WhatTheyThink    WhatTheyThink.com    Blogs    PrintPlanet

US Commerce Department Revises Last Two Years of Printing Shipments Up Slightly

By on May 23rd, 2013 - Comment

The US Commerce Department issued its annual update of manufacturing shipments data last Friday. The bottom line is that they increased each of the last two years by about $1 billion, but the increases were not enough to increase annual shipments after inflation. The revision process is constant. Every year, five historical years are revised,…

Continue Reading...

Latest Commercial Printing Demographics Show 1,200 Fewer Establishments

By on May 15th, 2013 - 4 Comments

The Commerce Department recently released the latest edition of County Business Patterns data about the number of US business establishments in 2011. Those data indicated that commercial printing establishments declined -4.1% compared to 2010. The biggest percentage declines were in establishments with 500 to 999 employees (between about $90 million to $200 million in sales),…

Continue Reading...

Q1 2013 US Commercial Printing Shipments Nearly Flat with 2012; March Shipments Down

By on May 3rd, 2013 - Comment

US commercial printing shipments for the first quarter were down -$42 million compared to 2012 (-0.22%), at $19.3 billion. Q1 shipments may have been distorted by a strong January, likely caused by delayed buying by small businesses as they delayed purchases in tax planning efforts in December 2012. March 2013 shipments were $6.771 billion, down…

Continue Reading...

The Mixed Economics Bag Gets a Mild Shake

By on May 3rd, 2013 - Comment

This month’s recovery indicators had just a minor stumble, as the ISM Non-manufacturing new orders tripped over a pebble; otherwise, all of the indicators are higher than last month. (click chart to enlarge) The new orders index is still above its level at the start of the recession and indicates moderate growth. The same is…

Continue Reading...

Terry Nagi, Consultant, and Former PIA Executive, Passes Away

By on April 29th, 2013 - 12 Comments

Neil Richards, retired market research executive (and legend) of Kodak, spread the word about the end of Terry Nagi’s battle with brain cancer the other day after getting the news by phone from Terry’s wife, Barbara. I’ve known Neil for more than thirty years, and it was Neil who introduced me to Terry. At the…

Continue Reading...

GDP Report Shows Struggling Economy; Should You Use GDP as a Benchmark?

By on April 29th, 2013 - Comment

Last Friday’s GDP report for Q1-2013 came in lower than expectations at +2.5%. That is an annual growth rate compared to Q4-2012. That looked like a pickup in activity compared to Q4-2012 which was +0.4%. Because of the changes in tax rates, there were distortions in the Q4 data as companies reduced spending, slowing real…

Continue Reading...

Apple’s Horrible Financial Report: Profits Only 21.9% of Sales, iPads Disappoint at +65%

By on April 25th, 2013 - Comment

Stock analysts are a funny breed. To listen to them, Apple had a terrible quarterly report. Profit as a percentage of sales was only 21.9%, iPhone sales increased a paltry +5.7% and iPad sales were up a disappointing +65%. At least, this is the way they look at it. In every aspect, Apple’s continued march…

Continue Reading...

Are You as Weary of “We Print the Marketing Materials of Others, but are not Marketers Ourselves” as Much as I Am?

By on April 17th, 2013 - 5 Comments

Everyone’s heard it. Everyone thinks it’s true. Everyone thinks it’s a paradox. Everyone thinks it’s insightful. It’s not. It’s almost like the inventor of ibuprofen or aspirin or acetaminophen saying “it’s a paradox that we can make products to stop a headache, but we get headaches ourselves.” Or perhaps a dry cleaner “we clean the…

Continue Reading...

Is the Economic Situation Starting to Crack Again?

By on April 10th, 2013 - 7 Comments

Last week’s unemployment report was like one of those snacks that looks great when it’s on the shelf in the store, but when you open the package at home, it’s quite different. The picture on the package looked tasty and appetizing, the stuff on the inside was stale and tasteless. The decrease in unemployment to…

Continue Reading...

February US Commercial Printing Shipments Disappoint, but January Shipments Revised Higher

By on April 3rd, 2013 - Comment

The US Department of Commerce reported that shipments of commercial printers for February 2013 were $5.994 billion, down -$169 million compared to 2012. This was the first time that shipments were below $6 billion since January 1992. On an inflation-adjusted basis, those 1992 shipments would be $9.9 billion today. January 2013 shipments, however, were revised…

Continue Reading...