Reliving recent history

In going through the piles on the author's desk, he uncovered some old copies of Footprints, the newsletter he wrote and published for nearly 20 years. The first item he found in a 1990 issue of the newsletter was a prediction about the newspaper industry. In another past column, he had advised readers not to spend big bucks on Internet sites. Another prediction he made in the late 1990s jumped off the pages of Footprints. Considering all of the acquisitions of smaller printing companies by consolidators, he predicted the number of commercial printing companies would continue to decline. Back then, PIA pegged the total number of firms at 40,000. Today, there are less than 25,000 printers -- and for the most part, they are doing very well.