More CNHI

[dixiehack]

When I worked in Valdosta, we couldn't start sports pages at the beginning of a shift. The newspaper had twice as many machines running Quark as they did licenses to do so. Also, they had just dismantled the universal desk that serviced a half-dozen papers in South Georgia because it "didn't work."

 

[Colton]

No reason, other than gut feeling, but I can't shake the feeling of one of the great movie titles (unfortunately, the flick wasn't even in the same ballpark in terms of quality):

Something wicked, this way comes...

(Crossing my fingers my instincts are incorrect.)

 

[TGO157]

I'm at a CNHI shop and heard CNHI is testing the waters at a few locations with metered paywalls (like the NYT). Can anyone confirm? Is this already a known thing and I'm just behind on the times?

 

[Colton]

I'm at a CNHI shop and heard CNHI is testing the waters at a few locations with metered paywalls (like the NYT). Can anyone confirm? Is this already a known thing and I'm just behind on the times?

We have been hearing rumors of this for months. Problem on our end would be terribly outdated technology.

 

[TGO157]

I think they need to overhaul the design/layout of the CNHI websites before going ahead with it. An upgrade to a block format from the list layout is long overdue.

 

[Colton]

I think they need to overhaul the design/layout of the CNHI websites before going ahead with it. An upgrade to a block format from the list layout is long overdue.

Could not agree more! And this comes from a guy who has updated the sports portion of our website EVERY day for the past decade.

 

[Colton]

Hearing through the grapevine that every paper was told, "do whatever you need to do to get your profit margin to 20 percent."

When was the last time anyone in this company had a raise? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

 

[Tom Petty]

a friend of mine worked at a cnhi paper. said they cleared $11.5 million the first year he was there and $12 million the second year. because the $500,000 increase in a year wasn't enough for corporate, they started slashing hard core.

last i heard, circulation is down like 35 percent in the past five years and profits have plummeted. pretty sickening.

 

[Tarheel316]

TP, that really does suck. What a bunch of bull.

 

[Kato]

When was the last time anyone in this company had a raise? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

2008 ... then furloughs started second quarter of 2009

 

[Mark2010]

Jackson is Gannett, which has outsourced it's pagination to Nashville.

Maybe all this outsourcing should be a topic in the presidential debate.

So let me see if I'm following this right.
Jackson's paper is produced in Nashville, Meridian's in Jackson and Valdosta, some North Carolina papers are produced in Richmond and Louisville, and a bunch of south Louisiana papers are produced in north Louisiana. Or maybe New Jersey.
My head hurts.

Yeah, I talked to a guy in Louisville (Gannett hub) about a job there and he told me they did the Gannett Carolina papers.

The equipment at the CNHI shop where I worked was horrible. Daily source of aggrevation... and I'm not one of these techno-geeks who pitches a fit if something isn't the latest state of the art stuff. But I really hate rebooting over and over when I'm on deadline.

Most of the people I worked with were good people and good journalists and we worked together pretty well. They would always help whenever I needed something and I would do likewise. The bosses? Different story.

 

[Mark2010]

Hearing through the grapevine that every paper was told, "do whatever you need to do to get your profit margin to 20 percent."

When was the last time anyone in this company had a raise? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

20 percent? What universe or generation are they living in?

 

[Colton]

Hearing through the grapevine that every paper was told, "do whatever you need to do to get your profit margin to 20 percent."

When was the last time anyone in this company had a raise? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

20 percent? What universe or generation are they living in?

Agreed. *sigh* We are at 11 percent (not bad, especially considering the state of our industry and the terribly depressed market we are in), but cut to the bone to get there. In a work sense, we are on a bread-and-water diet.

 

[Mark2010]

I have heard several people say that right now, anywhere between 5 and 10 percent in any business is more than respectable.

I'm all for people making a reasonable profit. But to aim for something that's unreasonable at the expense of the working men and women is driving good people out of the business altogether.

 

[Colton]

Just received word our new region head is coming to town next week... uh oh.

 

[Mark2010]

Reminds me of an incident last fall...

Some business flunky announced he's going to run for president... of the United States. Calls the editor and wants to know if we'd be interested in doing a story. An exclusive. Um..... well, yeah, I guess. He's going to be in town tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon, he'll stop by for an interview between appearances at McDonald's and Walmart.

Only problem is we only have one weekend reporter -- a few folks on furlough --- and he has to cover some breaking news (a fire, IIRC). So poor reporter mate gets back to newsroom and is mortified to find he hasn't time to change into "proper attire" suitable to interview a presidential candidate..... albeit someone who none of us had ever heard of. He scrambles to be polite, do a pseudo-interview and ask halfway intelligent questions. All the while I'm sitting at the copy desk, trying to look busy and not to burst out laughing.

I can't remember if the story even ran or not, because I had to go on furlough the next day.

 

[Riptide]

I have heard several people say that right now, anywhere between 5 and 10 percent in any business is more than respectable.

I'm all for people making a reasonable profit. But to aim for something that's unreasonable at the expense of the working men and women is driving good people out of the business altogether.

As Sam Walton wrote in his book: 3 percent to 5 percent profit in retail is acceptable, so Walmart's 5 percent to 7 percent at the time was considered outstanding. Newspapers have been living a dream for decades, and now they're still cutting vital jobs (and content) to keep their own profits propped up.

Dunno what the profit levels are these days, since the papers guard those like state secrets, but I still don't see many managers getting cut. It's always the desk, the desk, the desk ...

 

[Colton]

They informed our graphics people yesterday their duties are being outsourced out of state. They have a month's notice...

Sigh...

 

[Tarheel316]

They informed our graphics people yesterday their duties are being outsourced out of state. They have a month's notice...

Sigh...

That sucks.

 

[Colton]

They informed our graphics people yesterday their duties are being outsourced out of state. They have a month's notice...

Sigh...

That sucks.

Sure does, Tarheel... comes is six months after they closed our pressroom. Lots of cricket sounds in the building at night, these days.