Clancy . . . overflow . . . the best bits . . . funnies

The funeral of the popular Queensland manager of Currie & Co was held in Brisbane yesterday, attended by family and a large contingent of friends and business associates.

Clancy last came upon Haymen just weeks ago at PacPrint where, ever-present on the Currie stand, he epitomized the resilience of the human spirit in the face of difficulties. Positive and cheerful, even if totally bald, he made you want to value life as much as he did. He displayed a courage that was all the more admirable for the straightforward way he dealt with the prospect of losing the fight. He will be well and long remembered with much affection.

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What can they be hiding? In the week after PacPrint we reported that attendance was down by eight per cent to around the mid-20 thousands. We couldn’t be more specific because the official figures had not been released. They weren’t released the week after or the one after that. To Clancy’s best knowledge they still haven’t been. Is it because bad news travels as slow as its bringers can bear? Or did the disk get wiped? Or did the dog actually eat the homework?
I think we should be told.

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It does seem that the margins that can be obtained on press manufacturing activities are destined to continually come under pressure. Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann, CEO of German press manufacturer Koenig & Bauer, dampened the good news of orders being up 15 per cent for the first half of the year by complaining that margins continue to be squeezed by downward pressures on selling prices and upward pressures on purchasing costs.

The only satisfaction he could report is that, thanks to the incorporation of the former east German plant at Radebeul, near Dresden, KBA has moved into second place on the German sheetfed press manufacturers’ league table. Given that there are only three competitors I guess that means; Heidelberg first, KBA second and MAN Roland third.

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Now here’s a conundrum. It is reported by Print Week in the UK that the strike by Finnish paper mill workers will continue for another week at least. Employers say that the unions have rejected all proposals. "The industry has now used all possibilities to meet the paper workers’ demands. The employers accepted both proposals for a settlement made by the National Conciliator," said mill-owners spokesman Timo Poranen.

This has left the mills with no option but to continue the lockouts imposed when the workers tried to return some weeks ago. So now they are reduced to refusing entry to workers who don’t want to come back anyway. Good tatics.

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A radical approach from The New York Times, which is beginning to leverage its huge heatset press capacity to offer advertisers a ‘one stop shop’ for catalogues, inserts, pamphlets and fliers etc. Because it buys so much paper, ink and other consumables the newspaper group is able to offer killer prices to its clients. The initiative is reported to be widely accepted. Until recently all inserts were supplied by the advertisers’ printer of choice.
Given the amount of web press power at News, Fairfax, APN and Rural it’s on the cards similar strategies are likely to be explored here.

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And finally … just when you thought we’d never get around to true love.

A man is dining in a fancy restaurant and there is a gorgeous redhead sitting at the next table. He has been checking her out since he sat down, but lacks the nerve to start a conversation.

Suddenly she sneezes, and her glass eye comes flying out of its socket towards the man. He reflexively reaches out, grabs it out of the air, and hands it back.

"Oh my, I am so sorry," the woman says as she pops her eye back in place. "Let me buy your dinner to make it up to you."

They enjoy a wonderful dinner together, and afterwards they go to the theatre, followed by drinks. They talk, they laugh, she shares her deepest dreams and he shares his. She listens.

After paying for everything, she asks him if he would like to come to her place for a nightcap... and stay for breakfast. They have a wonderful, wonderful time. The next morning, she cooks a gourmet breakfast.

The guy is amazed. Everything has been SO incredible. "You know," he says, "you are the perfect woman. Are you this nice to every guy you meet?"

"No," she replies. "You just happened to catch my eye."