We buy direct from 3M, and our rep briefed us on the tariff situation. Commercial products and certain reflectives (Glass beads) are being affected by the tarrifs, but traffic reflectives are not, as 3M is eating the increase on traffic... My guess is because even though they have a force majeure clause in their contract.... traffic pricing is under contract for us, and they don't want to increase it - He doesn't have an exact # for it yet, but said it'll be happening shortly.
We have a contract we won for BC thats worth 140K... Our material cost is 60K, and it's a special order product from US 3M. It's on the list of items that will be receiving a tariff price increase.... It will be between a 15, and a 20K hit... which will knock all the proffit out of the job. Luckly we just re-signed the contract and did our own price is subject to tarrifs clause in it... But that'll still be a fun phone call, and I'm betting they put the order on hold until the tariffs go away.
I spoke to our grimco rep, and was told theyre in talks with all their suppliers right now, and from what he's hearing all vinyl will be going up on price, even some of their Canadian made vinyl - The tarrifs are so broad that somewhere in the supply chain, some part of it is produced or purchased in USA.
[Edit] I havent panic bought too much... I bought most of the epson ink that was in stock, between 2-3 of each color, We normally keep 2 on hand... so adding an extra wasn't too bad. I've been doubling up on some stock... Nikkalite reflective for example, I usually bring in 5 30" and 5 48" rolls at a time since it comes from USA - but with japan being hit hard with tarrifs... this time we brought in 10 of each roll, about a 3 month supply. Traffic products are what we mainly worried about - Hard to increase traffic pricing when it's under contract for most municipalities'. Commercial products like IJ40 / 180... Those generally get quoted at the time of the job, so if the product costs 25% more... it's not hard to increase the price to make up for it.
We buy Hi-coroplast, which is Canadian produced, so it wont be affected - Our supplier is bringing in Aluminum composite from China instead of USA... supposedly same brand, Aluminum already comes direct from China or Canada.
Polyplatye we use quite a bit of... manufactured in USA, usually we buy it by the skid and have a 6 month supply... But we'll be pushing people to alternatives, and only bringing in what we need. I dont know if the other PVC/Komacel type products are from US or not... Most of the stuff has an alternative.
All we have to do is pay more taxes and it's fixed 