Chris Brault : Hey Chris, I can see that happening. I run an Offset WebPress and this was the slowest Christmas in my career. Newspapers are an excellent barometer of the economy, as businesses slow down their spending on advertising tends to be more targeted. Check out your local one, it probably has way fewer flyers and is half the size of normal. If it isn't, check the ad count... if it is lower than 50% ads on a page they are in trouble and SHOULD be cutting back pages. Many I see now are 65% ads or even 70%, but many pages smaller. The weird thing is classifieds are dropping too, which you wouldn't expect.
The after Christmas season is usually slow, as many retailers blow their budget leading up to the week before Christmas, keep an eye on the papers as we go into mid-February and March when it should pick up.
"Be happy while you are living, for you are a long time dead." - Scottish proverb.