No 1 – The Printing Industry

Where do I start?

Having spent my entire working life in the commercial printing industry I can categorically state that it must be one of the worst managed industries in the UK.
Virtually every element of the printing industry is shockingly amateurish. The standard or lack of proper management in the majority of firms is breathtaking. The amount of money that is bled from them to line certain pockets indicates the utter contempt employers have for their employees. I personally have encountered company chairman that have just sucked out all the profits with no intention of ever investing properly in the business or investing in the people that worked for them. Basically selfish thieving scum, who couldn’t give a damn about anyone else other than themselves.

It is a paradox that an industry that has embraced the advances in technology offers hardly any training. Employees are just dumped in at the deep end and expected to learn as they go along. No support no nothing.

But that is just a part of my rant. The printing industry has been screwed (as I suppose has most manufacturing) and whilst a part of that has been from within, most of it has come externally at the hands of others. Who are these “others”?... well I just need to say two words: Print Management.

These days lots of companies seem to exist that don’t actually do anything other than act as middlemen or brokers – they pretend that they match customer’s requirements to a database of suitable suppliers. Like hell. These companies employ arrogant, ignorant retards whose sole purpose is to go to 50,000,000 suppliers to get thousands of prices and screw them into the ground - and those they place the work with are expected to give backhanders. They are a cancer to all industries… and in particular the print industry. Companies such as Comunisis (even the name makes you want to vomit being utterly bland and meaningless) actually go out of their way to do reverse auctions – a truly despicable and amoral way of doing business.

Unfortunately it seems that for the foreseeable future these companies are here to stay… and probably the only answer is to try and pick off the customers they have ensnared and convince them that these outsourcing print management companies are simply parasites.

Rant over… and the list is complete!