Dell, Tyson, Samsung and watermelon farms purchase boxes to ship their products to stores and occasionally directly to consumers. Grocery stores and fast food restaurants purchase paper bags to hold customer merchandise. McDonalds and Starbucks purchase their coffee cups directly from the manufacturer. Shredded paper is purchased and distributors, such as Wal-Mart, Staples and Office Max, break down pallets and sell individual reams and cartons to consumers. The vast majority of paper buyers are large customers and often prefer generic products; therefore buyers have enormous bargaining power. Manufacturers attempted to raise prices in the mid-2000s, but faced strong opposition and their efforts failed (“The Paper Business Is Mature,” 2013). Even when manufacturers have changed ways and found ways to produce paper more economically by increasing productivity by up to 30%; buyers asked for and received lower prices from