Richmond, Va.

The in-plant for the City of Richmond, Va., has gotten a lot of media attention this week—and not the favorable kind. Both the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the city’s CBS station reported that the in-plant’s 12 or so employees have been spending all their time surfing the Web instead of printing. The reason? Most jobs are being outsourced because it would cost too much to print them in-house. The Times-Dispatch reviewed print shop activity and discovered that the monthly number of pages the shop printed fell 61 percent since the start of fiscal 2007, and the number of copies fell 41 percent.

Some of the largest commercial printers are closing plants and laying off employees. by Erik Cagle After an almost unprecedented stretch of prosperity across the board, the commercial printing industry is starting to feel the pinch of a plodding economy. Several prominent companies have responded with cost reduction measures. • Montreal-based Quebecor World, the world's largest printer, plans to close plants in Illinois, Kentucky and Nebraska, resulting in the loss of more than 1,000 jobs. The company refused to comment on the situation. • Cadmus Communications, in Richmond, Va., is cutting 280 positions, 8 percent of its 3,500-employee work force. • Chicago-based R.R.