Fight back against cheap competition: letter to the editor

After the shock administration of Pettaras Press, Michael Lopez calls for the smaller industry players to rally together and fight back.

Re: Carnage continues across local print industry

This serious problem of firms either going into voluntary administration and or liquidation is simpler to rectify than we may think.
 
Pettaras Press has always provided high-quality work, that comes at a price, we have allowed some players to basically prostitute themselves in order to keep the presses running; clients are blinded by the "incredible offerings" of the big boys in town and go to them expecting high-quality, delivery “tomorrow morning” and for next to nothing or often below true cost, this is not possible to sustain. For how long are we going to sit down and watch them screw each and every one of the small-to medium-size printers around? Does anyone in this industry have what it really takes to tackle them? Single operators alone can't make it but if we work together we can.
 
What are the industry associations doing about these issues? Steve Pettaras may not be everyone’s cup of tea, he is proud of the product he provides and sometimes appears to be arrogant; but he ran a good family business, looked after a number of families, more than 80 employees and produced brilliant work; are we going to help him or are we going to say "Oh well, what can I do?"
 
Who’s next? There are again rumours about one or two others, one of them was there last year and sounds as if they are about to hit the wall.
 
How many more before we do something about it?
 
Michael Lopez
MAL Communication Services