Cup-a-Joe

If you’re a small business owner or manager in North Texas, I’m sure the recent Dallas/Fort Worth article in the Business Section titled, “9 North Texas Employers Unite to Collect Data for Health Plans,” intrigued you. I was intrigued – and quickly became upset.

For us insurance geeks, the article made it painfully obvious that large employers get to play in a different sandbox than the rest of us.  If these large employers can get together to determine “how they manage benefits and purchasing only the most needed health options to keep workers healthy and out of doctor offices,” which in turn will help them reduce their premiums – why can’t small businesses do the same?  The answer is yes we could (as an single Association or several associations), but the carriers really don’t want to deal with small business in that manner – and existing state and federal laws almost make it impossible.  The end result will be that large companies will be able to find ways to mitigate any cost increases in health care while small business will continue to see the double digit increases which have plagued us for the past decade – and the foreseeable future.

The recent legislation (Affordable Health Care) does NOT address the issue of costs for small business.  In fact when one really looks at the net effect, employers will find it much more economical to pay the penalties of not offering health insurance and forcing their employees to pay for their own insurance from the “pools.”  Given that mandated coverages will be “richer” than what many small employers presently offer, many are going to be rudely shocked at the personal costs of “Obamacare.” Many individuals have been led to believe that the legislation will make health care easier to obtain and much more affordable. This may be true for some individuals, but the folks in small business and their employees (who were supposedly the target of this legislation) may pay a very steep price.   I will close by quoting an old, and probably over used, axiom – “There is no free lunch.”

It’s no longer news in the print industry that competition is much greater than ever before.  Not only are you fighting the price war with the guy across the street, but you’re also fighting with the guy located out-of-town/across the ocean AND alternative media.  In my recent meanderings, I’ve run across two more.

The first is the “green” blogger who condemns all print.  This individual lambastes print as evil, but truly doesn’t do their homework.  This type of editorializing concerns me because more and more individuals deal in sound bites (bytes?) and thus don’t think beyond what they just read or heard.  Case in point is this site where the author shares this tidbit, “Nearly all the industries have their shares in polluting the environment but out of all the industries, the printing industry is the major cause to pollute the environment.”

Another recent discovery is the USPS’ “Small To Medium Enterprise Solution” project which will launch next spring on a trial basis in Austin.  Kudos to the USPS for trying to find ways to make direct mail easier to use, but this model is not one that is going to excite the vast majority of small to medium printers in the U.S. who are already fighting UPS, FedEx, and Staples for market share.

I’ll be the first to admit that there is no simple solution to this complete change in our competitive landscape – and there is not putting the genie back in the bottle.  Ownership and management must realize that selling is no longer just a process of discovering who is buying and providing them with a price.  It has become much more complex.  The selling cycle is going to become longer and the tools which we use to “sell” print are also much more complicated.  The old sales models are not going to work, and there are plenty of other industries out there with good models to copy.

I just got back from vacation — a true no-business, no cell phone, no TV, and no radio trip.  That’s what happens when you travel to a national park in Wyoming — actually two.  Grand Teton and Yellowstone.  Although it was only for five days — I could have used another five — it’s amazing what a few days can do to clear your head.  Now, it’s time to get back to the “real” world. 

It seems that everyone is gearing up for November.  The Republicans are sharpening their knives over the NY Mosque issue.  The Dems are touting how Health Care is going to benefit everyone.  And the economy is still moving sideways.

On the health care front — here’s a “duh” moment for you reported in a recent Bloomburg Business Week online article, “Workers will pay more for their health care next year as U.S. companies prepare for provisions of the overhaul signed into law by President Barack Obama.”   This factoid was based on a survey of 72 companies employing more than 3.5 million.  46% plan to raise the maximum level of out-of-pocket costs (deductibles) to their employees.  The overall increase these companies expect?  Approximately 9 percent.  Needless to say proponents of the “Affordable Health Care” Act were not too thrilled, “Employers may be using the health-care law as cover for changes they already planned to make to their benefits,” said Igor Volsky, a health-care researcher at the Washington-based Center for American Progress, which supported the overhaul. “Costs are always increasing but they’re going to blame what they’re going to blame,” Volsky said yesterday before the survey’s results were released.  Too bad Mr. Volsky doesn’t run a small business.  He would then truly realize the challenges of providing health care insurance for individuals.

On Wednesday, I attended a Greater Dallas Postal Customer Council meeting featuring Susan Plonkey, USPS’ VP Sales.  She did a commendable job of explaining the challenges of the USPS and what they are trying to accomplish with proposed rate increases.  The convoluted regulations and legislation which USPS operates under leads one to believe that what is being attempted is beyond the ability of the USPS to control.  And that creates some very real challenges for the print and mail industry.  What I truly found of interest was Ms. Plonkey outlining a beta project the USPS is undertaking in Austin, Texas.

Per Plonkey, the USPS is making a concerted effort to educate small and mid-size businesses on the value of direct mail.  Yet, when that business owner says, “sign me up,” to the USPS representative, there is no solution.  Thus the USPS is planning to create a online “clearinghouse” in which the end user/small business person can access to find a direct mail provider.  The clearinghouse will be managed by a third party which will “vet” the firms and then creates a bidding process for the work. 

Hmmmm.  Sounds like we’ve been here before.  This was news to me; so, I’m doing a bit of research with our Austin printer/mailers and try to see what they think of this process.

On another note, it seems that the folks in Kansas (Department of Education) are bent on killing off the journalism/print/creative programs in high schools.  The decision is based on data provided by the government indicating that jobs for sterotypers, typesetters and commercial artists no longer exists or are in decline.  Well, that’s a surprise.  Yes, there may no longer be a career path (used to call it vocational education) for multilith operators, but there are still opportunities for young people who have a solid foundation in using premedia software and a solid understanding of print.  By the way, this issue is not just a Kansas problem.  Although it all has do with funding issues, it’s always interesting to see how the educational community loves to constantly find “new” ways to be creative.

Tell next time . . .

OK, the bad news first.  For those of you who live in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, have you noticed how much more road congestion you’re seeing? Per the U.S. Census Bureau, the Metroplex saw the nation’s largest increase of residents in 2009 — 146,530.  The total population is nearly 6.5 million AND it exceeds the Houston metro area by 600,000.

Good news?  There’s plenty of opportunity for the print industry in Texas!

On Tuesday, the “Show Me’ state just said “We’ll Show You” with the passing of Proposition C. The measure was aimed at nullifying the new federal health care law, and Missouri became the first state in the nation where individuals voiced their concern regarding mandated insurance.

Although it remains to be seen how all of this will play out, given what’s going on in Arizona with its immigration laws, we’re in for an interesting ride of state vs. federal rights.  Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were arguing these same issues over 225 years ago.  The more things change, the more they remain the same.

It has been several weeks since I ranted about health care “reform,” so I thought it was time to re-visit the topic.  I feel like a moth drawn to the flame.

Most of us sincerely feel this legislation will make road kill of many small businesses and their employees.  Providing employees affordable health care is an important issue for firms and this legislation will probably not deliver upon that promise.  An interesting article by the New York Times on this issue was posted this morning.  Regardless, as of yesterday, the water’s have gotten murkier.  A federal judge approved the State of Virginia’s lawsuit regarding the constitutionality of the legislation.  Let the games begin!