Bennett Printing Co.

Follow up on my previous post: Per Michael Makin, President: I am pleased to report that as a result of protests by Printing Industries of America, its members, and the industry as a whole, Toshiba has agreed to abort its National No-Print Day! Last evening I had a lengthy conversation with Bill Melo, Toshiba USA’s senior vice president of marketing, services and solutions regarding its ill-conceived initiative. Mr. Melo was quite concerned with how the campaign had been... received by the commercial printing industry and stressed it was never the intent of his company to disenfranchise or insult our industry. He explained that the campaign was always directed at the office marketplace where he opined there was needless waste. My retort to Mr. Melo was that if this was truly the case, his campaign should have been more specific. It was not promoted as lets save office waste day but rather National No-Print Day. I argued this was tantamount to having a Do Not Walk day or Do Not Eat day and that the grassroots response from our industry was only to be expected. I reiterated our position that Toshiba abandon the notion of a No-Print day. If it wants to focus its eyes on the office marketplace, its campaign should be centered there and not by extension implicate or disparage America’s printing industry. Mr. Melo did commit to going back to the drawing board and assured me the promotion on its website has been removed and that any re-launch of a campaign directed at office waste will explicitly explain that this in no way references the legitimate commercial printing industry and its importance to the American economy. I thanked Mr. Melo for his swift response to our concerns but cautioned that any follow-up campaign containing misleading statements regarding paper would be subject to similar scrutiny, particularly from the paper industry. He indicated he would be making an outreach to this sector as well. See more

Printing Industries of America Announces Print Will Be Alive on Toshiba’s National No-Print Day CEO Michael Makin encouraged the U.S. printing industry to reject a call by Toshiba America Business Solutions for a National No-Print Day (NNPD). Needless to say, we find such a proposal ridiculous and an insult to the more than 800,000 Americans who owe their direct livelihood to our industry, said Makin.... Toshiba’s nationwide campaign purports to encourage, educate, and challenge individuals and companies to commit to one day of no printing and to raise awareness of the impact printing has on our planet. Its event is scheduled for October 23, 2012. Toshiba claims that our industry has failed ‘to make the link between printing waste and its negative impacts on our landfills, natural resources and the environment.’ This is patently untrue. Our industry has long led the way utilizing sustainable processes. The primary raw material for printing is paper, which comes from trees, which are a renewable resourceso renewable that today, our country has 20 percent more trees than it did on the first Earth Day which was held more than 40 years ago, added Makin. Printing is the only medium with a one-time carbon footprintall other media require energy every time they are viewed. Electronic devices, which Toshiba produces, for example, require the mining and refining of dozens of minerals and metals, as well as the use of plastics, hydrocarbon solvents, and other non-renewable resources. Moreover 5080 percent of electronic waste collected for recycling is shipped overseas and is often unsafely dismantled. For Toshiba to call for such a ban on printing is hypocritical to say the least. Mr. Makin reiterated that print will very much be alive on October 23 and asked the company how it would feel if that day became National No-Toshiba Day? Printing Industries of America has put together a tool that can be used to dispel the misconceptions about the Printing Industry. This campaign, The Value of Print, contains a flip-book that can be used to dispel the myths about the industry. The flip-book has four sections: Misconceptions, which gives responses to the common misconceptions about print; Effectiveness, which gives statistics on how print is an effective part of the marketing mix and how people still prefer print; By the Numbers, which discusses the importance of the industry and its large economic footprint; and Resources, which lists websites where more information on the subject can be found.