Before the pandemic many print-mail service providers had what they thought were solid disaster recovery (DR) plans. These plans included contracts with national and local firms to meet client SLAs in the event of a disaster. Files were transmitted and paper stocks were held in inventory in the event a facility could not produce client statements and invoices. These plans were tested on an annual basis.

The challenges in securing paper for printing and mailing are very real. The confluence of factors creating the challenges in paper supply are not likely to improve until the second quarter of 2022. In my last article I explored the perfect storm contributing to the challenging situation including:

Supply, Demand, Manufacturing cost , Distribution/transportation cost

To get perspective on the daily impact of the situation, I spoke with several print-mail service providers about their strategies to handle the challenges of longer lead times, price increases and lack of inventory. From the trenches of daily buying and managing paper, input for this article was provided by: