The Paper Trail

What do you know about the paper you use?

There has been a lot of consolidation of the paper industry over that past 10 years. There are less paper mills and less paper distributors. In the St. Louis area there were 12 distributors or so twenty years ago and now we are down to four. There has also been a consolidation of the number of sheets from which to choose. It has now been cut in half.

Is that good or bad?

Fact: There are a lot of different sheets still available.

Question: Were people using all those sheets that were previously available?

Most likely the answer is no. And sometimes in a free market economy consumers, through their choices, force industries to “clean house.” This is not always a bad thing but it does force companies to be more strategic in their thinking. And the old saying does come into play…what goes around, comes around.

So how does this impact the consumers?

Fact: There are still plenty of sheets from which to choose but you have to know the impact of your choices.

Question: Do you know what sheets are available locally?

The reality is that the distributors are now only stocking what will make them money. They are mostly keeping the sheets with the highest demand in stock to reduce overhead.

So how do you get the colored textured sheet with flecks that you like?

Fact: Most colored sheets are now considered “specialty sheets” and they need to be ordered directly from the paper mill.

Question: So what does that mean for the consumer?

This means that interesting colored paper that have unusual textures will take more time to be supplied to the printer and it will cost more. And keep in mind that mill orders have a minimum quantity of a carton. How many sheets are in a carton? Primarily there are 1000 text weight sheets in a carton and 500 cover sheet in a carton. And remember the sheets ordered are to size for the press. This may not be economical for a small quantity print order.

Does this new reality of paper impact your business decisions? Or is this just the price of doing business?

Fact: This is the reality of cleaning house.

Sometimes you lose the convenience of having everything at your disposal and you have to pay more for what you want when you clean house. You are forced to pause and make the decision of what makes the best business sense when choosing the type of paper used.

Were we living in excess? Do we now get from the earth what we truly need?

I believe the story is not fully written about the paper industry. I do not believe that we will be a completely paperless society in my lifetime. I may be proven wrong but I believe we humans are too tactile. What remains to be seen is what types of paper will be used in the future. I wonder what the ancient Egyptians would say about this evolutionary paper trail.