I read this article a while back, and actually printed it out for a few of my clients and prospects. If you don’t read Margie’s Print Tips on Bostonprintbuyers.com or follow her blog on Printing impressions, you are missing some great insight from professional print buyer!

Courtesy of Margie’s Print Tips:

Just because print volumes are in decline doesn’t mean that print is dead. Au contraire. Quantities might be shrinking – but the rising popularity of digital printing is noteworthy.

With digital, you can print fewer. With digital, you can print faster. With digital, you can print ‘personal’. With digital, you can print targeted. (OK, my English not so good here.)

In my quest to figure out where print buying is going, I asked hundreds of print buyers in many industries all across the country to tell me, in their opinions, why print volumes are in decline in their firms. What I heard was quite meaningful.

Here are the major reasons:

1. More projects will be done electronically instead of in print.

2. Companies will be leveraging the data they’re gathering online to prequalify potential customers. They’ll be mailing to smaller groups and, hopefully, seeing higher response.

3. Companies will do more prospecting through the internet.

4. Environmental concerns will drive more business to the internet.

5. Increased material costs will force other channels to replace print.

6. As e-commerce and e-fulfillment grow, there will be less print.

7. Companies are converting many of their existing print materials to POD (Print on Demand).

8. Emerging electronic technologies (email, web delivery, etc.) are contributing to lower quantities.

9. Companies want to create multiple versions of print materials for a single market.

10. Digital printing lets customers print smaller quantities cost effectively.

11. Digital means you can keep materials up to date more easily.

12. Driving more traffic to your web site might mean less demand for printed material.

13. From a business perspective, companies believe that as digital printing prices decline, they can be more efficient and cost effective.

14. Print is becoming more of a targeted support technology to the digital world.

I am proud to work for the company with the most advanced digital foot-print in the world, with over 250 digital presses, in four countries. Want to learn more? Drop me a note!

From an article published by Verso Paper:

…Proponents of the “digital is greener” point of view can’t deny that paper is made with a renewable resource while most electronic components are made from non-renewable resources. Another undeniable fact is that both paper and electronic communications require considerable amounts of energy to produce, and energy use is by far the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions that define the carbon footprint of both. However, for paper, most GHGs are emitted during the manufacturing process, which is powered primarily by carbon- neutral biofuels. Almost all of the energy consumed by digital communications results from creating, transmitting and storing data. Most of this energy is purchased from the electric grid which is powered by GHG-producing fossil fuels, primarily coal. And when it comes to recycling, some 57.4% of all paper in the United States is recycled while only 18% of computer products (CPUs, monitors, laptops and other peripherals) are recycled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“There are many comparisons to be made between paper and electronic communications and regrettably, contentious debate is likely to continue,” Liska concludes. “But sustainability is about balance, not competition. Despite all the rhetoric about a paperless society, ink on paper is here to stay,” he says. “As both print and digital media continue to evolve in new and exciting directions we need to forego the good-guy bad-guy scenarios, embrace them as complementary forms of communication, and look for ways to make both more sustainable.”

You can download the entire Article Here (A PDF will Open)

Thoughts? Drop me a note!