Will Sandy's bold idea lessen lower back pain for millions of picnicking Americans?

Let's hope so, but in the meantime, Sandy's dream of Basket Paper has become reality! Her Basket Paper concept may not yet lighten your lunchtime load when it comes to picnic baskets, but it'll definitely insure you're not out to lunch when it comes to new papers.

Like the perfect picnic, it's true: Basket Paper is festive, fun, and oh so refreshing, too!

Once you begin using Basket Paper, neither you nor your clients will ever have to worry about becoming basket cases. Simply remember to be sure to read the rest of PaperView for a more enlightening summary of Basket Paper.

Whether it's at the beach or in the back yard, curling up with a good book is definitely one of summer's delightful pleasures. Sure, it's a busy summer season, but don't forget: the days are longer, there are several lengthy holiday weekends like the Fourth of July, and your favorite TV show is only showing reruns.

Besides, no matter how many ball games, graduations, weddings and whatever else you have to attend to this summer, you can always squeeze in at least a little reading time, right? So, while you're thumbing through that recent bestseller, take a few seconds to look at your book cover and endleaf pages.

If it's a hardcover edition, there's a good chance that some of those pages in your book may very well be from Ecological Fibers. A leading supplier to the book publishing and packaging industries, Massachusetts-based Ecological Fibers has been marketing an enormous variety of endleaf, side, spine, and cover papers since 1972. Although primarily designed for books, the company's creative collection of papers is appropriate for many graphic design applications.

As befitting their corporate name, Ecological Fibers is highly committed to safely satisfying not only today's customer needs, but the needs of future generations' as well. Accordingly, Marketing Coordinator Donna Lafarier believes that "children are the reason why Ecological Fibers puts such great efforts into making sure our products are environmentally friendly." Many of their paper products contain recycled fiber. Plus, all of the company's coated products are made with 100% solvent-free, water-based coatings.

Along with paper, Ecological Fibers also offers a number of other artistically interesting book materials like leather, cloth, and headbands (the braided binding material). Many of these unique products are fantastic for all kinds of design projects such as CD/multimedia packaging kits, gift bags, and photo albums.

This month's edition of PaperView is printed on Ecological Fiber's 80 lb. Cafe Rainbow^® endleaf paper that's embossed with the Basketweave finish. A stock like this is typical of the mill's tremendous selection of color and embossing options. With low minimum order quantities and the ability to obtain such papers quickly, Ecological Fibers can make your next communications project a bestseller!

Basket Paper

Weights 70 lb. Text , 80 lb. Text

Sheet Sizes Variable

Sheets/Carton Variable

Colors Assorted Colors (70 lb.= 76 Colors, 80 lb.= 82 Colors)

Other Assorted Embossed Finishes, Chlorine-Free (ECF), Select Colors Acid-Free, Select Colors Recycled

Shown on 80 lb. Cafe Basketweave Rainbow^® Text.

When you're stressed out about an order, nothing can lower your blood pressure faster than a good customer service representative. From improving late shipments to finding supposedly "out-of-stock" items, customer service reps or CSRs are arguably a paper company's most valuable asset. Erin Oxendine, a CSR at Midwest Laminating, has made stress reduction an art. Thanks to her excellent people skills, Erin has begun to develop quite a reputation for service, despite being a relative newcomer to the industry. In an interview with PaperView from her office in Chicago, Erin shared some of her insights into the customer service world.

PV: Besides the obvious like processing orders, are there other essential customer services that you provide?

EO: Supplying correct pricing, concise product descriptions, and reasonable lead times in a timely manner is a huge part of good customer service.

PV: We've all heard the old customer service commandment that the customer is always right. What's your take on this principle?

EO: If I have done my job correctly by helping my customer make the necessary decisions about a product based on their specific needs, then the customer IS always right!

PV: Many industries are moving toward automated phone systems, yet it seems that most paper converters like Midwest still rely, at least to some extent, on the human touch. Why do you think this is?

EO: Although automation can be convenient, I believe that customers prefer a professional, friendly voice that can be related to on a personal level. It's an element only a real person can provide.

PV: What do you consider the most challenging aspect of customer service?

EO: The diversity of product applications is definitely stimulating. Every day, I speak with people all over the country who have different ideas and purposes for our laminated and coated products.

PV: What's the strangest customer service request you've ever received?

EO: I can remember receiving a customer inquiry for "holographic hippos" to be laminated to a 16 pt. board!

Wipe It: Paper napkins, introduced during the 1930's by Scott Paper, became popular because they eliminated the tiring task of washing and ironing linen napkins.

Paper Stamp: One ton of paper, the equivalent of 40 cartons of 8-1/2 x 11 copy paper, is enough paper to produce about 15 million postage stamps.

Spider-Man: Sheet-web weavers are spiders that weave flat sheets of silk web between branches of trees, shrubs or blades of grass.

A. Jog

B. Calender Streaks

C. Calender Stack

1. Usually, imperfections known as _____ occur when paper is unevenly dried and pressed before calendering.

2. Located at the dry end of the paper machine, the _____ consists of a series of steel rolls used to smooth and level paper.

3. To _____ paper, either a manual or mechanical procedure is used to knock the sheets against a smooth surface, resulting in a smoothsided stack of paper.