What is the one question that most of us have been asked more times than we care to remember and, no doubt, will be asked numerous times in the future?

How much is your paper?

Sound familiar? How many people reading this have now got a wry smile on their face? You may have been trying to explain how you can help a potential new customer take cost out of their supply chain, the extended product and service range that you can offer, or the general help and support that you can provide on a day to day basis, yet how many times does it come back to how much your paper is?

I can’t help but wonder if this question has been partly responsible for our industry selling paper well below it’s true value for such a long period of time. Let’s face it, until the very recent paper shortages we were often selling paper at cost, or even giving it away. I think on occasions there has been a misplaced belief that if we don’t sell paper at a ridiculously low cost, somebody up the road will, and it will be game over. Are people really going to make a decision based solely on how much your paper is?

I am going to digress a little here, so please humour me for a moment because people in glass houses………

I love my holidays abroad. I like to try new places, see new cultures, and really look forward to seeing what the nightlife has to offer. So, when a friend or family member returns from somewhere that I haven’t yet been and starts waxing lyrical about it, what is the first question that I ask?

How much is a beer over there then?

At this point I get a well-deserved roll of the eyes and a look from my wife that has been perfected after 30 years of marriage. Actually, I think it was perfected after 30 minutes of marriage. There is no rhyme or reason as to why I ask this question, it certainly doesn’t form any part in the decision making as to whether we give the place a try. If the whole package is appealing, then off we go. I am not going to let the cost of a beer have an influence on the decision.

If you are still reading at this point you have indeed humoured me, so thank you for that.

This time last year we were faced with paper shortages, rationing in some instances, and a rapid increase in cost prices. The reasons behind what happened last year are well documented, so I won’t go over old ground, but what a difference a year on. We have seen a softening in cost prices, and in my opinion, these are now positioned at a more realistic level. Having been in conversation with our paper merchant, I am told that several European mills are now overstocked and will be looking to offload paper, if they haven’t done so already, and of course that is likely to come with further cost reductions. The challenge for us as an industry is what do we do to avoid slipping back into old habits, where we are selling paper at cost or giving it away? Do we really want to go back to that? I don’t have an answer or, if I do, I can’t risk standing outside the competition law headmasters office, with a book shoved down the back of my trousers, waiting for the inevitable.

My view is that the whole paper supply chain deserves to make a fair margin so, as an industry, let’s pull together and try and be sensible.

One last thing before signing off. A big thank you to the whole team at Dealer Support for putting on a great event at Dealer Support Live. I know that a lot of planning and hard work went into the event, the result of which was a very enjoyable and successful day.



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