Every year, somewhere in the second week of December, a business realises it has four invoice books left, no business cards for the new starter beginning in January, and a trade show in early February with a pull up banner that still carries last year’s phone number.
By that point the options have narrowed considerably. Print suppliers, paper merchants, finishing houses and couriers across Australia all wind down over the same fortnight, and the backlog in the week before Christmas is the heaviest of the year. What would normally be a simple reorder becomes a scramble, and some of it simply cannot be done until the industry reopens in mid to late January.
The fix is unglamorous but effective: run a print audit in October or November, order everything you will need through to February, and go into the break with stock on the shelf. This checklist covers what to review, when to order it, what to update before reprinting, and how to store it so it survives the shutdown.
Why the Holiday Shutdown Compresses Everything
The Australian print supply chain does not slow gradually. It stops almost in unison.
Paper merchants close or run skeleton operations. Specialty stocks that normally arrive in days may not be available at all until stock is replenished in the new year. Finishing processes such as foiling, die cutting, binding and laminating often involve a second supplier, which doubles the exposure to someone else’s shutdown dates. Courier networks run at peak retail volume through December, so even completed jobs can sit waiting for freight.
Then there is demand. Everyone else is ordering at the same time, for the same reason, which means the queue in the first two weeks of December is longer than at any other point in the year.
The practical consequence is that lead times you rely on for eleven months of the year do not apply in December. A job that usually turns around quickly may need considerably longer, and anything involving special stock or external finishing needs more buffer again.
Work Backwards From Your Shutdown Date
Rather than guessing, set the dates in reverse.
Start with your own closure date. Note the last day your office or site is staffed, and the date you reopen.
Add your first commitments back. List anything happening in January and February: trade shows, product launches, new staff starting, seasonal campaigns, school or sporting sponsorships, and any compliance driven reprint.
Count back from your supplier’s cut-off, not yours. Your printer’s final production date will be earlier than their closing date, and earlier again for anything requiring special stock or external finishing.
Build in a proofing round. Artwork changes, approvals and a corrected proof take time, and December is the worst month to compress them.
As a general rule, ordering by mid November gives comfortable room, late November is workable for straightforward digital jobs, and the first half of December should be treated as the final window rather than the normal one.
The Reorder Audit
Walk to the office, the storeroom and the vehicles with a list. The items below cover most businesses.
Everyday Operating Stock
These are the items that stop work when they run out.
Business cards for the whole team, including anyone starting in the new year. NCR invoice books and job dockets for trades and service businesses, counted against your actual weekly usage rather than guessed. Letterheads, envelopes and notepads for office stationery, and labels for any product, dispatch or asset application.
The reorder test is simple: if you would be uncomfortable running on current stock for eight weeks, order now.
Seasonal Client-Facing Items
These have hard deadlines, because they lose their value once the date passes.
Printed greeting cards for clients need to be printed, signed and posted before Australia Post’s own cut-offs, which fall well before the holidays. Wall and desk calendars need to be in clients’ hands before the new year begins, since a calendar delivered in February has lost most of its purpose. Printed packaging boxes and swing tags for gift and hamper runs should be ordered earliest of all, because they usually involve die cutting and assembly time.
Of all the items on this list, these are the ones most often left too late.
Retail and Hospitality
Venues face the opposite problem to offices: the shutdown period is their busiest trading stretch.
Review menus for seasonal changes, supplier updates and anything that has been crossed out by hand. Check beer coasters, point of sale material, table talkers and stickers for promotions. Count stock against expected trade rather than normal weeks, since a December and January run through peak season will consume far more than an average month.
Display and Event Material
Anything needed for a January or February event should be produced before the break, not after.
Check that pull up banners carry current contact details, service lists and branding. Review posters, presentation folders and flyers for any campaign launching early in the year. If a trade show falls in the first half of February, treat it as a December deadline rather than a January one, because the reopening fortnight is itself congested.
Update Before You Reprint
A reorder is the natural moment to correct things, and reprinting outdated material locks in an error for another twelve months.
Check phone numbers, especially if a landline has been retired. Check the business address, including suite numbers after any move. Check licence, registration and accreditation numbers for trades, RTOs and regulated services, and confirm they are still current. Check your website address and whether any QR code still resolves to a live page, because a code pointing to a retired landing page is worse than no code at all.
Review your service list for anything you no longer offer and anything you have added. Review your service area, since a suburb list that has not changed in three years is usually wrong. Check that team member names and titles are current, and that your social handles still match the platforms you actually use.
Finally, check whether your branding has shifted. Businesses frequently refresh a logo or colour palette and then continue handing out old stock for a year, which quietly undermines the refresh.
Print Your Shutdown Communications
The closure itself needs a small amount of print, and it is the easiest thing to forget.
Door and window signage with your closing and reopening dates, and an emergency contact if you provide one. Counter cards or table notices for retail and hospitality. A printed insert for any order going out in the final fortnight, letting customers know when dispatch resumes. For trades and service businesses, a simple card or sticker with emergency arrangements is worth leaving with clients on the last few jobs before closing.
Order these alongside everything else rather than as a separate last minute job.
Use the Quiet Period for Artwork Housekeeping
The weeks around the shutdown are the one time most businesses are not firefighting, which makes them ideal for the print admin that never gets done.
Consolidate all current artwork into one folder with clear file names, so every future reorder is a one line email rather than a search through old threads. Make sure your logo exists as a vector file, not just a JPG pulled from the website, because that single fix improves every print run afterwards. Save a signed proof of each item against the job it relates to, which matters particularly for labelled products where batch traceability counts.
It is also a good moment to check that your artwork is supplied correctly. If you have ever had print come back with colours that did not match the screen, our guide to CMYK and RGB colour in printing explains what causes it and how to set files up properly.
Store Stock So It Survives the Break
Print that sits through an Australian summer in the wrong conditions can be unusable by February.
Keep stock flat and boxed rather than leaning against a wall, since leaning causes a permanent curl in heavier cards. Keep it off concrete floors, which draw moisture, and out of direct sunlight, which fades covers and spines. Avoid storing paper stock in a shed, a garage or an unairconditioned storeroom over summer, because humidity causes cockling and makes sheets difficult to feed through office printers afterwards.
Label each box with the item and quantity so January’s first task is not an inventory hunt, and put the oldest stock at the front so it gets used first.
A Simple Two-Week Plan
Week one: walk the premises and vehicles, count every printed item, list what runs out before February, and flag everything that needs a detail update. Confirm your January and February commitments.
Week two: finalise artwork changes, send the full list through for quoting as one combined order rather than several small ones, approve proofs promptly, and confirm delivery before your closure date.
Sending one consolidated order rather than a series of individual ones also makes production scheduling easier at the printer’s end, which matters most in exactly the period when capacity is tightest.
At Design to Print Solutions (DTPS), we work with businesses across Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula on end of year reorders, and the jobs that go smoothest are the ones booked in before the December rush rather than during it.
Send through your list and artwork, and we will come back with an itemised quote and a production timeline that lands before your shutdown. Request a free quote or browse our full range of printing services.
FAQs:
What printed items do businesses most often run out of over the break?
NCR invoice books and job dockets, business cards for new starters, and product or dispatch labels are the most common. For retail and hospitality, menus and point of sale material run short because the shutdown period is their peak trading season rather than a quiet one.
How early do calendars and client greeting cards need to be ordered?
Earlier than most people expect. Greeting cards need to be printed, signed and posted before Australia Post's own seasonal cut-offs, and calendars need to reach clients before the new year begins to be worth sending at all. Both are best ordered in October or early November, along with any gift packaging that requires die cutting or assembly.
Why are print lead times longer in December?
Three reasons compound. Demand peaks as every business reorders at once, paper merchants and finishing suppliers reduce or stop operations, and courier networks run at maximum retail volume. A turnaround that is routine in August can require significantly more time in the second week of December.
How should I store printed stock over summer?
Keep it flat, boxed, off concrete floors and out of direct sunlight, in a space that is not exposed to heat and humidity. Sheds, garages and unairconditioned storerooms cause cockling and curling over an Australian summer, which can make stock difficult to feed through office equipment or unusable for client-facing work.
Can I order several different items in one job?
Yes, and it is usually the better approach at this time of year. A single consolidated order is simpler to quote, schedule and deliver than a series of small separate jobs, and it reduces the risk of one forgotten item being discovered after the production cut-off has passed.
