Thursday, November 13, 2008
Richmond: Press shuts in Jan.; printing to Indy
The Palladium-Item will be printed at The Indianapolis Star after the smaller paper in Richmond, Ind., shutters its press in mid-January, costing about 60 jobs, a reader says in an e-mail. The two sites are 73 miles apart. The move also affects USA Today's printing, and any commercial work still done at Richmond. The Richmond paper is only the latest to consolidate printing at a sister operation.
16 comments:
Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."
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Indy Star weeklies and Cincy/Ky Enquirer weeklies have been printed in Lafayette, Indiana for almost a year. The move was to free up valuable press time in Indianapolis and Cincinnati.
ReplyDeleteAnd with the first major snowstorm, you can expect to see this on their website:
ReplyDeleteTO OUR READERS
Your morning paper is currently on a truck that's in a ditch outside New Castle. The P-I regrets the error some people in Virginia made who assumed it never snowed in winter in Indiana. Because it does.
1:07 p.m. - Ha! Great point... but of course to Gannett, it is all irrellevent compared to the expense cutting. This seems to be the only industry that always puts the customer LAST. Any arguments with THAT?
ReplyDeleteNot exactly 1:01 p.m….
ReplyDeleteMoving the Enquirer’s weeklies (Community Press/Recorder) to Lafayette more than a year and a half ago saved zero press time at its daily plant at Western Ave. And, in fact, the demise of the JOA with Scripps opened up even more room on that press when the Post shut down in January.
Now, the weeklies move to Lafayette did allow Gannett to shut there plant in Cincinnati eliminating a significant number of jobs (that building is still for sale). And, it also forced about $2.2 million in commercial business to Richmond at that time. Though, not all went. And, with this move, more money will leave Gannett.
Per E&P, nearly 60 people at Richmond will be laid off.
ReplyDeleteI can see the Greenville News absorbing the Asheville Citizen Times printing in the same way. I guess they would just sell off the presses one of which is new.
ReplyDeleteThey are less then 60 miles apart so it is conceivable.
1:45, this is 1:01. My comment was obviously sourced from GCI official lines. There's obviously a big difference in the company-speak and what is really going on. Thanks for clarifying. This site is becoming more and more invaluable in getting the real story on what goes on at Gannett.
ReplyDeleteGosh... if I am a production employee at any Gannett paper, I am getting out the map right now looking at other newspapers that might be within 100 miles of my plant that have available press time. All of them do. Late breaking news has gone out the window, so smaller papers can expect earlier deadlines with less news, scores, etc. And the cycle continues. The product becomes less relevant, fewer people buy it, ad revenue goes down, and so forth.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGreenville's production team doesn't hold a candle to Asheville's. It is a less efficient operation that is 60 miles down the mountain. A mountain that has more than it's share of winter weather. There is no doubt that the product will suffer, the staff will suffer, and more customers will be alienated.
ReplyDeleteThere was serious talk a couple of years ago to build a new production facility near Hendersonville, NC to produce both Greenville and Asheville, obviously that plan was scrapped.
ReplyDeleteWho's going to buy the abandoned presses? Seems to me there's not much of a market for them. Probably will just have to be written off.
ReplyDeleteI work in production at Indianapolis Plant. Gannett as well as entire industry has talked about CENTRALIZED PRINTING as part of their future business model. My eyes are wide open with Gannett and this industry. I hate seeing 60 people lose their jobs. BUT this economy is really bad. I don't see things getting better for at least late 09. Maybe 2010. That's if Obama adminstration and the bailouts workout. As mentioned presses have open work available and people at Indy plant worried about the 95 cuts coming to Indianapolis Star. This is not a great time be layed off from anywhere. I will tell you in 04 alot of frustrated production workers went to Columbus, Ohio and Tennessee papers for better pay/benefits. This week everyone who left for those papers (13 I believe). They all have lost their jobs. So it's a pins & needles world right now. Best advice I saw was other day in NUVO Paper. Columnists wrote keep your nose clean, show up for work on time, pay your bills and hope you still have a job. I saw a market report stating based on history. Longest recession during great depression. It lasted 44 months. Market begins recovery in middle of recession (58% to be exact). Market model predicts markets will bottom and begin recovery in early 2010. So as I said the next year is going to be very rough. Good luck to everyone.
ReplyDeleteIt happened to the Ohio community papers a few years ago. Be prepared to have your deadlines massively changed, some in ways that will just screw you over. Obviously you lose local jobs with the elimination of the presses. The Ohio papers that had their presses moved got massively screwed over with earlier deadlines on Fridays (HS football nights) and sometimes earlier deadlines on a one-hour notice.
ReplyDeleteShuttered presses sold for scrap in NJ.
ReplyDeleteNice feather in your cap Juli... I mean getting to run not just 1, but 2 Gannett papers into the ground just so you can look good... nice. Plus, Indy gets to justify their 'state of the art' press, that's not had a record of quality or maintenance, as the P-I's.
ReplyDelete