A percentage uplift assumes one thing above all others. That what you spent last year was the right amount to spend. Every line, every supplier, every quantity, every specification. All of it, correct. The only thing that needs adjusting is inflation.

Stop and read that again. Because in nearly five decades of looking at print spend, I have never once met an organisation where that assumption held up. There is always money in the line that is not earning its keep. Always.

The alternative is not complicated. It is just more honest. Instead of starting with last year’s number, you start with zero. Then you ask, for each piece of print you produce, three questions.

Does this still serve a member need? The newsletter that was printed for the membership of 2014 may not match the membership of 2026. Habits change. Some print outlives its audience by years.

Are we producing the right quantity? Print runs set five years ago, when membership was different, when events were different, when the cycle was different, are still sitting in cupboards. We see it constantly.

Are we buying it the right way? What was the cheapest option three years ago is not always the cheapest now. Print has moved on. Most procurement habits have not.

Here is the part that matters. Done properly, this exercise does not just save money. It produces something far more valuable. A defensible answer to the question your board or finance committee will eventually ask. “For every pound we spend on print this year, what did we get back?”

Most organisations cannot answer that question. The ones that can have stopped using percentage increases. There is a connection.