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Delivery by mail

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Shoeless Joe, Apr 16, 2014.

  1. Shoeless Joe

    Shoeless Joe Active Member

    One of the papers in my region - a 5 day a week daily - recently fired all its carriers and went to mail delivery. At BEST, subscribers are going to get their paper a day late, more than likely 2-3 days after the fact.

    Has this paper thrown in the towel?
     
  2. jackfinarelli

    jackfinarelli Well-Known Member

    It depends on the coverage. Magazines arrive weekly at best but they do not try to cover "breaking stories" in a time-dominated way. If this paper adjusts its coverage to that style, it may survive if the quality of the writing/analysis/reporting is sufficient.

    If they are going to try to cover "breaking news", then I think they have thrown in the towel...
     
  3. I Should Coco

    I Should Coco Well-Known Member

    The small daily I worked at in Michigan (granted, this was about 15 years ago) used to get in-town subscribers that day's paper via mail by labeling it ourselves and delivering it to several local post offices early in the A.M.

    Of course, the vast majority of subscribers didn't have the newspaper to read at breakfast time (unless they slept in and mail was delivered in the morning).

    Maybe this move will boost rack sales, Shoeless Joe ... ::)
     
  4. apeman33

    apeman33 Well-Known Member

    When we switched to all-mail, we also switched to mornings. The post office here is a hub (zip code xxx01), so not only does in-town get delivered the same day but most of the rural towns in our area get it the same day. All we have to do is get all the papers to the post office by 4:30 a.m.

    Rural delivery is actually better than it was when we printed afternoons. Those subscribers used to have a one- or two-day delay. Now those subscribers get it the same day as well.

    Our sister paper, where ours is printed, has to deliver the paper to each post office since theirs is not a hub. But they also get extra time to get those papers distributed since they have an hour later deadline and some of the rural post offices don't have to have the papers until 6:30.

    I've heard of one place that went all-mail and had to switch back to carriers (Garden City, Kan.). Apparently, people (including my parents) were upset about not being able to read their "morning" paper until they came home from work because their mailman didn't come around until 2:30 in the afternoon. They switched back to carriers and ran house ads promising home delivery by 7:30 a.m.

    Here, people don't seem to care that much. I suppose they're happy our little town still has a "daily" paper (even though we dropped the Thursday edition a month ago ... partly because of the increase in postage) so what's it matter if they don't get to read it until after 5 when they get home? One person told me that he says it's a "when you get it paper" versus a "morning paper."
     
  5. flexmaster33

    flexmaster33 Well-Known Member

    We made the switch at our shop several years back and it went off without a hitch...the bulk of our subscribers get the paper same day, although we went to early-evening deadlines instead of late-night deadlines to make it work. But the switch up saved a sizable chunk of the budget and save a ton of delivery hassles.
     
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