Will pump pain kill journalism?

The likes of Singleton and Zell are doing their part, to be sure. But if and when a newspaper's obituary is written (probably on a craigslist post), coroners may determine skyrocketting gas prices to be the ultimate cause of death.
Gas prices are killing the business on multiple fronts, draining already shrinking household incomes, and creating a trickle-up effect that hurts retailers who no longer can afford to advertise to the few remaining readers we have.
But for those of us living on barely subsistence wages (I'm guessing about 90 percent of us), $4.20 a gallon is creating major hardship. If you commute 40 miles to work - and many of us have travel further - five times a week, you're spending $400 a month in a car that averages 20 mpg. That's almost five grand a year, that you have to earn about $7,000 (pretax) to cover. If you have bridge/tunnel tolls, it's even worse.
Exacerbating the problem is reduced travel, that's ostensibly cut our salary.
There seems to be no relief in sight. $5 gas doesn't appear to be far off, and $10-12 in years to follow.
And considering the precarious state of our industry, I'm not sure this is the best time to be asking for a raise.
Only idea I can come up with is editors cutting us a little more slack, allowing us to telecommute.

 

I've encouraged my people to work from home if they can.

And we're already looking at alternative travel (taking the train to Chicago, for example, for Big Ten football media days) or cutting some road trips.

 

An aspect many do not consider -- delivery workers are quitting because they are making less (fewer subscribers) while spending more (gas prices).

 

And newspapers are using it as an excuse to cut circulation in outlying areas for the same reason. They go hand in hand.

 

I've been saying around here for some time now that when the carriers get smart and figure out that they losing money by delivering the paper, they're gone. Fortunately, most of the ones we have aren't that sharp.

 

When sportschick leaves the business, we'll know that pump pain is well and truly hurting us.

 

Newspapers need to get in line behind about 10,000 other industries that are way more affected by the price of oil.

 

And its not like gas stations advertise. About the only bright spot is the increased use of public transit, which must help readership.

 

Great point about public transit. Hadn't thought of that. But I still think papers are going to have to start letting reporters, even editors, telecommute a few days a week to keep the profession viable. If it still is.

 

Maybe we can put bundles of papers on the bus and have the drivers drop 'em off at the racks.

 

Our place has had a blood bath with delivery people. We have routes open all over the place. Can't be filled. We raised the price of the paper, but didn't pass it on to the folks who deliver it.

For a suburban paper like ours that has a high home delivery rate, it is nearing catastrophic proportions.

 

I can lay out the paper and take calls from home. It wouldn't be that hard or expensive to make that adjustment, yet I'm not sure I see it happening at my shop.