Supply problems are not a new challenge.
When I was in high school I remember when the family’s filling station nearly ran out of gasoline. Dad was gone and he had left me charge. I didn’t know how I could explain how I let the station run out of its best selling item and frantically worked to solve the problem.
It was standard procedure to measure the fuel left in all tanks at opening every morning as we balanced recorded sales with the gallons pumped to make sure all sales were recorded and the money accounted for.
When the amount of fuel on hand dropped to a predetermined level, the refinery’s agent was called and a new order placed. With the order, we gave a desired time for the delivery as we preferred the delivering transport truck would not block customer access to the pump island.
I was alarmed when the transport truck didn’t arrive on time and I began making calls seeking its whereabouts.
Because of missed communications in the transportation chain, we were down to less than 100 gallons of regular gasoline when the truck arrived. And that truck had to travel less than 100 miles.
In the newspaper business today, missed deliveries are much worse for the product must travel hundreds of miles.
Several key products required to print this newspaper come from outside the United States and have done so for some years.
The first shortage I remember involved gum arabic, a magical liquid used in the printing process. Gum arabic is harvested commercially from wild acacia trees throughout the Sahara region of Africa. More than 80 percent of the commercial production is centered in the African nation of Sudan.
Earlier this year, the production of one week’s newspaper required we use every printing plate we had on hand. Our order was delayed because the aluminum used by the Chicago area plate manufacturer comes from England and had not yet arrived. We made that week without spoiling a plate and the new stock arrived before we next had to run the press.
This week we are again running low on plates but we are not yet at a crisis level. Our plate manufacturer says not to worry but that doesn’t mean I’m not for I remember the time when we ran out of plates and sent an Express employee to the airport at the north edge of town to watch for the arrival of the parcel service truck bringing our plates. If we were to make that day’s mailing deadline, we couldn’t wait for the driver to make his regular route. We intercepted the plates and all was good.
This week the problem is film. Our printing process requires we take a photograph of each page and use that negative to expose the presentized aluminum plate that goes on the press for the transfer of the image to newsprint.
The Nov. 7 papers required 28 sheets of film and when we finished we had 14 pieces left. The papers are smaller this week but we expect to need 20 sheets.
I called our supplier and was alarmed to learn the supplier’s warehouse was out of film and did not know when the stock would be replenished.
I began calling around but the story never changed. All potential suppliers I called were out. In panic mode, I called both the Kansas and Nebraska press associations and asked them to send emergency blasts to all other newspapers in their states seeking film.
A press mechanic based in Ft. Worth, Texas, suggested I call a graphic arts supply salesman in Hobart, Indiana. The salesman in Hobart searched much of the day and finally found a box of oversized film that should work. It was shipped that day with the expectation it would arrive in Superior on Monday.
However, Monday was a federal holiday and I feared the holiday might slow delivery. Ned Seaton, publisher of the Manhattan Mercury, responded to the Kansas Press Association appeal. He had in his shop 1,500 sheets of out-of-date film he was willing to part with at about a fourth of the current film price. But there was a problem. His film was 13 inches wide and our process requires film that is 16.5 inches wide.
But 13 is better than zero and Friday morning a fast trip was made to Manhattan, Kansas. When the film reached Superior, we immediately made a test for the film had passed its expiration date. It worked just fine but it will need to be spliced and the splicing may result in some strange lines in the printed newspaper.
Friday afternoon our regular film supplier called and told us they are hopeful to have their warehouse restocked prior to Thanksgiving but not in time for this week’s printing.
I didn’t understand all the explanation given for the shortage but it involved the sale of a company in the supply chain and the need to deal with offices in Mexico City and Jamica.
Unless it recently changed, the only source of lithographic film in this country is a factory in Europe.
I’m told the film has reached an American port but there is a problem getting it released for distribution.
Film isn’t the only thing we use that is manufactured in another country.
The paper on which your newspaper is printed is produced in Canada.
Many folks are hopeful the Trump Presidency will lower United States prices. I don’t see how that will happen without forcing a major economic collapse. President-elect Trump has been talking about imposing a 20 percent tariff on all imported goods. If that happens, it will cost substantially more to produce this newspaper and our advertising and subscription rates will have to reflect that increase.
During Trump’s last term, he placed a tariff on imported newsprint with the hope it would spark the reopening of American paper mills. The mills didn’t reopen, in fact they have continued to close as it is more profitable to use American pulp for the production of products other than paper. However, the higher prices the short term tariff imposed have not gone away.
In eight years the price of film has quadrupled.
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