El Dorado News-Times

11 January 2018

Not long ago, the El Dorado News-Times announced that, rather than update the antiquated printing equipment at their El Dorado location, they were going to have the paper printed up in Little Rock at someone else's more modern facility. Wonderful. But this meant that the newspapers had to be printed before being hauled 120 or so miles south for delivery. So the "news" which we read wasn't necessarily "news" any more. For today's news, we could go to the newspaper's web site.

If I wanted to read the newspaper online, I wouldn't pay $219 a year for my newspaper and home delivery.

Speaking of home delivery, I went down to retrieve today's newspaper at 7:30 this morning. My paper box was still empty. I went back down at 8:00 AM. Still empty. So I called and was told that the carrier should have delivered my paper by that time, and if she hadn't, I'd be put down for a "re-delivery" tomorrow. So now it looks like I'll be getting yesterday's news tomorrow.

Perhaps I shouldn't complain about a rare, missed delivery. But missed deliveries are not all that rare. I'm not sure how many carriers we've had over the last few years. I can tell when we are about ready for a new one when my home delivery begins to skip. One recent carrier only lasted a day or so.

Considering that the yearly subscription rate for home delivery is $219, I'm not sure how the newspaper can pay all of its staff, including the carriers, and other expenses on 60-cents a day per newspaper. If you had to get up in the wee hours, get the papers ready for delivery, then drive miles in the dark regardless of the weather every day of the year (no days off), how much would you expect to be paid? The Circulation Manager has assured me that the carriers do make a reasonable wage. If so, where's my newspaper?

Addendum: I emailed the Circulation Manager this morning to tell him what had happened. This afternoon I discovered a copy of today's paper on the walk up to our porch. Someone had made the trip all the way from town to get us a copy of the paper. Nice of them. Thanks!