Letters, feedback, get it off your chest: 5 May 2010
Readers continue to share their thoughts on the tough times affecting the industry. Why not write in and have your say (and make sure you include your name).
Re: Letters, feedback, get it off your chest: 28 April 2010
To Name Withheld (obviously took a lot of guts to write your comments … not). Ok I’ll bite …
Irrespective of what size the business is or what they produce and outsource, individuals like you and the businesses you work for are simply not playing with a straight bat.
My comments were for the good of the industry, a point obviously lost on you and your pricing strategy to the printing industry in general.
Richard Holland
Re: Printers cause suppliers bad debt pain
The paper houses keep lending the paper/money to the printers who undercut the market. They have chewed up the opposition and therefore there is nowhere to go. There is no opposition because clients created this own ditch by wanting to deal with “The Big Printer” who can provide all services. Guess what, you have to have opposition and competition or else the whole system falls down.
In the ideal world there are at least three quotes from three different manufacturers most probably with similar manufacturing capabilities and for some reason in time the cheapest supplier wins the race. No problems. However, you are now eliminating your opposition and with only “The Big Printer” and the only supplier left will therefore be a monopoly.
Guess what, here is another fact: you won’t be able to get specialty printing nor creative printing without quality tradespersons because we are minimising the opportunities of employment and creativity. Cutting costs and greed can be more devastating over the long-term as it affects more than the budget we are setting today. It affects tomorrow and to me tomorrow is certainly not as bright as the 80s and 90s.
Grant Evans
Re: Chippendale given the chop by administrators
Phil Heaton's passionate overview of Chippendale’s demise sadly lacked the reality of the real drivers of print 2010.
Blame management, pat the workers on the back and move on. To suggest that Twitter, Bluetooth or a mobile phone solution could have helped is a denial of reality.
Paul R. Daley
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If a business fails it is only due to management’s inability to change and to know what it needs to do to be successful. The staff are not the decision makers. You were not involved to see the carnage unfold. Re: Twitter, Bluetooth etc, the point was not that they would have helped, only that print is not the key ingredient advertising it used to be; it is only a part of the campaign and management need to appreciate these challenges to compete with these mediums. This is 2010, that’s my exact point, I am sorry you missed it.
The reality is that Bluetooth, Twitter, the internet and mobile phones are now the communication methods of choice and print is a support in the communication world. That is the reality of print in 2010; however print can utilise and manage the communication and deliver the solution. It’s all about the solution! Please advise us on the real drivers in print in 2010, we would all love to know; or is it a trade secret?
Phil D Heaton