Lead story · Issue 001

New duties on 60 countries. Your Q4 landed cost just moved.

Three things changed on September 16. Imports from 60 countries now pay an extra 10% or 12.5%, and most catalogs do not say where a product is made. Many Canadian goods, including apparel, pay an extra 50%, even when they qualify under USMCA. And the Fed raised rates for the first time since 2023, so buying inventory early to beat the tariffs now costs more too.

5 min read · Full explainer in Longer reads

Every date, rate and what to re-quote

By the numbers. Three figures behind this issue, each from a source you can open.

60Countries whose goods now pay an extra 10% or 12.5% at the US border. Most catalogs do not show country of origin.

3.75 to 4%The Fed's interest rate after the September 16 increase. The first rise since 2023. Another may come this year.

$25.5BWhat US promo distributors sold in 2025, up 4.1%. Counselor says part of that growth was higher prices, not more orders.

01Three things to know

What moved between Sep 5 to Sep 18.

Software

commonsku's new automation chases stalled orders for you. Its AI agents are not here until Q4.

commonsku is the platform many distributors run quotes and orders on. Two weeks after it launched the Automation Engine, 95 distributors had turned it on and it had created more than 3,000 follow-up tasks for orders that sat too long. The AI agents it has talked about are still promised for Q4, and only on the two higher-priced plans.

commonsku says an average project takes 41 days from first presentation to invoice. Time yours. If you are slower, the problem is follow-up, not selling.

commonsku · Sep 17

Software

The company that owns Syncore told its investors it is raising prices

Syncore is the software behind Facilisgroup, owned by the UK-listed Pebble Group. Its latest report shows subscription revenue up 12% and names price increases and longer contracts as part of the plan. Syncore did ship three real features on September 1. Its AI tools are still planned for 2027.

If your Syncore contract renews in the next twelve months, start the conversation now.

RNS, Facilisgroup · Sep 8

Merch

A $40 Starbucks cup is reselling for $200. The trick is a purchase limit.

Starbucks sold a $39.95 Snoopy glass cup, two per customer. It sold out the morning it launched and resells for $200. Stanley did the same with a Farm Rio print: nearly half the run sold in the first week, and six of its ten best-sellers that week came from the collab.

Copy it for a corporate program: one seasonal or licensed print, a cap of one or two per person, and a date. Scarcity is a rule you set, not a budget you spend.

Seattle Times, Glossy · Sep 15

02What to sell now

Six programs that remove a buyer's risk. Reported is what the source says. Move is our read.

Q4 program

Full-colour calendars at the price of one colour

Koozie Group, a large supplier, installed a new digital press at its calendar plant in Minnesota. Full-colour printing is now standard at no extra charge on its desk pads, executive calendars and contractor calendars. All 75 styles now have guaranteed stock, and the minimum order size went down. Separately, ASI's research says 76% of people would look at a promo calendar at least once a week, and half would keep one they liked.

Source: PPAI PromoWire

The moveSell it as a year of weekly exposure that costs a fraction of a cent per view, using full-colour art the client already owns. Because minimums dropped, small offices and branch locations can order too.

Gifting

Let the recipient choose the gift, with no platform fee

HIRSCH, a top-15 supplier, launched Gratigy, a free online tool where a distributor sets up a 'redemption store'. The client's employees or customers go to the store and pick their own gift. Only redemption stores are available at launch. HIRSCH says a store takes under ten minutes to set up with no technical work; that is the company's own claim.

Source: PPAI PromoWire

The moveSome clients say no to a single gift because sizes and tastes vary. Offer a store where each person picks. The software fee that used to make this too expensive for small groups is now zero.

Retail brands

Hydro Flask, now available through a normal promo supplier

Gemline, a promo supplier, added 83 Hydro Flask products: bottles, tumblers, mugs, coolers and food containers. It added the LifeStraw brand in July. Prices and any exclusivity were not announced. Around the same time, Owala, another popular bottle brand, sold out a Pokémon edition at Target within days.

Source: GRAPHICS PRO

The moveClients ask for the brands their staff already carry. Buying Hydro Flask through Gemline means one purchase order, one set of decoration rules and normal promo terms, instead of a special order. Expect clients to ask for Owala next.

Events

Sell the booth experience, not the giveaway

In an ASI feature, supplier HPG describes running seven activities in one trade show booth. The slow one, a make-your-own-bag station with a line, produced the most sales conversations, because the wait gave reps time to talk. Bank of America made charm bracelets for fans at FIFA events with a photo booth that texted each person their picture. One distributor in the piece, Sonic Promos, warns that an activation with no way to collect leads 'has done it for no purpose'.

Source: ASI Central

The movePlan the line on purpose. Add one step that captures something, like a texted photo, a QR code scan or a gift pickup. Put that number in the proposal before you pick the merch. Then you are charging for design and staff time, not just items.

HR programs

Welcome kits for new hires who have not started yet

Social Imprints, a distributor, published a post on 'pre-boarding' kits. It says nearly one in four people who accept a job offer back out before they start when the job market is competitive, and the wait between accepting and day one is usually four to twelve weeks. Most kits cost $35 to $75 and ship within 72 hours of the signed offer. Their example: on a class of 200 new graduates, a 5% improvement means ten more people show up on day one.

Source: Social Imprints

The moveSell this to the head of hiring, not the purchasing department, and price it per accepted offer. Send the kit automatically when the offer is signed, before the new hire takes another interview somewhere else.

Print + promo

Add a print line to every quote and you get invited earlier

ASI profiled emblm, a Maine company that started as a print shop in 1993 and added promo in 2015. The owner's point is simple: when you can do both print and promo, clients bring you in earlier and on bigger projects. Her words: 'you'd be doing yourself a disservice as a distributor if you aren't also doing print.'

Source: ASI Central

The movePut signage, invitations, packaging or inserts on every event and campaign quote, even if a partner prints them. You are quoting the whole job, not one item. Boundless, a top-20 distributor, just hired a print manager for the same reason.

03Margin and sourcing rules

Eight rules for the quarter, each led by the number that changed.

60 countries

Give every quote an expiry date and a stated country of origin.

Any quote with goods from the 60 affected countries or from Canada should say when the price expires and which country you assumed the goods come from. There is no single tariff rate to look up per product, so the assumption has to be written down, not kept in someone's head.

PPAI tracker →

Option B

Show a second sourcing option on the same page.

Do not wait for the client to push back on price. Show what changes in cost, delivery time and product if the goods come from a different country. Then the client chooses, and you are not the one stuck with a surprise.

$134.7B

Ask suppliers about tariff refunds.

Earlier in 2026 the Supreme Court struck down a set of tariffs that had been imposed under an emergency-powers law called IEEPA. Importers who paid them can get refunds. By September 11, US Customs had accepted about $134.7 billion in refund claims, and a third round opens October 6. If your supplier paid those tariffs in 2025, ask whether any of the refund reaches your price. Most will not offer it unless asked.

Supply Chain Dive →

$3M

Claim your JDS credit before you quote awards.

JDS Industries, a supplier of awards and sublimation blanks, is giving more than $3 million back to customers whose purchases were affected by tariffs. It comes as a credit on your JDS account for future orders. Check your account and use it before you price Q4 recognition programs.

GRAPHICS PRO →

$25

Treat supplier notices as reasons to call a client.

Three examples this month. Promovision will add a $25 fee on orders under $100 from October 1. Dubow and Burnside started free freight on orders that ship Tuesdays and Fridays. Gold Bond pays distributor rewards on orders of $500 or more of its top 65 items through December 31. Combine small orders before the fee starts, route drinkware to Gold Bond, and go back to stalled quotes where free freight improves the number.

ASI roundup →

42%

Sell fewer, better apparel pieces, and say why.

PPAI's sustainability summit reported that about 42% of the merch made is never worn, and the average T-shirt is worn seven times. Two rules are coming that clients will ask about: California's SB 253 climate reporting deadline on November 10, and the SB 707 textile rules that will make clothing brands pay toward waste. Smaller runs of better product is the answer to both.

PPAI Media →

Line items

Charge for the work around the product.

Online stores, size and location lists, kitting rules, getting rid of old stock, and reporting all take real staff time, and they remove risk for the client. Put them on the proposal as their own lines. If you hide them in the item price, they get negotiated away.

$0.75

Build holiday shipping fees into Q4 kits.

UPS adds $0.75 per residential ground package from November 22 to December 26, up from $0.60 last year. FedEx's holiday residential fee runs $1.70 to $9.35 per package depending on your volume. Diesel hit a record $6.29 a gallon, and carrier fuel surcharges follow diesel.

Value Added Resource →

04Workflow upgrades

Four things other shops did this month that a small team can copy.

Time your quotes, then test AI on the first draft.

Kevin Walsh, president of supplier Showdown Displays, argues AI will help the shops that are already organised, and that the first place it matters is quote speed: seconds instead of next day. Try it: time ten quotes from request to first usable option. Use AI to draft five of them. Have a person check all ten. Compare speed and how many needed fixing.

PPAI Media →

Give online stores and print a named owner.

Boundless, a top-20 distributor, hired one person to run print and another to run online stores. The lesson for a smaller shop: those two lines need someone with a target and a pipeline, not spare time from sales reps.

ASI Central →

Turn what your company already knows into a search tool.

commonsku built a free question-and-answer tool from the transcripts of 350 podcast episodes. The team says most of the work was cleaning up names and industry terms in the text. A distributor can start smaller: your approved case studies, proposal wording, decoration rules and answers for each industry you serve.

skucast →

Keep a written rush list with real turnaround times.

SAGE profiled Soardist, a supplier of tents, flags and display products that sells only through distributors. Many display items ship 24 to 48 hours after artwork approval, apparel in three to five business days, with no minimum order and a lifetime warranty on tent frames. When a client needs something in a week, the rep who knows who can deliver wins the order.

SAGE →

05Five tests for next week

Small, measurable, one week each.

Your week, in five moves.

Pick one a day. Each takes an hour or less and tells you something you can act on by Friday.

1Check every open apparel and hard-goods quote for country of origin, tariff exposure, an expiry date and a second sourcing option.
2Send one welcome-kit idea to three heads of hiring. Track whether they talk about new hires backing out, not about the product.
3Add one page to an event proposal that says what guests will do at the booth, how you will count it, and who follows up.
4Ask three suppliers, in writing, whether tariff refunds, tariff credits or holiday freight changes reach your price. Start with JDS.
5Time ten quotes from request to first usable option. Draft five with AI, check all ten by hand, and compare.

06In brief

Everything else worth a minute. Each card links out.

Money back

SanMar names its first chief operating officer: Pat Noonan now runs product, IT, shipping and the order system at the largest apparel supplier

members.asicentral.com · Sep 15

People

ASI hires a former Zillow product executive to run ESP+ and its AI tools; no dates for new features yet

members.asicentral.com · Sep 14

Deals

iPROMOTEu's Distributor Exchange buys Flywheel Brands, so its network now owns print and fulfillment instead of outsourcing it

graphics-pro.com · Sep 15

People

Counselor's state report: Texas is the biggest promo market at $4.0 billion, Illinois grew fastest at 7%, Maryland was the only state to shrink

members.asicentral.com · Sep 2

Public companies

Stran, the only publicly traded promo distributor, grew sales 2.4% to $33.4 million last quarter

fool.com · Aug 18

Deadline

From October 22, consumer products sent by mail into the US need safety certificates filed electronically before they arrive

ppai.org · Sep 9

Suppliers

A law firm is investigating Gildan over claims it shipped more T-shirts than the market wanted; if true, blank prices soften

globenewswire.com · Sep 2

Gifting

Stadium, the company behind SwagMagic, bought Confetti, so one vendor can now sell the swag and the team event together

prweb.com · Sep 16

Entertainment

Movie studios now order about 5,000 promo pieces per film instead of 30,000 or more, and want them in two weeks

members.asicentral.com · Sep 5

07Longer reads

The numbers behind the month, with a source on every line.