Free online classifieds publisher Craigslist has decimated newspapers by siphoning away millions of dollars in lucrative advertising -- costing untold jobs across Gannett. Among them: 120 truck drivers at the Asbury Park Press. Their jobs have been handed off to independent contractors, and the paper is now selling the trucks. One way Asbury Park is advertising its fleet: Why, Craigslist, of course!
Does Craigslist have a website in your community? What's the impact been on your paper or TV station? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.Earlier: Why shifts in classified advertising threaten your job
[Photo: A Freightliner MT45 like Asbury Park's, Automotive Best Buys]
Sometimes all you can say is: WTF?!?
ReplyDeleteSomeone very high up the food chain at the APP had to give his/her approval to post the Craigslist ad.
ReplyDeleteThat person should be taken to the proverbial woodshed.
It's one of the major WTF moments in the undeniable disintegration of the company that has accelerated in the last 18 months.
I don't know about the woodshed. I mean, they did really want to sell something...
ReplyDeleteUgh.
ReplyDeleteJim, I'll send you a photo of one of the REAL trucks, just for yuks. You have to love the paint job where they just painted over the gigantic "PRESS" on the side of the truck so lamely that it's still visible.
ReplyDeleteThanks, 3:43 p.m.; I'd like to see that. My address is: gannettblog@gmail.com.
ReplyDeleteSo----this isn't a joke?
ReplyDeleteThis is incredible. I find it hard to believe that the powers to be don't believe that their product will deliver results. Where is the Sr VP of Cir and the VP of Circ? They are the decision makers in circulation. Surely they are not the best of the best. Why do they still have jobs?
ReplyDeleteAHHHHAhahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa - you can't write these kinds of jokes. seriously, anyone still working in a Gannett newspaper - it's gotten to the point where yes, i'll still feel sorry for you if you get laid off, but goodgawd how could you NOT be looking for another job!
ReplyDeleteApparently, the decision makers seem to feel that Craig's list has more people "Ready, willing, and able to buy" than their own papers.
ReplyDeleteYou need to be in advertising to fully appreciate the irony.
Are you sure it had to be approved? Maybe it was just some manager who thought, "We need to get rid of these trucks, so I'm gonna put them on CraigsList."
ReplyDeleteIn Asbury the managers would be too afraid to make a decision like that without getting approval. The Bob culture is still alive with the circulation vp. She was mentored by Bob and Ketan.
ReplyDeleteWith no price in the ad, it looks like retribution from the fired drivers.
ReplyDeletePretty soon the paper will be down to the proverbial barrel as clothing.
ReplyDeleteThis will come back to bite them in bad weather. I wonder how many independent contractors will show up in a snowstorm.
ReplyDeleteI bet someone will get themselves a " UNSUNG HERO" award or another stone for there ring for this. But this out of the box thinking needs to be done thru out the entire company..
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI just deleted a comment that included an overly personal attack on an individual identified by name in the comment. Please don't do that.
ReplyDeleteAnybody we know ?
ReplyDelete11:48 The APP already has blodd ob it's hands. It seems the 601 independant driver fell asleep on his way home last Thursday morning, and died as a result of the crash. That's what working 7 days a week, 8 shifts will do to you. Never published in the paper, no mention of him as a driver for the APP on www.app.com . Go to Thursday past Manchester accident.
ReplyDeleteThe add reads "all double axle frieght liners". That's just 2. 121 & 125. They are warehouse trucks. The picture is a false discription. The manager of that department is without a doubt the finest human being to work for.
ReplyDelete