Paper costs are rising not by a few points but by a whooping 25% this year.
That pressure is coupled with other cost rises and makes the newsprint market very edgy. It's one thing to face such a steep rise, it’s another to face it when everyone is talking digital and when other costs are rising. Those with a cover charge can pass some of the costs on through the jacket and some on through advertising, but those with no cover charge face some difficult challenges.
The cost of the raw material of newsprint itself is not going up - it has gone up. It is already forcing newspaper to consider closures, reduced pagination, reduced print runs and even changes in frequency of publication. The impact of the price rise has already started to be passed on and already some free papers are tottering in the UK.
It could prove a difficult time for the likes of a London Evening Standard or Metro and also cheap tabloids that rely on large print runs sold at a cheap price.
Will Fish and chips be the same without that newspaper wrapping. One member of bibliophilebooks.com proudly suggested that their 36 page tabloid newspaper pages could be used as novel wrapping paper, which would give the receiver something special to read when opening their presents and make effective use of already recycled paper.
But paper is paper and a rise in cost doesn't just impact one sector, but all.
2 comments:
Martyn - it's clearly a long time since you had fish and chips. I haven't seen newspapers used for this in 10 years.
well spotted Brian it probably is a lot longer than that and goes back to fond memories of youth and working part time in the local chipie as a lad (now probably long gone too!).
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