Strange phone call from Kodak

I work at a photolab and we got a weird phone call on Friday from our sales rep at Kodak. Among other things, we were told that Kodak has stopped production of Endura Matte paper and the closest option to replace it was Ultra Endura Matte. I'm kind of shocked by this, especially since it was Kodak calling us directly, almost as if it was a last minute decision. Anyway, I have to assume it's true since it came from the top, but I still can't quite believe it. Seems like an odd choice of paper to discontinue--they claimed it was a slow seller. At our lab it is by far the most popular paper with customers. Weird.

What is the difference between the two? Ultra Endura Matte sounds like an improved version of Endura Matte. However, it seems that isn't the case with your lab.

A thread a few days ago purported to say that Ultra Endura was cancelled.

I'm rather amused at all of this.

PE

Photo Engineer said:

A thread a few days ago purported to say that Ultra Endura was cancelled.

I'm rather amused at all of this.

PE

Click to expand...

That's why I was so confused. The reason they called was to tell us they couldn't fill our order of the Endura. We actually used the Ultra before, but quite a few clients found it too contrasty (I personally LOVE the Ultra.) We order directly from Kodak, not through a distributor, so I am completely confused. They also mentioned that the VC paper that is on the website will now only be offered in one surface, not four as listed. I cannot remember if it is glossy or matte. We ended up ordering a bunch of the Ultra, but if people don't like it we may have to switch to Crystal Archive. It's too bad...we actually did side by side comparisons of the two papers (Endura & Crystal Archive) and did a "pick your favorite" thing, and people picked the Kodak most of the time (and they were shocked...most were loyal Fuji users!)

Strange call from Kodak--UPDATE

Hi all--
For anyone that read the post about the discontinuing of Edura Supra matte, I was able to get some updated news. It is NOT being discontinued completely, only in certain roll widths, such as 30" rolls (which we use at our lab.) There was confusion on both sides of that call, sorry for posting incomplete information. I spent a few nights just totally confused as to how Kodak could have decided to kill such a popular paper...now I get it. Well, sort of. I am still a bit confused why they would kill off that size (I know, sales sales sales) but being that our main printer is a 30" wide machine, it essentially will push us towards Fuji. The other item that is still out there is in regards to the new VC paper, it seems that the Kodak website was a bit overzealous in advertising 4 surfaces, it sounds like we will be lucky to get one surface assuming it gets released at all.

Apparently Kodak has discontinued various Supra, Ultra and Portra papers.
I was going through my supplier's website and didn't see 20x24 Supra glossy.
No response from them, but a friend with a stockhouse said that that had been discontinued. I don't use roll paper, and print with enlargers (kind of a dinosaur I guess), and that causes a problem, as I have clients that want 20x24 prints.
Portra is too flat, and Ultra is too contrasty. I also noted that the supplier doesn't show any Fuji papers in sheet sizes, and my friend said that Fuji couldn't tell him when any would be available. Just more items going away ...