One of the two paper mills in the town that I live in is closing. They shut down a couple of paper machines late last year resulting in 150 layoffs, they're now permanently closing down the entire mill.
The economy sucks and the papermaking industry has been taking a hit for years. The mill that my father works at makes coated paper products for magazines and catalogs, for some ignorant reason the management of the mill thought it was a great idea to run above production quotas for a significant portion of last year, so the mill had product sitting in the warehouse that the customers would eventually need instead of running at quota and making paper as the customer needs it. They've temporarily cut back on hours for production while keeping the power plants running continuously so they're now only making paper when electricity is cheap so they pay less for electricty and during peak hours they're selling electricity to the grid.
Thankfully this mill has some very well establish printers that produce MAJOR publications so the liklihood of the second mill shutting down is slim, but still, this town was built around the papermills, for many people it is all they have known. I'm sure there are many people in town now wondering what they're going to do next. It is just a horrible helpless feeling
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