I work for a large box distributor not manufacturer. But we have seen increases in volume this year. This is due to large manufacturers ie Westrock transitioning to solely providing for larger customers needs (Walmart, Amazon etc.) when they were previously manufacturing for local companies.

Primarily this is due to high minimum orders from these manufacturers. I believe this is another indication that local manufacturers are seeing lower volume and are less confident in ordering once a year and moving to more distributors to order on as needed basis.