into a communal culture. Websites provide the same access to a community. Books, on the other hand, can be viewed as intimate conversations between a single reader and a single writer. They are intensely personal – something the web does not provide. People who seek out communal connection will seek it out across media. And if people are spending more time accessing magazines in different media, they have less time to curl up with a good book. For more, click here.

3. Uneasy About SEC. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently changed the reporting deadlines for larger public companies, shortening the allotted time for shareholders to receive annual reports. At first glance, the deadline change only appears to impact printers serving very large companies. But on a second look, I see this as one more move by “non-printing powers” to encourage the shift away from printed media to electronic media. Or is that just paranoia speaking? Personally, I think most of this shift has already taken place and the printing community is looking at mostly good news. Anyone have other thoughts? Send ‘em in.

4. Doctor Knows Best. Dr. Joe Webb chimed in on the Exxon’s record profits, saying “Profits are profits. They go up and they go down. . . There is no such thing as an ‘obscene’ profit, just like there is no such thing as a ‘good’ or ‘beneficial’ loss.” From an economic standpoint, it’s hard to disagree. But that argument works equally well for gun runners, crack dealers, and slave traffickers. There is a moral component to economics and it’s the moral component that, be it right or wrong, gets people upset about multi-national oil companies turning record profits. That said, I generally agree with Webb’s comments on the issue. For more, click here.

5. Business Press. To write this newsletter I review a lot of business media about the printing world. From magazines to newsletters to blogs, I try to keep an ear out for interesting news. That’s why I’m so disappointed in the Printing Impressions Weekly newsletter. It seems to function solely as a posting site for the press releases of printing’s biggest players – R.R. Donnelly, Creo, Xerox, and the like. Obviously, the big companies deserve coverage, but the paucity of insightful commentary is, well, boring. I hope my readers don’t have the same complaint.

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