REPROGRAPHER SURVEY – WINTER 2012-2013

SURVEY ANNOUNCEMENT:

REPROGRAPHER SURVEY – WINTER 2012-2013

In conjunction with the IRgA, Reprographics 101 is pleased to announce the launch of our “Winter 2012-13 REPROGRAPHER SURVEY”

Reprographers, PLEASE PARTICIPATE!!! 

The greater the number of survey participants, the more relevant the survey data will be.  We not only encourage YOU to participate, we encourage you to encourage your friendly competitors and industry associates at other companies to participate in the survey.

No one will know which companies participated in the survey – not even me!  There is absolutely no way for anyone to know which companies participated in the survey.  Our industry is at a critical point in its life; recent and comparative results and trend information is, or I guess I should say, should be, vitally important to everyone in the industry.

Rules for this survey:

-----We ask that only one person from each company respond to the survey!  We also ask that the one person who participates from each company be involved in a management position, since many of the questions pertain to sales data and profit data.

-----This particular survey is designed for “reprographers only”.  If you are a vendor to the reprographics industry, please do not participate in the survey.

-----This survey is open to ALL reprographers.  You do not have to be an IRgA Member to participate in this survey.  (Although, we do encourage you to sign up for membership – and IRgA membership is free, so no reason not to sign up! Visit IRgA.com to sign up.)

-----We intend to continue the survey process until the middle of January.  We may end up extending that, but, for now, that’s the target date.

-----We expect to be able to publish the results of the survey by the end of January.

Thank you, in advance, for taking the time to participate in our Winter 2012-13 Reprographer Survey.

Joel Salus

Publisher, Reprographics 101 Blog

(If anyone has a question about the survey, please contact me via e-mail, at joel.salus@mac.com)

Ricoh wins bid for “reprographics services”. I did not know they were in the reprographics services business! Reprographers, were you aware of that?

Broward County Public Schools (Ft Lauderdale FL area) recently held a BID competition for “Printing Services for Legal Reproduction of Construction Related Projects and Correspondence”.

Here’s a link to the bid tabulation and recommendation for award:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B81al4kFAU9JUWVNZTdScFFSNVE

While I was aware that Ricoh’s Business Solutions group offered Managed Print Services, I was not aware, at all, that Ricoh was pursuing bids for reprographics services. Perhaps this is an outcome of Ricoh merging IKON’s document solutions group into Ricoh’s Business Solutions Group? Will there come a time when all of the major copier/printer equipment manufacturers push into the reprographics services business? Canon and OCE? Konica-Minolta?

Do you remember when Xerox operated Xerox Reproduction Centers? Is that where Ricoh is headed with this?

Home prices rise for fourth month in May: S&P Case-Shiller Composite Index

NEW YORK | Tue Jul 31, 2012 10:01am EDT

(Reuters) - Single-family home prices rose for the fourth month in a row in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, suggesting the recovery in the housing market continued to gain traction, a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday.

The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 0.9 percent in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, topping economists' expectations for a 0.5 percent gain.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, prices fared even better, jumping 2.2 percent.

"With May's data, we saw a continuing trend of rising home prices for the spring," David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor's, said in a statement.

Still, Blitzer cautioned that spring and summer are traditionally strong buying months and that gains need to continue into the rest of the year.

"The housing market seems to be stabilizing, but we are definitely in a wait-and-see mode for the next few months."

The rate of decline on a yearly basis moderated, with prices down 0.7 percent compared to a 1.9 percent drop in April.

(Reporting By Leah Schnurr; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

Zynga Bullish Call Prompts Embarrassed Analyst to Apologize

Off topic from reprographics, it’s “one of those days”…. Zynga shares were trading at around $15.00 per-share back in the first week of March 2012. After reporting disappointing results, Zynga shares are now trading at $3.13 per share. (Disclosure, I don’t own, nor have I ever owned, Zynga shares.)

Why does it not surprise me that an analyst’s call proved to be wrong? I guess for the same reason that opinions rendered by Moody’s and S&P (about the credit risk ratings of CDO’s) proved to be way off base (to the negative side, of course.) Does anyone still trust the prognostications of analysts and credit ratings given to bonds, CDO’s, etc. by ratings companies? Using the word “trust” and “financial opinions” in the same sentence is, nowadays, an oxymoron.

From Bloomberg News

Zynga Bullish Call Prompts ‘Embarrassed’ Analyst to Apologize

By Danielle Kucera on July 26, 2012

Richard Greenfield, an analyst who covers Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) (ZNGA), downgraded the maker of social games and apologized for overestimating earnings after the company reported revenue and profit that missed projections.

In a note titled “We Are Sorry and Embarrassed by Our Mistake,” the BTIG LLC analyst downgraded Zynga to neutral from buy after the company showed it’s making less money from individual users than he expected, Bloomberg.com’s Tech Blog reported.

“We firmly believed that the small fraction of Zynga users who pay was increasing and that monetization per user was improving,” Greenfield said in a note yesterday. “Paying players on Facebook are clearly paying less due to the mix of games.”

He added, “Our confidence in Zynga management diminished.”

Zynga, the biggest developer of games played on Facebook Inc. (FB) (FB), fell short of analysts’ second-quarter revenue and profit estimates as the company competes with a growing number of apps on the social network and mobile devices. Sales were $332.5 million, less than analysts’ average estimate of $343.1 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Profit excluding some items was 1 cent a share, less than the 6-cent estimate.

Zynga, based in San Francisco, makes money by selling virtual goods within its games -- a gun in “Mafia Wars” or a tractor in “FarmVille.” Greenfield revised his earnings projection for the full year to 7 cents, down from 31 cents. The new estimate would represent a 70 percent drop from last year.

A jump in monthly unique players was driven primarily by “Draw Something,” a mobile game Zynga acquired earlier this year for $200 million that doesn’t generate much revenue, Greenfield said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Danielle Kucera in San Francisco at dkucera6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net

Only Six Spots Remain in September’s Color Management Boot Camp Popular SGIA Workshop Is Sure to Sell Out

If you are:

· Struggling with color control

· Having difficulty getting colors approved by your customers

· Trying to make multiple printers match in color output

· Or looking for expert advice to improve your color management skills,

Then SGIA’s Color Management Boot Camp (September 11–13) is the place you need to be!

Sign up quickly, as these workshops always sell out.

The focused, small-class setting allows you to master color management. Learn from top-notch

instructors and walk away with confidence and skill after three days of training, including:

· Color management concepts

· Print standards and specifications

· Color measurement instrumentation and profiling software

· Hands-on use of i1 Profiler software

· Instruction for device calibration and media profiling

· The newest print standards and how you can use them to improve customer satisfaction

· Answers to all of your color questions!

Led by industry experts Tony Quinn, of Nazdar Consulting Services; SGIA’s own Jeff Burton;

and representatives from Caldera, Mutoh and X-Rite, this three-day event is a must-attend,

loaded in its offering of first-rate knowledge and real-world examples!

The class is almost full; don’t miss your chance.

Register today!

Member price: $399.00 


Nonmember price: $549.00