NAPL

There are few signs that current, favorable conditions for paper pricing and availability will change anytime soon. BY ERIK CAGLE The current market prices for coated and uncoated groundwood and free sheet are progressing like a '74 Pinto spinning its wheels in the snow: going nowhere slowly and, if anything, digging itself into a deeper hole. Don't expect "CNN" to break into its regular news coverage with a special market report on paper. Same low prices, different day. Same high availability, different quarter. And still no drastic changes in sight. The price increases being implemented aren't taking hold, according to Karen Kelty, director of marketing for King

In my March 1999 column, I included a print salesperson survey and promised to send a magic "sales power" paperweight to everyone who completed and mailed in the survey. I hope I never weaken and make this kind of offer again. The mailman has been bringing in bags of surveys, and I am bone-tired from wrapping these little boxes. Furthermore, in a post-column wave of euphoric largess, I decided to send every survey respondent a Sean McArdle audio tape and my book, "Now Get Out There and Sell Something!" So, this whole stupid survey idea has cost me a bunch of money, and I had to tabulate

The printing industry never gets any publicity in the national media. Television, magazines and newspapers ignore us. It's as if commercial printing didn't exist. The graphic arts industry gets no attention or respect. If I'm not mistaken, we are something like the third largest employer and the seventh or eighth largest industry in terms of the dollar value of our production. I think I'm about right. You can look it up. The technology sector gets tremendous coverage on television and in newspapers. Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Sun MicroSystems and all those Internet companies get lots of press. Cocktail party conversations abound with tales of fortunes

I don't know about you, but the Gallup people have never, never, never called me for my thoughts on any national issue. I have never been polled by anybody. Not "CNN," Time, Newsweek, USA Today—nary any national media pollster or political party pollster has called me. Hey, I'm in the phone book. I've even got an e-mail address. I file and pay my taxes every year. I'm a registered Republican voter. I've got credit cards, and all the catalogers have my name and address. I'm not hidin'! The pollsters can damnsure find me! No one has asked me to rate the president's performance or that of

I was planning to write another highfalutin' column about the Web this month. But then, today, I received the January newsletter from Friesens, a printer in the Canadian Midwest. I was so impressed by it that I decided to write, instead, about a really good printing company and the really good work it's doing. I've known Friesens for 20 years. In my former life, I was a book publisher in Toronto, Canada, and Friesens was one of the companies I used to print my books. I knew the company as a good, professional supplier, but I didn't know the organization well. I dealt with Bob Hamilton,

"Productivity is simply the ratio of chargeable hours to available man hours." Thus spoke NAPL consultant Bill Herrott at the 1997 Web Offset Conference. So, when the national economists report that "productivity" of the United States is up or down for a recent quarter, are they saying that the national ratio of chargeable hours to available hours rose or fell? In a word: No. When economists say productivity is up, they mean that the value of the gross national product, factored by the resources applied, has risen. Nobody mentions "chargeability." So if Herrott didn't mean the same thing that national economists mean, what did he mean?

The consolidation of the PIA and GATF signifies a new era—one aimed at bettering the position of each association's membership. BY ERIK CAGLE The mere mention of the word merger is enough to conjure up images of Exxon and Mobil, layoffs and plant shutdowns. The modern business partnership—be it a merger, consolidation or whatever moniker du jour is applied—has more to do with bottom lines than frivolous considerations such as, say, enhanced products and services for the customer. With that in mind, we bring you the marriage of the Printing Industries of America (PIA) and Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF), which went into

The following new chief officers at Top 500 companies reveal their corporate strategies. BY A.L. RUSLAVAGE KAREN ALLEN, PRESIDENTEU Services, Rockville, MD EU Services, a full-service printing and mailing company, has enjoyed much success since it first opened its doors 30 years ago, and for the new president, Karen Allen, the biggest challenge will be to continue that legacy. In 1984, Allen's first job within the printing industry was with EU Services as its controller. Allen worked her way up to president this past July, and feels as though her financial background provides her the proper background to run the company. "By understanding what

BY ERIK CAGLE Could it be that the honeymoon is really over for commercial printers? Not that there was a matrimonial union of printers and the almighty dollar recently, but one could call it a hot date. The industry enjoyed 4.6 percent sales growth overall in 1997, riding the heels of a national economy that enjoyed low cost inflation. 1999 Regional Outlook for Print SalesThe chart estimates total print sales for 1998,and print-sales growth for both 1998 and 1999.Total is in millions and projected growth has notbeen adjusted for inflation. Sales growth shownis over the previous year.Region1998Sales1998Growth1999GrowthUSA$82,539.36.5%3.5%-4.5%Pacific$10,327.06.8%3.8%-4.8%Mountain$3,083.38.9%5.8%-6.8%Plains$8,991.37.9%4.9%-5.9%South Central$15,610.35.9%2.9%-3.9%North Central$9,407.37.9%4.8%-5.9%Southeastern$12,195.97.7%4.7%-5.7%South Mid-Atlantic$4,553.95.8%2.8%-3.8%North Mid-Atlantic$13,422.94.3%1.4%-2.3%New England$4,947.34.8%1.8%-2.8%Chart courtesy of

Suttle Press' John Berthelsen loves to impart his experience on others. BY ERIK CAGLE John R. Berthelsen has been inspired and motivated by many people in his professional life. Whether it's speaker Zig Ziglar or his high school shop teacher, Berthelsen—co-owner of Waunakee, WI-based Suttle Press and a 1998 inductee in the Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame—has made a habit out of taking nuggets of wisdom from influences in his life and incorporating them into his own work experience. Now Berthelsen is returning the favor whenever possible. "Zig Ziglar has a great statement, that you can have everything in life you want