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SINGAPORE – A few days before 2021, many people would have started searching for planners, journals and desk calendars for the new year.
However, this year it may be more difficult to get a desk calendar, which is usually given as a corporate gift or mailed to homes by companies hoping to promote their brand.
In a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, printers are reducing desktop calendar printing due to lower demand from companies trying to cut spending.
Seven of the nine printing companies interviewed by The Straits Times said they are printing fewer desk calendars by 2021, as companies are not ordering as many as before.
Ms Fizza Bhaimeya, owner of Infinity Zap and Print Services, said that while the company used to produce desk calendars for seven to eight companies a year, this year there were “totally zero orders” from the companies.
She attributed it to more staff working from home this year and therefore not needing the calendars.
Another printer unofficially told The Straits Times that its orders for desk calendars this year had been cut in half, saying this was because fewer people were working in offices.
While full-time investor Peter Lim, 59, typically receives two to three calendars from banks and insurance agents in the mail each year, he did not receive any by 2021.
For the new year, you will use a desk calendar your neighbor gave you.
Lim has been using desk calendars every year since the late 1980s. “Back then, there was no computer or phone, so I used desk calendars to keep track of my schedule,” he said.
He prefers desk calendars to phone calendars for the convenience they provide, although he’s resigned to the fact that desk calendars will one day become obsolete.
“With a desktop calendar, you can see an entire month of activity at a glance. This is better than using the calendar on the phone where you have to press different buttons to see each day’s activities,” Lim said.
“It is inevitable that desktop calendars will be replaced by digital calendars in a matter of time, but until then I will continue to use desktop calendars if I receive them.”
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