Things are getting tight!
Blake Hutchison, Director of Purchasing
Wow, what a difference a few price increase announcements make on demand! I think the mills got the desired effect they were looking for.
Lead times are increasing and increasing rapidly. Coated groundwood grades seem to be accelerating the quickest, with lead times already out 5 – 7 weeks. Coated freesheet, while not as bad, is still out 3 – 5 weeks.
The greatest factor in how quickly you can get paper is the basis weight. If you print on a heavier weight (70#, 80#, 100#) your lead times won’t be as long. 38# through 60# basis weights, both coated groundwood and coated freesheet, are in high demand and their lead times are accelerating faster than the heavier weights. 32# – 38# is a little better, but not by much.
My advice would be to get your paper situation figured out quickly and at least get an LDC date to work off of so that you can properly estimate how much time you are going to need.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me or call me at 800-558-8724
Thank you.
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We get our paper from several distributors in Florida. We have never had a problem with getting any paper we have ever ordered by 3:00 P.M. by the next day. So what I would like to know is, “Is this a situation I will encounter in the future or is this just a problem in other parts of the country?”