POWER OF ATTORNEY


KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that the undersigned officer and/or director of
Essendant Inc., a Delaware corporation (the "Company"), hereby constitutes and
appoints each of Eric A. Blanchard and Cheryl M. Cromer, signing singly, as the
undersigned's true and lawful attorney-in-fact, to:

(a) execute for, in the name and on behalf of the undersigned, in the
undersigned's capacity as an officer and/or director of the Company, an Initial
Statement of Beneficial Ownership on Form 3 and/or any Statements of Changes in
Beneficial Ownership on Form 4 and any Annual Statements of Beneficial Ownership
on Form 5, together with any and all amendments thereto deemed necessary,
appropriate or desirable (collectively, the "Section 16 Forms"), pursuant to
Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the rules thereunder;

 (b) do and perform any and all acts for and on behalf of the undersigned which
may be necessary, appropriate or desirable to complete and execute any such
Section 16 Forms and timely file any such Section 16 Forms with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission and any stock exchange or market or similar
authority; and

 (c) take any other action of any type whatsoever in connection with the
foregoing which, in the opinion of such attorney-in-fact, may be of benefit to,
in the best interest of, or legally required by, the undersigned, it being
understood that the documents executed by such attorney-in-fact in the name and
on behalf of the undersigned pursuant to this Power of Attorney shall be in such
form and shall contain such terms and conditions as such attorney-in-fact may
approve in such attorney-in-fact's discretion.

The undersigned hereby grants to each such attorney-in-fact full power and
authority to do and perform any and every act and thing whatsoever required,
appropriate or desirable to be done in the exercise of any of the rights and
powers herein granted, as fully to all intents and purposes as the undersigned
might or could do if personally present, with full power of substitution or
revocation, hereby ratifying and confirming all that such attorney-in-fact, or
such attorney-in-fact's substitute or substitutes, shall lawfully do or cause to
be done by virtue of this Power of Attorney and the rights and powers herein
granted.  The undersigned acknowledges that the foregoing attorneys-in-fact, in
serving in such capacity at the request of the undersigned, are not assuming,
nor is the Company assuming, any of the undersigned's responsibilities to comply
with Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

	This Power of Attorney shall remain in full force and effect until the
undersigned is no longer required to file Section 16 Forms with respect to the
undersigned's holdings of and transactions in securities issued by the Company,
unless earlier revoked by the undersigned in a signed writing delivered to the
foregoing attorneys-in-fact.

	IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned has signed this Power of Attorney as of
this 12th day of November 2015.


						/s/Earl Shanks