On "AD Announces Intent to Acquire supplyFORCE"

This is consolidation dressed up as opportunity, and it tilts the field harder against mid-market shops. AD swallowing supplyFORCE means fewer genuine independent voices at the table when national accounts get negotiated—the whole point of supplyFORCE was giving smaller distributors leverage they couldn't get alone. If you're a contractor working with regional distributors, you're about to see tighter margins and less flexibility as buying power concentrates further upstream. Watch your supplier relationships over the next year; this deal will ripple through pricing faster than you'd think.