MONROE - The Monroe Times is changing the way it delivers the daily newspaper to subscribers, General Manager Carl Hearing announced today.
Starting Monday, April 27, the daily Monroe Times newspaper will be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. The paper no longer will be delivered by carriers.
"For most of our subscribers, this will mean that they will get their paper earlier in the day. A smaller percentage will get a little later delivery," Hearing said. "One benefit is that people will have to make only one trip to their mailbox each day to collect their mail and their newspaper."
To ensure that subscribers get same-day delivery under the new system, the Times will change its production schedule.
Currently, Mondays through Friday, the newspaper has operated on an "afternoon" schedule. Most stories are written and photos taken the previous day and night, with pages produced in the early morning for a 9:30 a.m. press run. Under that arrangement, the earliest deliveries to homes and businesses start at about noon Monday through Friday and 6 a.m. on Saturday. Deliveries to some parts of the Times circulation area aren't completed until as late as 5:30 p.m. during the week, and 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.
Area post offices have indicated mail carriers complete nearly all of their routes before 5 p.m. six days a week.
"If you get your mail now at 10 or 11 in the morning, that means you'll get your newspaper at that time," Hearing said.
In addition, the Times will be available in vending boxes and at stores at the start of each day, usually by 7 a.m., Hearing said.
To make the new plan work, news and production employees will work an evening shift to produce the paper. News reporters and the Times' sports department already are working night shifts, Times Editor Jeff Rogers said.
"Our reporters are working when the news and events they cover occur, and that won't change," Rogers said. "Our sports department already produces pages at night after they return from sporting events. There will be little change in how we gather the news. There will be changes in the time that we put the paper to bed, which now will be literally before we go to bed instead of after we've slept."
Hearing said there are economic reasons for the change.
"In these economically challenging times, we cannot continue to incur the increasing expense of maintaining an independent contractor carrier force, so converting to a morning print cycle will allow us to utilize the U.S. Postal Service to maintain same-day delivery to our readers and provide them with the best possible and most reliable delivery service available."
Hearing said rising and fluctuating gas prices have put pressure on both the newspaper and the independent contractors who use their own vehicles to deliver the paper.
"We have been served by a good group of independent contractors who have delivered our papers for years," Hearing said. "But periodically we were faced with down routes, which meant some people did not receive their paper that day or it arrived very late. We think this will eliminate that recurring problem."
For advertisers, having the paper available to readers all day should be a plus, according to Advertising Director Laura Hughes.
"It will mean that an advertiser's message will have a longer shelf life," Hughes said. "Advertisers will get more bang for their buck."
Starting Monday, April 27, the daily Monroe Times newspaper will be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. The paper no longer will be delivered by carriers.
"For most of our subscribers, this will mean that they will get their paper earlier in the day. A smaller percentage will get a little later delivery," Hearing said. "One benefit is that people will have to make only one trip to their mailbox each day to collect their mail and their newspaper."
To ensure that subscribers get same-day delivery under the new system, the Times will change its production schedule.
Currently, Mondays through Friday, the newspaper has operated on an "afternoon" schedule. Most stories are written and photos taken the previous day and night, with pages produced in the early morning for a 9:30 a.m. press run. Under that arrangement, the earliest deliveries to homes and businesses start at about noon Monday through Friday and 6 a.m. on Saturday. Deliveries to some parts of the Times circulation area aren't completed until as late as 5:30 p.m. during the week, and 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.
Area post offices have indicated mail carriers complete nearly all of their routes before 5 p.m. six days a week.
"If you get your mail now at 10 or 11 in the morning, that means you'll get your newspaper at that time," Hearing said.
In addition, the Times will be available in vending boxes and at stores at the start of each day, usually by 7 a.m., Hearing said.
To make the new plan work, news and production employees will work an evening shift to produce the paper. News reporters and the Times' sports department already are working night shifts, Times Editor Jeff Rogers said.
"Our reporters are working when the news and events they cover occur, and that won't change," Rogers said. "Our sports department already produces pages at night after they return from sporting events. There will be little change in how we gather the news. There will be changes in the time that we put the paper to bed, which now will be literally before we go to bed instead of after we've slept."
Hearing said there are economic reasons for the change.
"In these economically challenging times, we cannot continue to incur the increasing expense of maintaining an independent contractor carrier force, so converting to a morning print cycle will allow us to utilize the U.S. Postal Service to maintain same-day delivery to our readers and provide them with the best possible and most reliable delivery service available."
Hearing said rising and fluctuating gas prices have put pressure on both the newspaper and the independent contractors who use their own vehicles to deliver the paper.
"We have been served by a good group of independent contractors who have delivered our papers for years," Hearing said. "But periodically we were faced with down routes, which meant some people did not receive their paper that day or it arrived very late. We think this will eliminate that recurring problem."
For advertisers, having the paper available to readers all day should be a plus, according to Advertising Director Laura Hughes.
"It will mean that an advertiser's message will have a longer shelf life," Hughes said. "Advertisers will get more bang for their buck."