And that’s the year! After the rake across the entrails that was November 2025, printing shipments rallied in December to climb back to $7.21 billion, putting it equal to December 2023.  As we have been saying, most of 2025 certainly had its challenges macroeconomically: the tariffopalooza did not help matters (although that had kind of stabilized in the late fall, although the next few months will see the uncertainty increase again), and the employment situation had been (and continues to be) a little concerning, but seems OK. Most of 2025 was not too far off 2024, at least up to the fall, and even  November’s precipitous drop parallels November 2024’s drop.

Total shipments for 2025 came in at $88.75 billion, below 2024’s $90.53 billion—and indeed less than those for any other year—and, yes, even the COVID year.