US commercial printing industry shipments are up for 19 consecutive months in current dollars and 16 consecutive months compared to the corresponding month of the prior year. On an inflation-adjusted basis, the industry has had five positive quarters. This is one of the best growth periods the industry has had in almost twenty years. Why isn't the reversal of fortune getting more coverage and acknowledgement?

December shipments were +5.1% in current dollars and +4.4% after inflation. For the calendar year, shipments were +3.46% in current dollars and +3.37% after adjustment. November shipments were revised slightly higher. For the year, shipments were $86.5 billion, the highest current dollar shipments since 2008. At that time, shipments were $98.6 billion ($108.4 in today's dollars).

On an inflation-adjusted basis, this was the best year since 2011, with shipments adjusted by the CPI at $86.6 billion. For 2015, inflation-adjusted shipments were $86.3 billion.

The Commerce Department will revise all of its manufacturing shipments data on May 18, 2016. They will make revisions for at least three years of data, and sometimes more. For now, these are what the data show. Despite many forces against the industry, such as digital media alternatives and postal distribution costs that do not reflect the direction of costs of other communications competitors, the industry has turned in a good year's performance compared to recent history.