Hello Sark,
I have tried several different printer but, this should not be the problem as .pdf used the Adobe PDF driver to create the print file.

The only reason I've sucumbed to .ai is because the print shop I work with does not have CD but they do have AI.

I did print out the .ai file and in AI saved as .pdf and there the .pdf file page layout is smaller also. I looked for settings in the PDF driver and could not find anything that may suggest a 'fit to page' type setting. I'll have to do more research.

WordPerfect files converted to .pdf also produces smaller fonts. Seems to be shrinking the page.