The Real Reason for Industry-Wide Price Increases in Paper

The Real Reason for Industry-Wide Price Increases in Paper

The current market conditions have caused a flurry of price increases across the printing industry. Here are just a handful of statements from our vendors in recent months:

“The price increase is due to several market conditions outside of our control. These conditions include escalating commodity pricing of raw materials, increasing freight costs, as well as the continued effects of nationwide inflation and labor shortages.”

“These adjustments are necessary to offset continuing increases in the cost of paper.”

“Inflation has accelerated in the wake of recent mill closure announcements.”

“To ensure the continuity of supply, we will adjust prices for any shipments.”

“Paper mills capacity reductions (mill closures) and diversion of mill capacity to non-PSL markets have created an extremely tight domestic supply situation for paper face and liner materials critical to our industry.”

“Extremely high raw material and indirect costs are causing continued inflation, especially on paper products.”

These are just a few lines from six letters we received from various suppliers across the paper industry. The message is coming through loud and clear: global inflationary pressure, demand for paper, and shortages due to mill closures are causing industry-wide price increases.

Even though we’re following suit with price increases, Rose City Label is in a fortunate position for the following reasons:

  1. We have a high inventory of various label materials, giving us tons of flexibility with producing labels for our clients.
  2. We have strong relationships with our vendors that go back decades. Even with the volatility in the paper industry, we feel great about having the ability to acquire paper materials needed to serve our clients.
  3. We have the capability for high-capacity label printing thanks to our new press, meaning that we can produce the jobs for you faster and in higher quantities than ever before!

As always, we appreciate your understanding during these challenging times. We remain committed to serving you whether you need wine, beer, or specialized product labels! 

Ready for us to tackle your next label job? Get a quote here

G7 Master Print Qualification

G7 Master Print Qualification

Certified World Class  Quality

Recently Rose City Label upgraded our print quality standards to match the most stringent G7 quality standard in the printing world.  With a multi-day onsite audit, we were able to demonstrate our ability to precisely match print targets. This is a true mathematical proof that our print quality meets or exceeds the highest international standards.  Check the certificate by clicking here.

Why Get Certified?

The Idealiance website says it best, and we couldn’t agree more.  Print is competitive, and to be successful, you have to be VERY GOOD at your craft.  We are raising the bar so we can keep meeting your needs.  Measuring ourselves against high standards means we always produce certified world class quality.  Learn more about G7 quality here.

Print service providers of all types know that a measurable, predictable, and uniform color management process provides significant business advantages. For printers to make money, orders must be turned around quickly, they must be consistent and they must predictable.

Investing in People, too!

Besides recognizing our facility, the auditors also look at the technical quality of our people.  Both of our graphics people – Lisa and Amy – were awarded a separate certification for their expertise.  We have high standards.  We invest in our people and they do their best to meet our customer needs every day.  It is a team effort and we all enjoy working together to make outstanding labels.

And, WE ARE HIRING! We always need a ready supply of highly trained peole to keep up with our workload.  If being a part of a team like this sounds good, please contact us today.

Precise Servo Technology

Beautiful, repeatable labels

Printing is an art – and it always will be. But, there is a massive amount of science built into the art of printing. For repeatable, high quality labels, we need measurable standards and targets.  Our production team is using more technology and automation everyday to ensure that our quality keeps rising over time. ‘Eye ball color’ isn’t good enough today.  With this certification we are demonstrating to ourselves and our customers that we are committed to measurable quality.  

Continuous Improvement – Forever and Always!

This certification is just one of many ways we challenge ourselves to get better over time.  Today we print more labels, with better quality, than we ever have before.  We measure and we improve over time in our print quality, our business performance, and in our environmental stewardship.  This is a long game.  As a 94 year old family business we have a unique perspective.  We are here for the future to keep meeting all our customers’ needs.  Call us today if you want to partner with a leader that is always getting better.

New Press Coming!

New Press Coming!

New Press for Faster Labels

This Fall Rose City Label is again investing in new technology to serve more customers.  This new servo driven press will provide the fastest, most economical option for mid and long run labels.  Our digital business is booming with the small to mid length runs, and this press will round out our capabilities.

Fastest Speed and Precise Registration

As wonderful as our HP Indigo Digital Press is, it still has limitations. This new press is designed to run up to 4x (400%) faster than the HP press.  On longer runs, that massive speed increase means faster deliveries and lower cost to you, our customer.  And, the quality is unmatched in the traditional press arena.  The full 8 color capabilities mean that we can print a beautiful 4C (CMYK) image, along with a specific pantone color for a logo element, and keep all the colors in precise register tolerance.  This is a whole new level of long run quality.  New Press for Faster Labels – for you!

Precise Servo Technology

Computer Controlled Technology

Even though we have done traditional printing for over 50 years, this takes the game to a new level.  This is computer controlled, servo driven quality.  This means faster learning for our press operators, more reliable operation, and the ability for factory service with remote diagnostics.  This machine has all the modern features of a 21st century digital press, with the speed of a traditional press.  This is the perfect combination to serve more customers in the coming years.  This technology will keep the press running reliably for years to come – New Press for Faster Labels.

Embellish Inline!

Currently, we have to emboss and foil stamp labels on a second machine.  Not anymore.  With precision in-line foil stamping, we can run a mid to long run job with foil stamping on one press at full press speed.  We can also emboss on that same single run.  Things that took days will now take hours.  We have massive new capabilities and we need your creativity to make the most of them.

This press is built by Mark Andy, the world wide leader in production label presses.  They have a huge lead on every other press company, and they are based in St. Louis, MO to provide local, US-based service into the future.  Check out more details by clicking here.

Sheets and Rolls – total flexibility

With all these options, we are better positioned than ever to serve all your label needs.  Rolls and sheets, backside printing, complex die cutting.  All the options you have enjoyed at Rose City Label are getting even better.  Faster run speeds and lower waste make us even more environmentally friendly.  Call us today.  We are ready to serve all your label needs.

Award Winning Label Printing – Again!

Award Winning Label Printing – Again!

Award Winning Label Printing

Award winning label printing for our customers, again!  At the association’s recent virtual Spring Summit, TLMI announced the winners of the Eugene Singer Award for Management Excellence. One of the North American narrow web industry’s most prestigious and highest honors, the Singer Award recognizes excellence in business management measured and defined by an established set of growth and profitability ratios through participation in the TLMI Management Ratio Study.

Award Winning Label Printing

Thank You Team!

This award is a testament to the hard work of our team.  Every person is involved in waste reduction, efficiency, and accuracy in all phases of the business.  This award isn’t just for one person or department, but for everyone that contributes to our success.

THANK YOU to our amazing team, customers, and vendors for your ongoing trust, commitment, and hard work.

Thank You Industry Media!

Since this is a very high profile award, it was covered by most of the leading label industry media outlets. See the coverage by clicking below:

We also received many kind congratulatory emails from our colleages in the industry.  Vendors, partners and friends all reached out to congratulate us on our achievement.  This industry really collaborates and honors the success of others, even if we are competitors at some level.  Thank you to everyone that took the time to send us an email.

Building on our Award Winning Legacy

Thankfully we have lots of experience winning awards in this industry.  Our team has built quite a reputation in the industry and we are very proud to continue with more award winning label printing.  This quick video shows some of our equipment in action, and summarizes our most recent awards.

2020 Print Rocks! PPI Regional Print Quality and Innovation Award

Click here to learn more about the award, and here to see all the winners in the competition

2018 TLMI Frosty – Environmental Leadership Award

Click here to learn more about this award

2015 Oregon State University Family Business of the Year

Click here to learn more about the award.  Click here to see the video presentation.

Call us today for Award Winning Label Printing

We remain very busy but are always looking to add to our customer family.  If you want to work with an award winning, family owned, eco-friendly label vendor, please call us today.

Rose City Label Difference!

Rose City Label Difference!

Welcome Home!

In the past 6 months, we have had three different former Rose City Label customers come back to us for labels. When people try other vendors and then come back for ‘the Rose City Label difference’, it really makes us proud of the work we do here.  Interestingly, these were very different companies – a distilled spirits company, an herbal supplement company, and a coffee roaster.  All of them were willing to share their experience, and why they came back to Rose City Label.

We Are All Good

One item to note – nobody came back to us (primarily) for price or print quality. Having competitive pricing and outstanding print quality is almost a given. In today’s market, you can’t stay in business if you don’t meet these minimum requirements.  The difference was service.  Here is a compilation of what brought them back:

Quick Response to Change Requests

When new items are being designed, things often go through many changes.  People don’t know what they will like until they see it on the proof.  These returning customers remarked at how fast and responsive our graphics team is on updated proofs.  We keep the project moving forward and always try to be responsive to the customer.

 

Offer Good Ideas about Design and Finish

In one case, we suggested eliminating an embossing feature from the conceptual label design. This feature started out as being very important, but when we weighed the cost and time required to add this in, we suggested a less expensive option.  This helped them get the new branding out into the marketplace sooner and saved money over the long haul.  The added cost didn’t seem to be worth it given the small impact on the final design.

Press Proofs – See before You Buy

We charge for press proofs, but we always recommend them on new projects.  These buyers appreciated being able to see the printed label, on the real label stock, before we print the full order.  As good as PDF proofs are, there is no substitute for seeing an actual label.  This protects us from having an unhappy customer and it makes sure the product looks great on the shelf.  This is an extra step in the process, but it is an important part of the customer service we provide.

 

We Make Them Feel Important

More than anything, these people all said in one way or another that “The other printer didn’t make me feel like an important customer”.   Another said, “It almost seemed like I was a bother to them…”.  Not every buyer is a fit for every vendor, but this one was shocking!  These are established, mid-sized label buyers that will be sending ongoing, repeat business to us for years to come.  It is hard to see how someone would be ‘bothered’ by dealing with a customer.

Want to Join or Re-Join the Rose City Label Family?

We remain very busy and growing, but always have time to add new customers to the family.  We have the quality to meet all your needs, and our service is outstanding.  Please call us today – we look forward to printing for you soon.

Award Winning Printers!

Award Winning Printers!

Award Winning Printers (again)!

We are award winning printers, again!  Most of the space and energy on this blog is dedicated to showing off our customers and their amazing products, our technical skill, and our environmental commitment.  Today, we are bragging a bit.  In the 2020 Print ROCKS! competition, Rose City Label was again recognized for excellence in printing.  Way to go team!  ** We received 4 previous awards in this competition back in 2017, but it is always nice to be recognized again!

Loowit Brew

Loowit Brewing in Vancouver – Thank You

Our customer, Loowit Brewing was nice enough to trust us with their very special, limited release beer, Tiamat.  Check out more about the beer and see the labels on bottles here.  The beer is an amazing, complex blend –

“Tiamat is a blend of 3 different beers: Barrel-Aged Olde Hardhide Old Ale, Barrel-Aged Cryptodome Barleywine and freshly brewed Shimmergloom Imperial Stout” — this is the description from the Loowit website.  Obviously, a beer this complex and special couldn’t have a boring label on it.  Thankfully, Loowit designed a special label to go with the amazing beer.

Here is the Big Winner – Tiamat!

This label utilizied our premium HP Indigo digital printing along with foil stmaping.  The design is very striking and draws your attention to the bottle right away. Thankfully, we were able to bring this design to life with our printing skill and equipment.  Great job team! 

Award Winning Label Printing

More About the Awards

You can’t brag about Award Winning Printing without an organzied awards competition.  THANK YOU to PPI, Printing Industries of America, and the local volunteer judges that gave up their time to make this happen. Congratulations also to the other award winners – see a full listing here.  If you are more of a visual person, check out the YouTube video by clicking here.  This video shows many, many types of creative printing and design.  It is worth watching the 6 minute video – be sure to check the Rose City Label winning entry at the 0:55 mark in the video.  We have another second place award noted at the 1:40 mark in the video, but it isnt shown visually.  Finally, our Best of Division award is shown at the 2:52 mark.  Wow!  It is humbling to be recognized by our peers and among our peers in this fantastic industry.

Thank You Team!

We continue to be thankful for all our customers that trust us and all our amazing team members.  We work hard every day and it is very nice to be recognized as experts.  If you want to work with our team to produce outstanding labels for your products, please call us today.  We can help.