Margie Dana

Guest Post by an Anonymous Print Buyer

Recently a seasoned print buyer I know sent me an email. He is a seriously skilled, well-respected print purchaser with over 20 years in this business. His role has been changing, most recently with a request to move into a new area within his organization – and away from print.

This email touched me. I know how attached most seasoned print buyers are to their roles and to the print industry. They have spent decades perfecting their skills and building relationships inside their companies and out. Theirs is a specialty you can't learn in a college or university. They speak the language of print and paper and mailings and supply chain management.

I think many in his situation would have taken the offer for a promotion, but knowing this individual, it came as no surprise he responded with a polite “No thanks. I'll stay right where I am.”

Here's what his email said:

All I ever wanted was to walk down the street and have people say, “There goes Mr. X, best there ever was in this game.”

I was presented an opportunity to move to a contract desk and support HR benefits with some high-level contracts. Some promotion and potential opportunity goes with it. They say print is not where we see great value. I still do. I was not willing to give up 25 years of ink and paper to negotiate contract terms and learn a new commodity. I did not want to give up my customers, who count on me, more than management will ever realize.

I looked at the tools of my trade: densitometer, Pantone books, Ab Sharma books, loupes, paper books…and was not willing to put them on a shelf, not yet. I could not walk out on my team members, who have supported me for years. And I could not leave my suppliers and creative contacts because that is why I come to work. To see ink on paper and know that I had a part in the process.

I am still a print buyer.

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