No Rest for the Weary

With the passing of another year, less-than-optimistic predictions continue to plague the forms sector. How often do we hear industry experts refer to printed forms as “a dying breed?” Yes, Print Professional’s annual Top 100 Manufacturers issue last October revealed a slight decline in forms sales with reported figures of $931 million compared to $1.08 billion in 2006. Nevertheless, paper-based forms had—and still have—the strongest presence in the entire printed-products market. In 2007, forms comprised 34.5 percent of the total $2.97 billion annual sales listed for the printing industry as a whole. Labels and tags were the closest competitors, making up only 18.8 percent of the total figures, proving forms have a lot of fight left.