Paper Shortage?

[mulo_g]

Any changes in the last 2 months? Ground realities? Forecast?

 

[Shawnd]

Forecast = stock up on what you can find because this isn't going to get better anytime soon.

 

[wonderings]

When I am quoting jobs I am adding in a part about stock issues and that they need to be flexible on the stock they want if their deadlines are going to be met. Never thought I would see the day when paper was a difficult thing to get!

 

[mulo_g]

Paper shortage and prices seem to ease a little bit, but not to the extent it had worsened. Don't think the days will ever be same as before.

 

[Craig]

Paper shortage and prices seem to ease a little bit, but not to the extent it had worsened. Don't think the days will ever be same as before.

I just talked to one of our envelope manufactures and they are a minimum 8 weeks out if not in stock. In her 40 years with the company she has never seen it like this. She thought the end of the first quarter was going to be better, but after last week she doesn't see an end in sight.

 

[Shawnd]

Yea, the shortage is still very REAL and very annoying depending on what you are looking for and where you are geographically located. We have had to get creative to fill the gaps.

 

[kslight]

Paper shortage and prices seem to ease a little bit, but not to the extent it had worsened. Don't think the days will ever be same as before.

It really depends on what you need. Forget about most envelopes, and there are several relatively common stocks that I can’t get at any price.
I have multiple paper suppliers, but I looked into my re-order lists for one, across 45 different common stocks, all except one item show zero in inventory.

 

[tngcas]

It really depends on what you need. Forget about most envelopes, and there are several relatively common stocks that I can’t get at any price.
I have multiple paper suppliers, but I looked into my re-order lists for one, across 45 different common stocks, all except one item show zero in inventory.

We've been struggling to get any 70lb paper in any brand but envelopes haven't been an issue yet.

 

[famerdave]

Just checking in with you guys, is it just me, or is it getting worse? 60# and 70# text is just gone. I cannot find any at 3 different suppliers.

 

[Stickman42]

Just checking in with you guys, is it just me, or is it getting worse? 60# and 70# text is just gone. I cannot find any at 3 different suppliers.

My experience is that it's getting more difficult to find any paper that would work for the jobs I have. It's an ongoing task to search through alternatives, but they are thinning out dramatically.

 

[ID13]

Quite a bit worse for us. Anything glossy is out of stock with only guesses to when we might get it. Envelopes have long waits too.

 

[farcrowd]

It's worse. I just talked to one of my vendors today (I'm in Ohio, full digital in-plant shop). He started throwing out March and June for availability of some of our go-to stocks. 70# text was backordered for me for over a month. 100# text and 80# cover was the same. Items are allocated weeks in advance. As soon as they receive a truck all the inventory is gone. Envelopes are a problem too - our area's main envelope vendor can't get stock to convert. I'm lucky we're a smaller shop, so I can get by with smaller orders.

 

[kslight]

Just checking in with you guys, is it just me, or is it getting worse? 60# and 70# text is just gone. I cannot find any at 3 different suppliers.

Yes it’ll get worse before it gets better. I am being told 60-90 days on our most common items. I am lucky to only have one printer to feed, greater financial and space flexibility than other small printers may have because printing isn’t all we do, but in the past few months I have had to resort to buying a lot more paper than normal in order to be sure I have something for orders that are scheduled for the following quarter. In normal times I would prefer not to have more than a couple months of inventory for storage and financial reasons, but we can agree these are not normal times.

There are some things I simply can’t get, or can’t get in ideal sheet sizes, but we have been able to get by with substitutions of brands and sheet size compromises so far.

I am told our paper vendor’s warehouse is pretty empty, and anything they sell doesn’t get put away, gets sold right away.

Not to mention the balancing act of other supplies like toner…for the past 5 months I have wondered every day, which will i run out of first (the answer is most likely toner, I have had some close calls).

 

[KopyBoss]

Paper Vendors has no paper, but keep sending out price increase letters WTF.

 

[mulo_g]

Paper has vanished. Why?

 

[mulo_g]

Paper Vendors has no paper, but keep sending out price increase letters WTF.

True

 

[Broncos100]

The thing I find most frustrating is the big guys never seem to have paper issues. We can't get 12pt, 14pt or 16pt and our paper vendor doesn't even know when they will be available again. But...4over and GotPrint never run out of that paper. You can go order BCs or PCs right now and no issues for them.

 

[kslight]

The thing I find most frustrating is the big guys never seem to have paper issues. We can't get 12pt, 14pt or 16pt and our paper vendor doesn't even know when they will be available again. But...4over and GotPrint never run out of that paper. You can go order BCs or PCs right now and no issues for them.

Some of the big guys probably get the same size allocation from the mills as the paper vendors do.

 

[Shawnd]

They also have large warehouses to keep the ROLLS of paper.

 

[warlegs]

The thing I find most frustrating is the big guys never seem to have paper issues. We can't get 12pt, 14pt or 16pt and our paper vendor doesn't even know when they will be available again. But...4over and GotPrint never run out of that paper. You can go order BCs or PCs right now and no issues for them.

Same boat. We literally have a big order we can't fulfill because there's no 14pt available or coming. This is crazy. We log in to check paper inventory constantly and there's nothing. If there is, it's gone in seconds. Also, the big guys are hoarding and getting first dibs, doesn't help us little guys much..