Lindley is the owner of Denver Bookbinding, a family-owned company since 1946. The 17th Street business binds and rebinds textbooks and periodicals for universities, private libraries and individuals. It also restores old books and custom builds menu covers and marketing portfolios. Orders have dropped 20 percent in the last year.
The economy has kicked us in the teeth. I’m the smallest I’ve been staff-wise in many years. We have become seasonal. But we started to notice a dropoff in the university business about three years ago. More and more journals are being published on the Web.
“Because we have more than one area of binding and our revenues are not dependent on more than 10 percent from any one customer, we see revenues fluctuate. Our challenge is to even out the lows.
“In January, we went to 32-hour weeks. I expect to be at that level until April, when book production will increase.
“We have started to sweat the small stuff. We realized that filtered water wasn’t a necessity at $50 a month. We pulled it in October. Since our trash volume was down, we asked the trash removal service to work with us and come only every other week until our volume increased. They were very understanding.
“I am very concerned about the emotional stress that this economy is having on our people. I try to communicate not only the bad stuff but good things, too. When a customer gives us kudos, I post it or announce it to the staff.
“We have made alliances with other companies for on-demand printing and binding. It made a huge difference in our sales in November.
“The Web has started to increase our customer base. We bind for a photographer in Brooklyn, N.Y., a recluse on an island outside Washington state, a big-game hunter in Florida, a grandmother in California.”
