Have they, or, will the tariffs impact your business?

[gordo]

For example:
Are plate prices going up?
Electricity prices?
Exporting printing to the US or Canada raising your pricing?
Or is your printshop unaffected by the tariffs?

 

[TJPrinter]

I think the tariffs are on hold, no sorry wrong they’re back on again…wait they could be back on again or maybe just on some products, maybe soon or maybe later.

To answer your question, no, not yet.

 

[prepressdork]

All we have is the definite possibility of a confirmed maybe

Seriously though, I am not sure. In terms of plates, during Trumps first term, we managed to avoid the tariff on aluminum as what was being imported was the final plate product vs a roll of litho-grade aluminum. If memory serves, I think the big plate manufacturers filed a lawsuit as the only way to get aluminum was through the London Metal Exchange so there was no choice but to import and I believe they won the lawsuit.

Best regards,
pd

 

[gordo]

I think I'll ask again in a month due to the executive flip-flopping.

Ready, FIRE, aim. LOL

 

[SoggyWinter]

My carbonless pricing went up. Titan coated paper out of Korea hasn't changed.

 

[Snowhugger]

IMHO tariffs are not the plan. Chaos is.

 

[gordo]

IMHO tariffs are not the plan. Chaos is.

I'm not particularly interested in the motive(s) since that is a matter of speculation.
I'm just wondering if the tariffs or threat of tariffs has had an impact on your print business.
Have your suppliers spoken to you about the tariffs?
Have your customers expressed concern?
Have your materials and/or energy costs increased?
etc. etc. etc.

 

[jwheeler]

We just went through the long process of updating our online ordering system with the updated paper pricing, so we're really hoping they don't increase prices again so soon. I recently received this email from the president of the PIA:

UPDATE: Recent Questions on Tariffs

Owners –
I am not sure how best to describe the current business conditions … erratic, volatile, changing … none of these seem to quite describe our world. On Wednesday, we sent out a message that offer my thoughts on tariffs and referenced a conversation that I had with Damien Bradley, Kelly Spicers, regarding the impact of the recent tariffs imposed on imports from Mexico, Canada and China. My message and conversation with Damien are already obsolete with President Trump’s roll back announced yesterday. However, my conversation with Damien was focused on a couple of mills and was not intended to cover the entire field. I did a poor job of framing the conversation because, clearly, mills across the Americas are taking varying strategies from “wait and see” to implementing immediate price increases. I apologize for any confusion I may have created … as if there is not enough!

As much as I hate to say it, this should feel much like the early days of COVID and the supply chain problems … the point is that we have faced turbulent times. We are all feeling the whiplash of imposing tariffs one day and two days later rolling them back for 30 days. We know that the President believes and is willing to use tariffs as leverage in negotiating. He has acknowledged that such strategy will cause some level of short-term upheaval in the markets and economy which, he believes, will be good for the Country on the long run. All that is relatively certain is that change is coming. One of the better quotes that I have seen is:

“The can keeps getting pushed, kicked down the road, and we don’t know what that means,” said Chuck Dardas, president of AlphaUSA, an auto parts manufacturer in Livonia, Michigan. He later added: “To make investments and to do things we need to do, we need some certainty. Not that we can have perfect certainty — but not be on a constant diet of, well, we’ll wait till next month to see if the ax is going to fall.”

“The only thing, I guess, to be certain is that we’ve got 30 more days to worry about it,” Dardas said.

The COVID experience taught us:

• Communicating with vendors is critical to staying on top of the situation unique to your company.
• Communicating with your customers is critical to establish or, as needed, reset expectations.
• Staying as nimble as possible in order to react to changes.
• Patience is a virtue and will be key to weathering the times.

Business is a marathon with hills and valleys. PIA is working to stay current with changes. Please do not hesitate to reach out to our staff and I. We may not have answers but will do our best to find them.

Lou Caron, CPA (Inactive)

President/CEO

 

[MailGuru]

I'm just wondering if the tariffs or threat of tariffs has had an impact on your print business.

During the first term (2016 - 2020) his tariffs cost us a lot of business revenue.

We had several large accounts wherein we would print and mail booklets/catalogs of equipment and repair parts for that equipment. Most of that equipment and parts were being imported from Canada or China.

When I inquired as to why the sudden drop in print/mail orders, their response was that they could not design/complete the art, due to the on-again off-again tariffs. The posted prices on their products kept changing so fast, the art was obsolete before they could even finalize and send us the order.