‘I think we’re going to need some level of government action to make sure that paper isn’t diverted elsewhere’
DETROIT – Paper shortages around the world have a ripple effect. Read also : WBD announces new charity partners in Edinburgh. Some retailers cannot print catalogs, and direct mail prices are far more expensive than in previous years.
It also means that longtime printers like Detroit Legal News and Inland Press began in September 2021 trying to prepare an adequate supply of ballots to print and envelopes to return ballots for this year’s election.
“I don’t have a newspaper on the floor yet, so I’m not quite comfortable,” said Bradley Thompson, president of Detroit Legal News and Inland Press. “I’m still losing sleep because of this.”
Thompson has been printing ballots for 30 years and has never encountered anything like it. Typically, printing houses would order the required paper three months before the election.
There are several factors that contribute to shortages. Lack of cellulose, mills that use resources to produce packaging materials, and then logistics problems in the supply chain.
The shortcoming became apparent last year; That’s why Thompson has commitments for adequate supplies, but he still worries about whether that will really happen. That’s why he’s in Washington this week to ask for help from the federal government.
“I think we’re going to need a certain level of government action to make sure the paper isn’t diverted elsewhere,” Thompson said. “To go to election printing presses or to make election envelopes, our democracy is in danger of this not happening.”
And then there’s the whole price problem with scarcity because the price is going to start rising. Thompson says he does not currently know what to quote these deals because he does not know what the final price of the product will be as these costs are shifted to local government units.
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About the Authors:
Brandon Carr
Brandon Carr is a digital content producer for ClickOnDetroit and has been with WDIV Local 4 since November 2021. Read also : Regents’ insistence on having their own attorney is wasteful, counterproductive. Brandon is the winner of the 2015 Solomon Kinloch Charity Award for Social Service.
