Where is Your Money Going

Using the pulp example, Carter suggests printers should do their best not to let a paper supplier pass that 10 percent increase on pulp right through to the final product, because there are costs that did not go up that are factored into that new price on paper. "Printers try to do the same thing," he says. "If their paper costs go up 10 percent, they'll try to quote their prices up 10 percent, whereas their labor cost didn't go up 10 percent, their capital costs didn't go up 10 percent, and their transportation costs didn't go up 10 percent."