I am a fan of reading the newspaper. The web is a great source of information, but it is not the same sitting eating breakfast and trolling the web versus reading your newspaper. The thing that has become quite apparent, however, is that the newspapers are just not investing in enough local writers to make it worthwhile.
I swear on Sundays I read Nick K and Diane Williamson then every other month Sutner hits one out of the park, but other then that? I need to plug Rod Lee's Biz Buzz too except he is not in the Sunday paper. Even my friend Mr Nemeth has completely let me down by refusing to write about the airport anymore.
Over the years, I have become friendly with the guys, who stop by the store once per week to pick up the papers that have not sold and we reconcile the account. There was Mr Hester and, I forget the name of the most recent guy, but both were great guys?? Each of them had to have called on me for at least 4 years. The latest guy, however, had told me that he was accepting a "package" after 20 years and I knew that he would be leaving.
Today the new person came in and I went looking for the newspapers that have not sold, but I could not find them. I was then told that we just throw them away now under the new system and just keep track internally via the honor system?? O'kay. After calculating what we owe via the honor system, I write the check payable to the "Telegram". I have to rewrite the check, however, payable to the "Leominster News"?? Who the hell is "Leominster News" and how do they relate to the Telegram?
I could not help but see the ironies in that the newspaper the constantly editorializes about the need to recycle is now telling the stores that sell their newspaper to simply throw the unsold copies away.
Same Time Next Year
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It’s been nearly a year since I wrote about the problems that come from
having 11 bosses who are not on the same page about anything, as well as
suggestion...
4 months ago
5 comments:
I think that Leominster News is a delivery service....similar to what Atlas news was year ago??? Is Atlas news even still around?
BTW did anyone see that someone has tried to do a "re-incarnation" of the old want advertiser.................diff. name but same general Idea.
Yikes did i just hear that Hudson Catholc is closing their doors. Sad. Better increase those donations to S.J. [g]
I agree nothing like a T&G, and a Herald and some breakfast at Miss Worc or the donut shoppe at June & Chandler (Donut Shoppe II??) I Can never recall their name.
Pualie what is that famous local donut shoppe in Somerville or Medford?? Huge donuts?
Harry, I hear there's a topless donut shoppe up in Portland ME. Nuttin like a topless caffiene & sugaaah fix.
I'll be on the road today ......give my health a rest from this blood pressure raising blog
Bill,
Isn't Leominster News the name of the company that distributes all the papers?
And did they specifically tell the stores to throw away the unsold papers or did they suggest recycling them?
As for the struggling newspaper industry, I agree with you that there is nothing like holding a paper in your hands rather than getting it from the net. I was in NYC over the weekend, enjoying breakfast on 2nd Avenue, and perusing the Sunday Times. You can’t do that with the net. One thing I noticed when I was buying the Times is that the only papers offered were from NYC. As recently as 5 years ago, I would have seen the Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Boston Globe among others on the same newsstand. As a newspaper junkie, it is very sad to see the precipitous decline.
As frustrating as the T&G can be at times, we are very lucky to have a daily newspaper. If the Boston Globe print edition goes under (rumored to be bleeding almost $1 million weekly), why would the New York Times keep the T&G afloat as a print edition? IMHO, they would not. They would both be internet sites only or they would combine both papers into one regional edition to try to survive. Did anyone ever imagine such a scenario unfolding? Who would have thought that the Boston Herald (just days away from going out of business in the early 80s until Rupert Murdoch stepped in) would be the last newspaper standing in Boston. The Beacon Hill elitists will be crying in their soup if they lose the Boston Globe(-Democrat).
And the industry keeps contracting. So far in 2009, we have lost the Rocky Mountain News, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Christian Science Monitor (going to the net only) and both daily Detroit papers are on life support. Just this morning, it was reported that the Manchester Union-Leader is giving up on their Saturday print edition. This is the “paper of record” for New Hampshire.
Although I love the immediacy of getting information from the internet and I make my living from computers, I will always support the print industry as a news source. The world will be much poorer, and cities like Worcester that has no major TV network station to call our own would be particularly hard hit, if newspapers cease to exist. I will continue plucking down my $1.75 a day and $4.00 on Sunday to but my two newspapers and I can only hope that others will see the value to do the same.
Dave Z:
You could be right, but all I know is that we always wrote the check payable to the "Telegram", until about one month ago.
Now it is the "Leominster News".
Bill
I agree & well said Dewey.......but how about any possiblity Worc becomes part of the metro west daily news assuming that survives.
Jahn,
I think the chances of the Metro West Daily News expanding their base into Worcester would be pretty slim if something happened to the print edition of the T&G. IMO, papers are in the survival mode and not even thinking about any expansion plans.
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