The Future of Printing Part One

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. - July 30, 2013 - PRLog -- Most of us remember the days when we walked on to an airplane and saw everyone reading a book, a magazine or a newspaper. Now, most passengers are using a kindle, an ipad or a laptop. And, do you remember when someone made a presentation, the first thing she would do is hand out a presentation folder with the pages of the presentation. Today, she would pull out a notebook and provide the access code for her presentation for everyone to follow on their computers.

Facebook has also hurt businesses that rely on paper and ink. Billions of photos are being uploaded to Facebook every week, available to share with family, friends and associates. Why print when you can upload and click.

But, all is not doom and gloom in the future of print. The four industries that, historically, are the most ink and paper intrusive, legal, financial services, health care and education have had their usage levels remain steady. It is increasingly likely, however, that pressure to save money will, over time, force a shift to electronic pages for many printed documents.

While predictions of a paperless office might never come true, we are experiencing a noticeable decline in printing each year. Another contributing factor is the lack of acceptance of the high cost of color printers by many businesses, making electronic documents a viable and acceptable option.

Printing will survive my lifetime and maybe yours but there will be considerably less of it, at least in the form it is now. I don’t foresee the end of printed books, magazines and newspaper nor do I expect to see a majority of offices go completely paperless. Still, it could happen. Everything evolves and changes over time or they cease to exist. Printing may be very different in the future and putting ink on paper may not be the only use for printers.I’ll talk more about that in my next blog.

Take away points:

The need for printed documents has been reduced significantly as computers and the internet make it easier, more efficient and less costly to distribute and store “documents.”
The industries that are, historically, the heaviest users of ink and paper, have seen very little erosion of the printed pages that they generate.  But, will that continue?
Another factor working against printing on paper is the lack of acceptance of the high cost of printing in color by many businesses.
Technology is enabling printers to evolve

Until Next Time, Richard Blumberg, The Print Maven

Richard Blumberg has almost 30 years experience as a distributor of Imaging equipment and supplies. He was an owner of Richard Young Products and American Ribbon and Toner and is currently an officer of American Toner and Ink Corporation