July 2021 printing shipments came in at $6.45 billion, down from June’s $6.69 billion. On one hand, we have returned to a pre-2019 seasonality, in which July shipments take a dip. On the other hand, this is the worst July the industry had had in the last five years (and probably ever). At the beginning of the year, with vaccination rates going up, we had high hopes for the summer, but with the Delta variant, a stall in vaccination rates, and surging infection rates in many parts of the country, the expected recovery has yet to come for many. Still, we have been pointing out, other macroeconomic data have been erratic all through this year, so it’s hard to get an accurate month-to-month picture of what’s happening, although it’s hard not to get the sense that what’s happening is bad.

Year to date, January-to-July shipments are at $46.44 billion. At this point in 2020, year-to-date shipments were slightly higher at $46.83. Wouldn’t it suck if 2021 ended up being a worse year than 2020? The recovery is proving more challenging than the actual pandemic, it seems. If only there were a way to stop the infection rate from increasing…