"Due to our efforts to find more reductions in expense we will be implementing a program beginning next week that will eliminate delivery of the paper to all employees and carriers Monday thru Saturday. Sunday will still be delivered at this time. We will replace the reduction of papers by providing each employee and carrier access to our E-edition. If you haven’t used our E-edition yet, it is a replica of the paper, easy to navigate, in color and very easy to read."
The Spectrum at a glance:
- Publisher: Donnie Welch
- Managing Editor: Todd Seifert
- Founded: 1962
- Joined Gannett: 2000
- Circulation (as of Sept. 30): 20,886 daily, down 6.6% from year before; 22,418 Sunday, down 5.4%, according to Deutsche Bank
If that did that at my Gannett site, I'd cancel. I get my serious news from BBC and NYT, movie listings from the paper that gets thrown into my driveway. If they cancel my home delivery I don't need the dead trees.
ReplyDeleteSerious news from NYT? Hmm.
DeleteSerious new from the NYT--Please...
DeleteThey get free delivery? All we get is the opportunity to pay 50%, and I can't even afford that.
ReplyDeleteHow dumb. Better to raise the cost of the papers and keep the subscribers than force your circ down a couple hundred more.
ReplyDeleteNot like the resultant shift is going to do anything substantial to raise their page view number/online rates.
When word on the street gets out that the EMPLOYEES don't even read the paper, why in the hell would anyone else want to?
They could have saved an equal amount of money by pulling the mini-refrigerators out of all the managers' offices and requiring people to turn off lights at the end of the day.
Maybe this explains why my paper hasn't shown up the past three days--but I'm in Louisiana.
ReplyDeleteGood grief!
ReplyDeleteEvery Gannett paper I ever worked for has pressed employees to subscribe, offering it at half price as an incentive. I can't imagine cutting circulation by a few hundred is going to have much of a cost savings unless they're giving them the paper as a employment benefit.
Just what the newspaper needs, more employees NOT reading the paper on weekdays. One of my pet peeves were employees and managers outside the newsroom who would come to editors and suggest we "do" a story on a topic which we had reported and published a week or two earlier.
Stupidest thing I've ever heard. Publisher should be fired for this.
ReplyDeleteHa! I get my newspaper's edition delivered at home each day - because I PAY FOR IT!
ReplyDeleteWe don't get a free copy delivered.
Sorry, but... explain to me why this is stupid?
ReplyDeleteAssuming most of the employees work at the main office, and not at home or in bureaus, there should be plenty of papers lying around for them to read once they get to work.
Despite a 50 percent discount, I have never subscribed to my employing newspaper. In the morning, I skim the headlines online, get the news I needed delivered through Google News alerts, and read the actual paper when I get to the office. They may have been spoils, but they were still readable. If I wanted the coupons, I went down to the pressroom and grabbed a section out of the trash.
Simple living.
I wish my paper would give me the option of getting the e-edition in place of my daily subscription, but we treat it like a dirty little secret and never promote it if we can help it. Why is that? It still counts as circulation for ABC, doesn't it?
ReplyDelete10:28
ReplyDeleteThat is shameful.
Stealing coupons and the paper not getting the circulation. Just plain wrong.
And Jim, I just don't get your headline. The play on words is awkward.
What I love about these comments is the underlying truth that EMPLOYEES don't feel their newspaper is worth buying at the price charged.
ReplyDeleteAnd you wonder why newspapers are dying?
10:26 - I subscribed and paid full price before I was hired, and then switched to the employee rate (the 50 percent off) and payroll deduction for the bill. One fewer bill to worry about. The paper is worth it to me.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! Here's one better: just stack the newspapers on the loading dock and insist that all customers travel to the printing plant to pick up their copies. Who needs carriers?
ReplyDelete10:28,
ReplyDeleteIt's stupid for a few of reasons. First, how much is it really going to save? Second, maybe they could have asked employees if they would pay full price first. Let's see, we will deliver it to an employees' neighbor but not an employee? Huh? And finally, as a few people have mentioned, shouldn't our employees be encouraged to read our newspapers? Shouldn't our news and ad people who meet with the public every day know what is going on in our local communities? We absolutely should -people we talk to expect that we do. How about an ad rep trying to sell ads in a paper they don't bother to read? What a mess.
It's almost as if Publishers are trying to one-up each other to show how "creative" they can be as they try to cut costs. Instead, many of them look like fools like this buffoon.
Free papers? You've got to be kidding!
ReplyDeleteI had to buy mine andI needed to check headlines to make sure the site was updated every morning - but they STILL made me buy a paper. They actually said "just take a copy of yesterday's paper home with you to do the comparison".
I have to say that I recently dropped my local paper after cut after cut after cut. Finally virtually everything I liked about the paper was gone, and I decided that the few remaining things I wanted to read I could get online at no cost.
ReplyDeleteEvery now and then, I miss it. Like when I want to look up movie times. But then I remember that I can get those online as well.
It's amazing how easy newspapers have made it for readers to drop them. In my local paper I don't see any real value for my money. Even at 50 cents a day. And I used to really like it.
Ahh - Donnie must've picked this up from his old publisher, Jim Carey.
ReplyDeleteThis is a classic "Jim" move.
This is yet another desperate move by a publisher with absolutely no vision. Think of the message it sends to employees- how demoralizing. Just to save a few bucks...pathetic. I'll second the notion that every employee should be encouraged to read/participate in the product. When is this company going to start acting like WE WANT TO SUCCEED?
ReplyDelete11:53 wrote: Second, maybe they could have asked employees if they would pay full price first. Let's see, we will deliver it to an employees' neighbor but not an employee?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that if an employee wanted to pay full price, they'd let him or her. It's not a ban on subscribing, you moron.
And finally, as a few people have mentioned, shouldn't our employees be encouraged to read our newspapers? Shouldn't our news and ad people who meet with the public every day know what is going on in our local communities?
Shouldn't the employees just pick up the hundreds of spare copies floating around the building? Even when I was a copy editor, there were still plenty of copies left by the time I came in around 5 p.m.
11:06 wrote: That is shameful. Stealing coupons and the paper not getting the circulation. Just plain wrong.
The coupons were in the trash can. Thrown out. Not stealing.
The papers were distributed around the newsroom for the use of the staff. Again, not stealing. Just me not paying for something I don't need.
What's shameful is that we still rely on subscriptions for revenue. We give the information away free online - which is stupid! - but then expect people to pay for it in print.
I like the tactileness of a print paper. But over the years, I've found that I can still get my information feed from the Web.
"Sorry, but... explain to me why this is stupid?"
ReplyDeleteWell, for starters there is more than one reader in any given household. duh? More people picking up that paper equates to more people looking at the ads in that paper... Need I go on? OK, more people looking at ads in that paper means more people buying what is being advertised in that paper. So on, and so forth.
They could have saved an equal amount of money by pulling the mini-refrigerators out of all the managers' offices and requiring people to turn off lights at the end of the day."
ReplyDeleteI don't know about the mini-fridges, but the lights-off thing is part of Craig's new Green Scheme. Just a couple of years too late. I remember "50 Things You Can Do To Save The Planet" coming out when I was in grade school, for pete's sake.
Dumb. Dumb dumb dumb. Dumb. Spectacularly dumb. Mega-dumb. Senseless dumb. Dumb.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the publisher's bragging about it in the latest report to Corporate, though.
Mini fridges... Ha! At a now closed satelite printing plant, managers would fret over the plant's high electric costs. They would exclaim that the building is just too old, leaks like a sieve. However roll-up doors would be left open 24/7. They would walk right through them. Couldn't figure it out.
ReplyDeleteTalk about cutting off your nose to spite your face!
ReplyDeleteThis company is falling to a new low.
Keep this a secret from Lee Webber!
ABC allows, and newspapers count, each employee as one paid copy - whether you read it or not.
ReplyDeleteFrom the note, it sounds like employees were getting free copies delivered to their houses, which frankly, is dumb as the company has to pay carriers for it.
If that's the case, my question is this: why the hell did this paper allow this to go on for so long? And, if employees want a home-delivered copy, then it seems only fair to provide one at half-price, including the Sunday edition.
This is an example of what the smaller newspapers have to resort to. While the larger papers still waste money on things smaller papers gave up years ago.
ReplyDeleteJust curious, how much travel are our dept heads doing? While Gannett touts the digital age how come we can not have more web based or video confernces. Much cheaper then flying them all over, puttting them up in hotels and feeding them.
You want to know why, because it DOES NOT MAKE SENSE!
ReplyDeleteThe Publisher there isn't the brightest...as a matter of fact, he's an absolute puzzle as to how he ever got the job in the first place. A dishelved awkward man who's apparently only real skill set is that he's Mormon....I promise you...if you ever meet the guy you will come away with a "huh"? Really?? Another VERY strange hire from good ole SCJ!!! And god knows she had many! The beat goes on...
ReplyDelete12:18, While Jim Carey had his many, many, many faults, he was a fanatic about the "integrity" of the newspaper and would never have gone for this sort of thing. Now, might he hold his people in endless meetings, berate them endlessly, send employees on personal errands, and never, never, never make a decision that he couldnt pin on someone else if it went wrong. Like I said, he had his faults.....but the rank in file would welcome him back with open arms because when he was around you knew that he had the best interest of the newspaper and its readers in mind.
ReplyDelete11:50, just what are your talking about? The rank-and-file would not welcome Jim back, especially after the editorial last week (pro gay marriage) that should have been written when he was at the helm.
ReplyDelete12;46, are you saying the rank and file support gay marriage? Give me a break. Only in far left Vermont.
ReplyDeleteThey don't care if their employees get the paper they can still count it on the ABC #'s. And that's all they care about is keeping the circulation numbers up. What a Moron, and like someone said earlier I'm sure he's bragging to corporate about how he was able to save more money.
ReplyDeleteThere are idiots alright..and its a number of people on this blog.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of this paper they are dropping home delivery of FREE papers to the employees. As a circulation director I can count on one hand the number of papers who still provide this service. Employees have been offered a subscription at a 50% discount and/or the electronic format.
With layoffs, furloughs, massive expense reductions and more going on in this industry you would think people would find better things to talk about than what is going on in Mayberry USA. At the least they should know what the hell they are talking about.
Get a life!!!
I agree with the last post. You use to find some half intelligent conversation on this blog...now its difficult just to find some half intelligent life on here. So much of what is said anymore is spiteful garbage...it would be nice if we got back to dealing with some facts.
ReplyDeleteAs an employee of The Spectrum I can tell you that Donnie Welch is indeed not the brightest person I have ever worked with.
ReplyDeleteI would be happy to spend the money for the paper if it had anything worth reading in it, but with ad revenue dropping and underpaid employees getting laid off what used to qualify as a non-impressive news source has become downright unbearable to read. I still get the news, just now I get it from different avenues (NPR, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, AOL, and other countless online resources including The Spectrum) available for up to the second in-depth reporting readily available at no charge.
How can you seriously ask me to pay for my companies own product when I am already working for less than 50% of the national average pay rate for my position?
There is a much bigger problem here than simply saving a few dollars by cutting back on perks or simply turning off the lights.
6:38 We've actually been very power and energy conscious in St. George and it's saved a lot of money. I'm not a corporate puppet, but I'm glad that we are acting more green, even if it's just because it's now the smart economical thing to do. I think people have become more consciencious.
ReplyDeleteI dont understand all the negativity. I understand people are upset, but I have worked at this newspaper for quite some time and what I have seen is our paper make a number of moves to keep us ahead of the curve and I think a number of the expense decisions made have been outstanding, especially considering the alternative. I have also been impressed with the leadership of our paper through the most difficult time I can ever remember. All I know is Im glad I dont have to make the decisions that are being made. One thing I do know, our publisher and my manager truly care about people. I have seen it day in and day out.
ReplyDeleteYou may not be a puppet but somebody is...
Delete