The sad decline in newspaper printed editions

[Clipper]

I just called and cancelled my subscription to our local newspaper. We received a notice in the monthly bill stating that they are only going to publish a printed edition on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday and will no longer have carriers delivering it to your home. If a person wants to continue to get the printed edition it will be delivered by US Mail.

Reading my morning paper has always been a part of my morning routine. I always read the paper while having coffee at the kitchen table. I have no desire to pay to read the news online, nor do I have and desire to receive today's news the tomorrow or the next day.

It is increasingly evident that the printed newspaper will probably soon be a thing of the past and our local paper is rapidly approaching that day. I went to their website and found that their circulation is down to under 9,000 from over 30,000 customers a few short years ago.

The demise of the printed newspaper is going to leave an entire demographic associated with getting the paper out the door and delivered to the customer looking for employment in a different field.

There is a unique excitement in working at a newspaper at press time. A bell rings to notify people that the press is going to start, followed closely by the rumble and roar of the press coming to life. A constant stream of papers stream flows rapidly from the press room to the insert machine that puts the ads into the paper, then onward to the bundling machine where the papers are bundled and tied before the conveyor takes them to the loading dock. Everyone along the line works tirelessly and steadily, without a break until the press shuts down. There is a certain adrenalin rush that is part of the process that is hard to describe. The press roars, people scramble, bundles flow to the dock to be handled as quickly as they come down the conveyor, which doesn't stop until the press shuts down and the last bundle is out the door.

There were many issues that prompted me to leave the job as transportation manager at the OD, but regardless of the negative aspects of the job, there are great memories of being a part of the team that put the OD in peoples hands every morning, and a memories of the adrenalin rush when the press starts and the sigh of relief when the last bundle goes out the door. I moved on to better pay and easier work, but my hat is off to those who live for the roar of the press and the excitement of putting that last bundle down the belt and out the door.

I don't know what the logistics are as related to putting the OD on your breakfast table are anymore, but it was a sad day when they moved the printing away from Catherine Street, and heart breaking when they auctioned the building. Where is the paper printed now, and how is it distributed now that the OD no longer has the back dock at the OD building?

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

I just get the e edition on internet for $7.99/month. I do not think there is a printed version on Sat. I never really cared about having a newspaper in my hand in morning over coffee. I do that not with the internet version and do not have to worry about inky hands. LOL

[clarencebunsen]

I too started reading the morning paper early in life. I also delivered papers as a kid and help my kids when they delivered. Joe started delivering the OD as soon as he was old enough and turned it over to Michael when he was old enough to get a real job at McDonalds. Michael delivered it until he was old enough to work at McDonalds. On Sun day's I helped, the papers were loaded into my van. I drove the route in small sections, stopping to read the paper along the way. The paper delivery kid would reload his bag at each stop.

I worked at the OD after the printing had been outsourced so I never heard the press run. It was a time of continual downsizing. I remember going to my boss a couple months before I retired and saying if the was another layoff, lay me off rather than someone younger with a family to support.

We tried Sunday only delivery a coupe years ago. Service was terrible. I called every week saying I didn't get my paper. One day I was watching when the delivery was made. The guy pulled into the driveway, pitched a paper out the window into a snow bank and drove away. When spring cleanup came I found many of my missing papers.

[Clipper]

What did you do when you worked at the OD? It should have been evident when they moved the printing to the Binghamton area and I think later to Syracuse, that the paper was on it's way out. By the time they trucked the papers to Utica and distributed them to the carriers and contract bundle haulers it doesn't seem as though deliveries would be completed before folks went to work.

As for the poor service and papers in the snowbank, that was not an uncommon problem back when I worked there. Bundle drivers had plastic bags to put the bundles in when the weather was bad, but often they just dumped the bundles by the door and when the business opened or the carrier retrieved the papers to deliver, they would be soaking wet and would have to be replaced. I had a hard time keeping drivers for the company delivery vans. You are not going to get the most motivated drivers when you are only paying them $6.35 (that was in 2000) Few people want to work all night, in all sorts of nasty weather for that wage. Many mornings my assistant manager and I would end up delivering papers to those businesses that were skipped or shorted. District managers would spend much many of their mornings delivering down routes when the carrier just decided not to show up or deliver.

Of all the functions at the OD, the circulation and production departments probably had the most problems. In the case of most departments when the paper was ready to go to press their job was done. I was supposed to work from 10pm until 7am. I usually was at work by 9 and it was unusual for me to get home much before 10am or later. I was salaried so there was no overtime pay.

[BHU]

I started reading the OD when I was in grammar school, as I was always a big reader & still am. As a kid some of the front page stories in the Daily Press & OD fascinated me. My parents always subscribed to both editions until the DP ended. I always subscribed to the paper & would bring a copy to work for years & read it during break times. I miss that morning paper & now I subscribe to only the Sunday edition & I can read the daily online but don't bother. My carrier never fails to deliver which reminds me I need to leave him or her a tip for good service.

[clarencebunsen]

After my company closed and the company I worked for after that closed, I worked for a time for PJ Green (the guy who hired me there had once worked for me). Eventually they down sized. I went to work for the OD selling advertising, employment and real estate ads. Nothing I knew anything about but I am pretty good at figuring things so I did OK.

When I retired I spent a few years doing full time day care for grandkids. That was a job I enjoyed.

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

Wow such interesting lives. That's a good thing.....

[kit]

Printed newspapers had their place many years ago for keeping people up-to-date on what's happening, entertained, and through advertising the various stores and their various sales. Then electronic radio and TV came along and the news shows took a bite out of newspaper's popularity. Now with computers, cell phones and the Internet there is little that a printed newspaper can provide that can't be done faster and cheaper by electronics. So just like so many other professions, printed newspapers are slowly biting the dust and the professionals involved in printing newspapers need to find alternative jobs. This has happened to many others in varying professions. As some people say... "S#*t Happens" but it's all in how you look at it. They may rightly say... "Progress Happens" and we have to deal with it.

[Clipper]

Progress is moving along quite quickly. The newspaper used to have a fair size sheaf of ads and inserts included. Over time that has been reduced to a couple of sheets of fast food coupons, and a Dollar General ad. On Wednesdays we always received ads for 3 different grocery stores, Big Lots, Ollies Outlet, Lowes, Home Depot, Tractor Supply Company, and Rural King. We now get Rural King, Ollies and one grocery store. The other two grocery stores give you and option to have the printed ad sent to you by mail or to read it digitally online. I just pick up a flyer when I go into the store.

[clarencebunsen]

The Big 3 of classified advertising were automotive, employment and real estate. Those were the first things to be dominated by the internet. We always used the Sunday ads to plan our grocery shopping and take advantage of specials. Now our grocery list is on Barb's phone and she often opts for delivery which cuts down on impulse buys. The revenue is no longer there to gather edit and print news, then distribute it to customer's homes. It was a good run for a few centuries but I think it is over.

[kit]

It's pretty much like life... when we're younger we're energetic and productive and stay that way for quite some time. Then we get older and start slowing down as times change. We eventually retire and make way for the new generation, and with times changing so rapidly now they usually have a different way of thinking than we did. It's not a new thing; it's been this way since the beginning of time.

[Atticus Pizzaballa]

The OD even has problems with the e edition.