Concerning Security and Safety...
Jim,
Busiest port: Shanghai
Milk and orange juice containers indeed. I prefer the paper ones because they seem to fit into the fridge more efficiently.
The letters you received last week were great. The one on old farm tractors was interesting because in a former life I tried to sell one or two. Old tractors have an avid following like antique cars although a smaller group. One time a fellow came in and looked at a small 1950 something tractor we had. He pointed out every modification past owners had made to it. One of the tricks of the trade: fill the rear tires with water to improve rear weight distribution and traction. Best I could tell old tractors were made with so much overkill that you couldn't kill them. Even the little ones had massive parts and slow turning internals.
How much of an impact will the Citigroup fiasco have on our industry?
Gene Canavan
Prattville, Alabama, USA
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Ok, Gene. So I was the old tractor guy. It was a Massey-Harris "Pony." The Citigroup (and other financial institution) "fiascos" will have little impact on our industry [disclosure: I bought some Citigroup (NYSE: C) stock on 5 Nov 07]. Housing has already been affected, this "new" information is just revealing all that has been going on. It is amazing--bad judgement nearly always becomes public, yet people continue to make errors that are whoppers.
Jim
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Jim:
I enjoyed your article concerning the use of paperboard packaging to replace plastic containers. This is a great opportunity for the Paper Board Industry to gain some momentum and address a pressing need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Having spent 37 years in the paper industry, I totally understand this as a golden opportunity to regain some respect.
Best Regards,
Doug Knott
Paducah, Kentucky, USA
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Thanks, Doug.
Jim
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Jim,
The timing of your comments on paperboard liquid packaging is interesting in the wake of both IP and Blue Ridge recently divesting their liquid packaging business units to Rank Group/Carter Holt & Harvey. There is significant development going on in this area - unfortunately not by North American paper companies.
Best regards,
Charles P. Klass
Redington Beach, Florida, USA
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Concerning Paper vs. Plastic...
Jim,
While returning from an overseas vacation we had a layover in Incheon, South Korea. We had a snack at the KFC located in the airport. (It was amazing to see how many US corporations had food outlets in the other countries with the little twists for their area. Subway sells lamb meatball subs and lamb and cheese subs in New Zealanad. The sheep out populate the citizens 10:1). For the cole slaw, we got a cardboard piece that when folded worked remarkably well as a spoon/fork (or spork or foon). I was wondering if you might want to research and present some paper uses in the rest of the world that supplant the use of plastc in the US.
Michael E. Higgins
St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
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Thanks, Michael. Ironically, I have been at a meeting at IPST the last couple of days where in the hall conversations we were lamenting over how plastic has taken the initiative from us (if we ever had it). We must take advantage of the relatively high cost of oil to make inroads like you mention.
Jim
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