Q3 Paper Outlook — Beaten to a Pulp

According to the company vice president, a significant percentage of the large retailers buy their own paper for their insert programs. O'Brien says he hopes the Sears deal does turn out to be the start of a trend toward printers playing a larger role in the selection of substrates, whether that means they actually supply the paper or just get to be a key influencer in the purchasing decision. Since they touch on all stages of the supply chain and production cycle, printers are in the best position to find ways to pull costs out of the system, he points out.