The Dichotomies of the Global Printing Industry

7. All printing is weeks, except when it is days and hours

As print runs get shorter and customer schedule demands increase, more printing may have to remain closer to home. Printers have already seen the nature of their work volumes change. Shorter runs (under 2,000 copies) and time-sensitive (less than two days) print jobs will not lend themselves to off-shore production: A typical U.S. printer plans print jobs for delivery in four weeks or less, while Asian printers deliver goods back to the U.S. in eight weeks or more with savings of 30 percent of delivered costs.