COMMERCIAL PRINTING -- Running Lean and Mean

Paparozzi's research and experience leads him to believe the industry can expect to see a return to some degree of pricing power by the middle of 2004. Laws against collusion make pricing a touchy subject, but NAPL is able to track some industry trends in this area.

For example, members of the NAPL Printing Business Panel were asked how their pricing through the first three quarters of 2003 compared to the same time period in 2002. According to Paparozzi, 21.3 percent of survey respondents said their prices were down 10 percent or more, and another 20.8 percent reported price declines in the 5 to 8 percent range. Only 10.4 percent said their prices were above year-earlier levels.