WHEN DID COVER STOCK PAPER PRICES SOAR?

Just asking…

Have you noticed the surge in cost of vellum or cover stock, a staple in paper crafts?

As a card-maker hobbyist, I’ve been using the vellum paper for decades. It’s got more body and stiffness than the everyday document “typewriter paper,” what you commonly use in your copier.

Back in the day, a ream (250 sheets, 67 lbs.) cost under $5 a ream, then periodically became more expensive over the past four decades.

It was more than three years ago, prior to the start of the COVID pandemic, that I bought my last ream of plain white vellum paper. If you’re a hobbyist, you know that these cover stock paper comes in a range of colors, from pastel pink and blue, to yellow and green, and even tonier hues of orchid or peach.

Prices have been gradually escalating, like everything else, to $16 and $18 a ream…the last time I purchased several reams.

But ouch! When I visited Fisher’s the other day, the price tag was more than doubled, to $30-plus for a ream for the Springhill brand, the one I usually bought. For red, and dark colors like purple and garden green, I had to purchase another brand at Office Depot that was always costlier.

At Fisher, I located another brand, Hammermill, for under $19, so purchased that.

But I wanted to find out what comparison costs were at Office Depot and not surprisingly, the price tags were over $30 for cover stock and even standard copier paper.

It might be cheaper to shop at Amazon, which sells the Springhill product for $16.34.

Besides card-making, I need the vellum paper to create mounting labels for the holiday pins I make.

Just wondered if anyone else has encountered the soaring cost of paper.