Calendar firms mark time amid frugality campaign

Private entrepreneurs and small retailers alike are feeling the pinch of the government's drive to cut extravagance. Among the sectors being hard hit is the industry that has long relied on the annual exchange of calendars among government agencies and State enterprises.

Huang Wumei, a sales manager in Wenzhou, Zhejiang - a province known for small private businesses - said she didn't initially expect her company would feel any impact from the frugality campaign. But it did.

Sizhou Printing Co, the largest calendar manufacturer in Cangnan county, Wenzhou, is experiencing record losses after the cancellation of many big orders for desk calendars and postcards.

More than three-fourths of the country's calendars are produced and distributed from Cangnan.

"Clients have called to cancel at least 3 million calendars, but half of those calendars have already been printed," Huang said.

The clients are mostly government bodies, publicly funded institutions and State-owned enterprises, which all have a longstanding tradition of handing out calendars to employees and partners as a New Year gift.

Huang said that the phone was ringing constantly with calls to cancel orders after the central government in late October banned Party and government bodies from buying and sending New Year postcards and calendars.

The notice said that the large number of cards and calendars given away in this fashion each year had become more luxurious, and the waste of public funds had become more serious.

"There were times of difficulties, but never like this time. Order cancellations came one after another. Some of the calendars had already been packed for shipment," Huang said.

In days, those calendars will head to the recycling bins. Huang said the company will see at least 5 million yuan ($824,000) in direct losses.

Sizhou isn't alone in its predicament. According to Cai Bujin, head of Cangnan's association of calendar manufacturers, more than 90 percent of the local 200 printing companies are facing difficulties this year because of the frugality policy.

Altogether, the loss may add up to 100 million yuan for the companies, he said. The cancellations mostly came from governments and State-owned enterprises.

Cai said it didn't dawn on him and his fellow calendar producers that the policy would affect them.

"Industry fairs were held as usual in September, and companies started calendar printing in October as we did in the past."

Wang Rui, who runs a calendar and postcard stand at Beijing's Tianyi wholesale market, one of the capital's largest distribution centers for small commodities, said his business has been halved this year.

"It's more difficult to reach a big deal this year. Most of my clients were individual buyers, who purchased a calendar for personal use. But in the past, I usually made big deals with government and company procurement officers," he said.

Wang Fengjuan, an employee at a publicly funded publishing house in Beijing, said unlike many years in the past, she hasn't received any calendars yet. So she's opted for a handbook to note down appointments for 2014.

"Calendars are easier to make a note in and easier to read. Even e-calendars in cell phones and personal computers are not as convenient," she said.