Lee deskers: The light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train. Sorry.

Definitely agree. The more and more that these papers still get out after going to design and copy desk hubs (quality obviously notwithstanding), the more and more this will happen. Same with reducing the frequency of publication, further whittling of the staffs, etc.

 

I liked working for Lee until I was blindsided by a layoff some years ago. I have some great friends that still work there, so I'm certainly not rooting for that company (or any other newspaper company) to fail. But when you get booted to the street while executives are collecting ungodly bonuses weeks later, that type of shit is hard to forgive and forget.

 

+1

Only solace I take in this is that it seems to be hitting the Midwest papers, not what's left on the Coast after the North County Times was sold.

 

Isn't it hitting all the Lee papers, not just the Midwest papers?

In any case, that seems to be an odd thing to take solace in. Jobs lost are jobs lost. Where it happens doesn't make it suck any less.

 

As a Lee employee, I'm proud that the company is doing so well that in the past year Mary Junck has been able to take not just one, but two bonuses that were each worth more than the TOTAL amount of money I have earned there in my 15 years. After all, under her leadership, Lee's stock price has gone from $44.55 a share seven years ago to $1.29. (Dear God, I'm glad I was paid so poorly that I had to get out of the employee stock purchase program before Lee bought St. Louis.)

 

Nothing was more irritating than being handed the Lee "prayer card" (Objectives 1-5: Make more money!) and then being forced to listen to Mary Junck's nasally voice on the ridiculous videos they sent out every year telling us to work harder for the same or less money, while she was pulling down major jack while running the company into the ground.

At least the Schermer family made an effort to treat its employees somewhat fairly. Alas, those days are long, long gone and never coming back, just like the days of $44 Lee stock and quarterly dividends.

 

Never met Mary Junck, never heard one of her videos. I made a point to be "on assignment" whenever they scheduled one of those meetings. I just focused on doing my job, having a good time doing it, meeting interesting people, writing interesting stories and coming up with cool ideas for special sections and section fronts.

I tried to tune out the corporate jingo. It's poison to a journalist's soul. If I had wanted to deal with that on a daily basis, I would have become an accountant or something.

 

So glad I never bought Lee stock when I worked there. Turned out to be the equivalent of setting cash on fire and pissing on it to put the fire out.

 

You would feel differently if you worked for Lee in the 1980s and 1990s. Lee stock was an exceptional investment. You could buy it at 85 percent of the lower price on two predetermined days, it split 2-3 times over the years, and always went back up to the high $30s or low $40s after splitting and dropping down to $20 or so. Lee stock bought my house, a car, a new roof, etc.

Then they forgot what made them successful. Now it wouldn't buy a week's worth of groceries.

 

Considering I started in 2004 ...