Lexington, KY - WhatTheyThink, the leading online media organization serving the printing and publishing industry, today announced the availability of their most current report titled “North American Monthly Printing Shipments, Issue #44.” This report is available for immediate purchase at:

https://store.whattheythink.com/economics/monthly-u-s-printing-shipments

“May commercial printing shipments were $7.3 billion, down -9.4% compared to May of last year,” said Dr. Webb, director of WhatTheyThink's Economics and Research Center. “The tough year for commercial printers continues, as they're hit with decreases in corporate communications budgets, increased postal costs, and further shifts to digital media.”

Dr. Webb continued, “Our surveys show that there really has been no place to hide from an aggregate perspective. Printers large, small, and mid-size are all experiencing tough times, no matter what their print product specialties are.” Many print businesses are focusing on adding additional services and are becoming active in digital media production, servicing a broader range of communications deployment functions, Dr. Webb explained. “Printers can be great outsourcers for corporations. When the economy starts its upturn, corporations will be reluctant to add back employees until they are certain any recovery can sustain itself. Until that time, many printing businesses can handle a wide range of fulfillment, logistics, and other functions that clients cannot support on an internal full-time basis.”

This report discusses recent research conducted by WhatTheyThink showing the statistical relationships of various economic measures. “In this issue,” says Dr. Webb, “we discuss how the ups and downs of stock market indices might offer some clues regarding corporate print spending.”

The North American Monthly Printing Shipments Report contains both current and inflation-adjusted analysis of commercial printing and print services shipments, and forecasts for 2009 through 2014. It is comprised of Adobe PDF, Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint files, and an MP3 file of audio commentary from Dr. Webb. The cost of the report is $50.00. Those purchasing the it can easily repurpose the charts and data in presentations, and reports.

The report includes the updated forecasts for 2009 through 2014 for the U.S. and Canadian commercial printing industries.

The report contains significant and proprietary analysis and by Dr. Webb and WhatTheyThink's Economics and Research Center. It is a top-level analysis of the U.S. commercial printing and trade services markets such as commercial offset, digital, and other printing processes, as well as prepress and postpress contained in the standard business classification NAICS 323.

https://store.whattheythink.com/economics/monthly-u-s-printing-shipments

WhatTheyThink's Economics and Research Center contains a blend of free and premium content for graphic arts and publishing executives. It offers an online library of primary research reports, executive summaries of economic trends, and related industry columns, videos, podcasts and webinars.

The Economics and Research Center is exclusively sponsored by MindFireInc, a provider of software technologies that leverage direct marketing and the Internet.

About WhatTheyThink

WhatTheyThink is the printing and publishing industry's leading media organization; offering a wide range of publications delivering unbiased, real-time market intelligence, industry news, economic and trend analysis, peer-to-peer communication, and special reports on emerging technology and critical events. WhatTheyThink also hosts webinars and live events that are timely and relevant o today's busy industry executives along with consulting and speaker services that leverage a talented pool of writers and industry analysts.

WhatTheyThink consists of flagship site WhatTheyThink.com, discussion forum site PrintPlanet.com, and industry blog PrintCEO.com.

About MindFireInc

Since 1999, MindFireInc has provided innovative applications and services that help marketers synchronize their direct mail campaigns with the Internet. MindFireInc's flagship product, LookWho'sClicking, is a web-based application suite that links the impact and power of direct mail with the interactive capabilities of the Internet. MindFireInc offers its product through a network of Value Added Resellers (VARs). The company's web site is www.mindfireinc.com.