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1. A GPO Update. In recent months we reported how the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum allowing Federal agencies to buy printing directly, without having to go through the GPO process. In response, the Bush administration has placed the printing of the federal budget out for bids, bypassing the GPO. The Printing Industries of America (PIA) mentions the bidding process on their web site (www.gain.org). The administration has advertised for competitive bids to print four of the five volumes of the President's 2004 budget. At stake is the buying process of at least $500 million of printed materials purchased annually by government agencies. 2. Keep It Moving. The Postal Service is expanding its 'Move Update' program, which requires First-Class mailers to perform regular maintenance on their mailing list databases, to include Periodicals and Standard mailers. Currently, some 5 billion pieces of mail are returned as undeliverable, costing the USPS roughly $1.5 billion in annual expenses. The cost to direct mailers of data correction, new materials, and re-sending of undeliverable pieces is probably two or three times greater. 3. Doctored Evidence. For months, the Internet has buzzed with an amusing photo of President George W. Bush holding a children's book upside-down while visiting an elementary school classroom. A quick search of the myth-debunking web site www.snopes.com reveals the photo to be a fraud, with tell-tale signs of digital editing. The relevant point is that, while doctored photographs have become an oft-used bit of political satire, when they malign a person's character or integrity, those responsible can be party to a libelous action. Therefore, we should examine the ethical position of the printing industry. Many of us are intimately involved with photo manipulation techniques. Therefore I pose this rhetorical question: What if a printer is asked to print something like this? Would we be named in any ensuing legal action? It certainly bears contemplation, and I'm all ears. Feel free to send in your responses. 4. Hopeful News. Trendwatch says that print professionals are expecting 2003 business conditions to improve. According to their report, printers are viewing 2002 as the bottoming out period. One-third of all printing firms anticipate excellent conditions in the next 12 months, with quick printers as the most optimistic at 44% expecting excellent conditions. Prepress firms are the least optimistic, with 26% anticipating excellent conditions. And while printers expect better business, they've also expressed an increasing uneasiness to invest in new technologies, preferring to hone and refine tools already in use. 5. Interesting Bit Of Trivia: Deer are struck by cars, trucks, and motorcycles more than 1 million times a year, killing more than 100 people annually and causing more than $1 billion in damage. The human toll makes such accidents deadlier than sharks, alligators, bears, and rattlesnakes combined.
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