How long until we see ....

[Write-brained]

Sunday weeklies.

How long until newspapers decide they can cut staff and cut paper costs by doing 24-hour news on the web during the week and then one fat Sunday paper with quick-hits and long stories to go with their ads and coupons?

Ever?

Just a thought. Not an appealing one by any means, but I'm just trying to anticipate the next step.

 

[Satchel Pooch]

I wondered that same thing about a year ago (with the proviso that they can also print special editions after big game wins so people have something to pin up on their walls.)

Why WOULDNT they do this?

 

[Michael_ Gee]

It's not a terrible idea-I mean, financially. It might appeal to my old paper, a number two daily, as a means of cutting costs. But once again, would the advertisers go for it. You'd be losing a lot of revenue up front-a lot.

 

[FileNotFound]

If the revenue generated by the print paper isn't covering the costs of the infrastructure required to produce the print paper, there will be no alternative.

 

[pressmurphy]

More than a few analysts and newspaper insiders have said the first step will be the demise of Saturday editions of dailies, which creates a lot of efficiencies by itself.

Some of the departments that currently need to be staffed seven (or at least six) days a week, can be cut back to five days, which means publishers can get rid of positions that existed to allow seven-day staffing.

Ad-production departments, for instance, spend Friday building the Saturday section and getting a big jump on Sunday and Monday. Without a Saturday paper, they can get the entire Sunday/Monday workload out of the way on Friday and then just staff minimally to handle emergencies on Saturday. Based on what I saw at my last shop, that would be the equivalent of four or more full-time positions that could be eliminated right off the bat.

Repeat the exercise at the printing plant, in the newsroom and a few other departments and the savings add up. Display advertisers simply shift most of their ads to the Friday or Sunday papers, so that revenue is preserved. Classified advertising would take a hit on private-party ads, etc., but that's a category that's already been ravaged by the Internet -- losing another 15 percent of business there doesn't amount to nearly as much of a blow as it would have 10 years ago.

I would guess that the six-day publishing schedule could be preserved for several years, followed by gradual reductions to four days a week and then three. Fingers crossed, you're all retired by the time it becomes a Sunday-only business.

 

[buckweaver]

Here's a question, that I'm not sure I understand in the wake of so many cost-cutting moves recently:

There are so many expenses involved in putting out a daily newspaper. How much percentage of the total expenses of a daily newspaper does payroll/staffing take up? Not just employees' salaries, but the cost of keeping an individual employee on staff (which includes things like insurance coverage, work expenses, etc.)? Are papers that cut staff really saving enough money -- on that expense alone -- to make a difference?

 

[Flip Wilson]

More than a few analysts and newspaper insiders have said the first step will be the demise of Saturday editions of dailies, which creates a lot of efficiencies by itself.

High school football coverage in these parts sells a lot of Saturday papers, as I'm sure it does in many parts of the country. I wonder if that was taken into consideration by the analysts and insiders.

 

[93Devil]

More than a few analysts and newspaper insiders have said the first step will be the demise of Saturday editions of dailies, which creates a lot of efficiencies by itself.

High school football coverage in these parts sells a lot of Saturday papers, as I'm sure it does in many parts of the country. I wonder if that was taken into consideration by the analysts and insiders.

My mother's home town paper actually added a Saturday paper in the last decade, and I would guess it was to placate the rabid high school fans who were just buying the Friday night scores at a different paper.

I think doing away with the Wednesday paper would be a bad idea. Isn't this the day when supermarkets run new ads?

I also do not see a 60-something hopping online to check obits every morning, or them checking the church section online.

In 10-15 years, the future 60-somethings will be much more computer savvy, but IMHO, the current ones just are not.

So maybe in a decade, we could see these changes.

 

[pressmurphy]

More than a few analysts and newspaper insiders have said the first step will be the demise of Saturday editions of dailies, which creates a lot of efficiencies by itself.

High school football coverage in these parts sells a lot of Saturday papers, as I'm sure it does in many parts of the country. I wonder if that was taken into consideration by the analysts and insiders.

The analysts are all 51/49 guys, which is to say that they'll take a particular side in an argument if 51 percent of the financial data supports it. They look at the big picture and leave it to others to fix the damage (high school school football coverage, for instance) that gets done along the way. Not saying it's right, but that's the way the bottom-liners do it.

FWIW, though, you have to ask whether 12-14 weeks of high school football is enough justification for publishing 52 Saturday editions.

 

[pressmurphy]

Here's a question, that I'm not sure I understand in the wake of so many cost-cutting moves recently:

There are so many expenses involved in putting out a daily newspaper. How much percentage of the total expenses of a daily newspaper does payroll/staffing take up? Not just employees' salaries, but the cost of keeping an individual employee on staff (which includes things like insurance coverage, work expenses, etc.)? Are papers that cut staff really saving enough money -- on that expense alone -- to make a difference?

A partial answer to this: The cost of benefits, etc., averages 30-40 percent of salary (depends largely upon the percentage of health-care costs the employee is asked to pay).

At a former shop of mine, I believe the payroll/benefits accounted for about 40 percent of the company-wide expense budget five years ago. I have heard estimates that the number at other locations hovers closer to 50 percent, which seems unsustainable in my mind.

 

[FileNotFound]

Payroll is, traditionally, a newspaper's single largest expense. Newsprint is No. 2.

 

[Steak Snabler]

More than a few analysts and newspaper insiders have said the first step will be the demise of Saturday editions of dailies, which creates a lot of efficiencies by itself.

High school football coverage in these parts sells a lot of Saturday papers, as I'm sure it does in many parts of the country. I wonder if that was taken into consideration by the analysts and insiders.

My mother's home town paper actually added a Saturday paper in the last decade, and I would guess it was to placate the rabid high school fans who were just buying the Friday night scores at a different paper.

I think doing away with the Wednesday paper would be a bad idea. Isn't this the day when supermarkets run new ads?

I also do not see a 60-something hopping online to check obits every morning, or them checking the church section online.

In 10-15 years, the future 60-somethings will be much more computer savvy, but IMHO, the current ones just are not.

So maybe in a decade, we could see these changes.

And don't forget the crossword puzzle ...

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Sunday papers are struggling. There was a piece in E&P a few years ago that said people don't have time for mammoth Sunday papers. I would see them dying before the daily goes. The Saturday paper is a regional thing -- weak in some parts of the country, relatively strong and packed with ads in others.

 

[fishwrapper]

Here's a question, that I'm not sure I understand in the wake of so many cost-cutting moves recently:

There are so many expenses involved in putting out a daily newspaper. How much percentage of the total expenses of a daily newspaper does payroll/staffing take up? Not just employees' salaries, but the cost of keeping an individual employee on staff (which includes things like insurance coverage, work expenses, etc.)? Are papers that cut staff really saving enough money -- on that expense alone -- to make a difference?

To answer your question, Buck...
Unfortunately, over the last decade I know more about this stuff than I ever cared to know.
The general rule is 60 to 100 (or a division/multiple of 3 to 5).
If an employee makes $60k, it generally costs the company $100k with 401k compensation, medical input, life input and workers' comp. input added to the salary.
Hope that makes sense.

As for a business, payroll shouldn't make more than 36-40%. Of course, that number fluctuates greatly depending on the incoming and outgoing numbers.

 

[buckweaver]

As for a business, payroll shouldn't make more than 36-40%. Of course, that number fluctuates greatly depending on the incoming and outgoing numbers.

Cool, thanks. That's the number I'm wondering about.

In the scenario presented above, yeah, you could get rid of a Saturday paper and lay off, say, four people. But as we all know, if you keep cutting people -- it doesn't matter how many other expenses you have if there's no one there to put out the product. And I hear about a lot fewer cost-cutting moves (some papers are going to a smaller web, etc.) that don't involve layoffs than about those that do.

So I just wonder if cutting the costs of other expenses -- expenses that maybe take up more space on the ledger sheet, and/or don't involve ruining people's lives -- could help defray so many layoffs. Maybe that's naive. Just brainstorming out loud.

 

[FileNotFound]

Let's see. Where can we cut?

-- Trimming the web down saves paper, but the one-time costs to do it (reconfiguring the press, etc.) run into the low-to-mid seven figures. Most places don't see cost savings from a web-width cutdown for about 18 months. Then if you add pages back to recoup the space, well, there goes that savings.

-- The travel budget could be cut significantly, if it hasn't already. But then you're back to offering content that everybody else already has.

-- Or go all-local and drop that costly AP service. That might save one FTE, but at what cost to the product?

-- You can not buy that new computer system this year. Or next year. Or next year. Or next year. But you absorb unpredictable costs associated with an antiquated system (maintaining old computers, occasional overtime for delivery drivers when the paper comes out late after yet another crash, etc.) And if that old system is your advertising or circulation system, you take the risk of losing crucial financial data, which would really be painful for the bottom line.

After people and newsprint, there aren't many things that take up more space on the ledger sheet.

If you drop the Saturday paper, maybe you save enough money in newsprint and infrastructure (utilities, fuel, etc.) that you don't have to lay off four people.

 

[fishwrapper]

Yeah, except you further diminish your product.
Then, the next year when the forcasted revenue falls short, they will lay off those four employees anyhow.
The "let's-keep-giving-'em-less" thought process has served us so well.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Sunday papers are struggling. There was a piece in E&P a few years ago that said people don't have time for mammoth Sunday papers. I would see them dying before the daily goes. The Saturday paper is a regional thing -- weak in some parts of the country, relatively strong and packed with ads in others.

The Sunday paper as constructed now, yes. But I wonder if you go the weekly print route, whether you try to upgrade the product physically and content-wise to produce something that can last a full week, like a magazine. I think, eventually, a weekly edition would do better than the Sunday edition of a daily paper.

 

[Write-brained]

Sunday papers are struggling. There was a piece in E&P a few years ago that said people don't have time for mammoth Sunday papers. I would see them dying before the daily goes. The Saturday paper is a regional thing -- weak in some parts of the country, relatively strong and packed with ads in others.

They may not read it, but every woman I've ever known will get a Sunday paper most weeks for the ads.

 

[ZummoSports]

Sunday papers are struggling. There was a piece in E&P a few years ago that said people don't have time for mammoth Sunday papers. I would see them dying before the daily goes. The Saturday paper is a regional thing -- weak in some parts of the country, relatively strong and packed with ads in others.

They may not read it, but every woman I've ever known will get a Sunday paper most weeks for the ads.

I'll second that. I don't think the Mrs. has ever read a thing I've written in the 6 1/2 years we've been together, but she wants every Sunday paper.