Supreme Court to Decide Logging Road Regulations

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/12/01/supreme-court-logging/1739541/

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to switch gears on more than 30 years of regulating the muddy water running off logging roads into rivers.
At issue: Should the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency keep considering it the same as water running off a farm field, or start looking at it like a pipe coming out of a factory?
The case being heard Monday in Washington, D.C., was originated by a small environmental group in Portland, the Northwest Environmental Defense Center.

West Coast Port Strike Ends

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/us/los-angeles-and-long-beach-ports-to-reopen-after-strike.html?hp&pagewanted=print&_r=0

After an eight-day strike that crippled the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, clerical workers from a local office of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union on Tuesday night agreed to a new contract with the terminal operators at the ports. Union members will return to work Wednesday morning.
As the strike dragged into its second week, both sides had come under increasing pressure from local officials to end the dispute, which had threatened to derail the Southern California economy during the holiday season. Officials from the Port of Long Beach estimated that $650 million in trade has been idled each day of the strike. A federal mediator arrived on Tuesday to help broker a deal.

Sappi Cloquet Union Votes This Week

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/251580/group/homepage/

United Steelworkers Local 11-63 will have a vote this week on a proposed contract with Cloquet’s Sappi Fine Paper, a week after it authorized a strike if the mill and union could not come to an agreement.

Arjowiggins Stops Production at Dalum Mill

Arjowiggins has permanently stopped pulp and paper production at its Dalum Papir mills in Denmark.

Dalum Papir, located in Odense on the island of Funen, can produce some 103,000 tonnes/yr of uncoated and light coated paper from recovered paper on PM 7. The 75,000 tonne/yr Maglemølle deinked pulp mill in Næstved on the island of Zealand supplies the paper factory with raw material.

Boise Names COO

http://www.paperage.com/2012news/12_04_2012boise_lassa_warren.html

Boise Inc. Promotes Judy Lassa to Chief Operating Officer

Boise Inc. announced that Judy Lassa will become executive vice president and chief operating officer of the company on January 1, 2013. 

Chinese-Croatian JV Building Paper Mill

Chinese-Croatian joint venture to build pulp and paper mill in Croatia
According to EUWID Pulp & Paper, the Chinese-Croatian joint venture Dravacel will build a pulp and paper mill in Croatia mill that will produce  500,000 tpy of coated graphic and packaging paper.
The joint venture is established by Croatian paper and packaging manufacturer PAN Papirna Industrija and China International Investment Stock. The mill will be located in in Slatina, in north-east Croatia.

Direct Mail Remains Consumers' Preference

Direct Mail Remains Consumers' Preferred Choice for Marketing Messages: Direct mail continues to deliver as consumers' preferred means of receiving marketing messages, with six out of 10 Americans reporting they "enjoy getting postal mail from brands about new products."

USPS Profit in October

http://postandparcel.info/52240/news/companies/usps-makes-profit-in-october-predicts-50-cut-in-losses-this-year/

The US Postal Service made a $61m profit in October, and even achieved 5.6% growth in its mail and services revenues compared to the same month last year.
And for the full year, the world’s largest postal service is now projecting that it will cut its losses in half, to $7.6bn for the fiscal year 2013.
The struggling Postal Service has been teetering on the edge of liquidity over the past year, defaulting on $11bn worth of payments to the federal government in August and September. Planning on a $14bn loss for fiscal year 2012, USPS actually recorded a $15.9bn loss for the 12 months up to the end of September, including the payments it refused to make.

Parcel Rate Increases for Retailers

http://www.retailonlineintegration.com/blog/parcel-rate-increases-2013-that-retailers-need-know

UPS announced 6.5 percent air increases partially offset by a 2 percent fuel surcharge reduction, and 5.9 percent average ground increase offset by a 1 percent fuel surcharge reduction. Rate increases will take effect Dec. 31, 2012.
Similarly, FedEx announced average rate increases of 5.9 percent for express and international services, offset by a 2 percent reduction in fuel surcharges. FedEx hasn't yet announced 2013 increases for FedEx Ground, FedEx Home Delivery or FedEx SmartPost, although it's expected to match the UPS ground increases highlighted above. FedEx's rate increases take effect Jan. 6, 2013.

How 2013 Postal Increase Will Affect You

http://www.thedirectmailman.com/direct_mail_answers_for_p/2012/09/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-every-door-direct-mail-website.html

An overall 2.57% United States Postal Service rate postage rate increase is scheduled to take effect on January 27th, 2013.
The interesting thing about postage rate increases is that they are typically not distributed equally across all classes of mail. As a result trying to determine exactly how the increase will impact you can be quite confusing.
The purpose of this short article is to break down how the rate increase impacts the different classes of postage. As a bulk mail professional, I'm most interested in the impact on letter-sized pieces and Every Door Direct Mail.

The Great Green Debate of the Printing Industry

The Great Green Debate of the Printing Industry:
Being at Graph Expo this year, I was interested to see how big of a topic environmental sustainability was. So many industry-leading printing equipment manufacturers were eager to demonstrate their environmentally responsible solutions. The industry has come under pressure in recent years as the growing trend to go “paperless” takes off. But what I was surprised to learn, and I’m hoping many others will be too, is that a number of myths exist regarding the sustainability of paper and the printing industry. Thanks to information I picked up in one booth from Two Sides (www.twosides.us), I engaged in my own version of myth-busters and would like to share the same with you.

Huey Prepares for Departure from Time

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/business/media/john-huey-editor-of-time-inc-prepares-to-leave.html?src=rechp&pagewanted=print

In the decade I’ve covered John Huey, I’d never once been to his magisterial office on the 34th floor of the Time & Life building. It is large and imposing in a way its occupant is not, an unlikely landing spot for an old newspaper hack. On the wall is a photograph of William Faulkner, “the patron saint of all hard-drinking Southern writers,” as Mr. Huey, a native of Atlanta, describes him.

Urban Outfitters Catalog Uses "Descriptive" Language

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/12/04/hip-retailer-urban-outfitters-drops-f-bombs-in-christmas-catalog/

The youth-centric retailer Urban Outfitters is hawking its Christmas merchandise along with some nasty language this year.
CBS 2′s Brad Edwards reports the company is pushing much more than knits and tees on the pages of its Christmas catalog...

Nintendo Power Magazine Shuttered

http://www.manolith.com/2012/12/03/nintendo-power-unplugged-iconic-game-magazine-releases-last-issue/

Well, gamers, it’s the end of an era. Nintendo Power has just released its final issue. As of December 2012, the iconic video game magazine is no more.

Possible Buyer for Whole Living

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/hachette_alums_could_keep_whole_ARgFj1NtE4Sra9zBSiAssL

Martha Stewart may have finally found a buyer for Whole Living — one that will keep the magazine alive even as big publishers Hearst and Meredith stayed out of the bidding.
One source said the winning bid could come from a group of Hachette alums — displaced in the Hearst takeover.

Is There Too Much Data?

Is There Too Much Data?: “Yes, we’re stalking you.”
That’s how one publisher puts it, referring to the amount of data available via mobile and social platforms, along with an ever-expanding online world.
Add those sources to an already-voluminous print database and publishers now have more information on their readers than they can even make use of.

NewPage Annouces New Delivery Guarantee Program

http://www.newpagecorp.com/wps/portal/corporate/home/!ut/p/c5/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3ifAG8jD28TI3cLY0djA08zPx8T_5BQYwN3Q_1wkA6zeFd3Mz9fH1NDA_dQHzMDz2CDUNNA3zBDC2MTiLwBDuBooO_nkZ-bql-QnZ3m6KioCAAzqV6s/dl3/d3/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/

NewPage Corporation (NewPage), a leading producer of high quality supercalendered rotogravure and offset printing papers, is pleased to announce today its Supercalendered Delivery Promise. Effective with confirmed orders with a requested delivery date on or after January 1, 2013, NewPage will assure that supercalendered paper will be provided to meet each and every press date. To demonstrate our confidence, customers will be entitled to a discount on their next order of similar size should NewPage not deliver on our Supercalendered Delivery Promise. "The Duluth, Minnesota, mill has been delivering on our commitments for 25 years," said Dawn Polaski, Customer Service manager at the NewPage Duluth mill. "We are thrilled to continue this legacy by offering the Supercalendered Delivery Promise."

Norske Reducing Magazine Paper Production 5%

Norske Skog plans to reduce its magazine paper production by 5%, or approximately 60,000 tonnes, in 2013 by taking temporary downtime throughout the year.

The company currently has a capacity utilization rate of 90% in its magazine paper division. This will be reduced to 85% next year, according to vice president of communications Carsten Dybevig.

"We constantly want to adapt ourselves to the market situation, and we want to use the downtime to achieve a better balance in the market, thus supporting the Euro 25-50/tonne [$32-65/tonne] price increase we seek," Dybevig told RISI.

Norske Skog has a capacity of some 1.26 million tonnes/yr of coated and uncoated magazine paper at three mills in Europe.

West Coast Ports Remain Closed, Worries About East Coast

Port terminals in Los Angeles and Long Beach remained shut this morning because of a strike by clerical workers - and reports today from the East Coast said shippers plan a "congestion surchage" as contract talks in the East remained difficult over a labor pact that is to be completed by Dec. 29.

Some steamship lines called for a $1,000 per 40-ft container congestion surcharge, effective Dec. 30, a contact said.

A contact today said that in the East, where up to 14 ports along the East and Gulf coasts are impacted by the contract, the International Longshoremen's Association was "holding firm" and negotiations "are not friendly."

On the East Coast, the largest port system is comprised of the New York/New Jersey terminals, which is the second largest US recovered paper export port system in the USA. 

Resolute’s CEO on Fort Frances, Resolute Pensions

Fort Frances area politicians meet with Resolute’s CEO:
Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP John Rafferty and Kenora-Rainy River MPP Sarah Campbell met with Richard Garneau, President and CEO of Resolute Forest Products and his advisor John Valley in Toronto recently to discuss the idling of Fort Frances kraft mill and one of its paper machines.
Rafferty asked Garneau if the rumour that Boise offered to buy the Forest Frances mill was true.
“I asked him about Boise and when I said that, he kind of chuckled a little bit and said, ‘That’s the first I’ve heard of it,” Rafferty said. “You know how rumours are. Boise made a strategic decision for them to buy pulp from their Washington mill and keep those guys working, and so that’s what happened,” Rafferty added.

http://ckdr.net/news/index.php#27138

A commitment from the president of Resolute Forest Products to maintain workers pensions.
It came during Richard Garneau's meeting with MP John Rafferty and MPP Sarah Campbell in Toronto.
Rafferty says Garneau told him that unlike some of its competitors, Resolute has not plans to end its commitment to pensions.