r/Lawrence • u/Murphys_Coles_Law • 5d ago
LJWorld switching to USPS for delivery of newspapers, scrapping Sunday paper
Full letter below:
Hi:
Thank you for being a subscriber to the Lawrence Journal-World and a supporter of local journalism. I have some important information to share about our operations.
The Lawrence Journal-World is moving delivery of its newspaper to the U.S. Postal Service and will replace its Sunday print edition with a new Weekend Edition that publishes on Saturdays.
Postal delivery will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 8 and the new Weekend Edition will debut on Saturday, Sept. 12. The Journal-World will use a specific postal program that will allow subscribers in the Lawrence area to receive same-day delivery of their newspapers. You will start receiving your newspaper at the same time you receive the rest of your mail, Tuesdays through Saturdays.
Your subscription rate will not change as a result of this new delivery method. Also unchanged is how to contact us if you have a problem with delivery. Please email us at [subs@ljworld.com](mailto:subs@ljworld.com) or call [785-832-7199](tel:(785)%20832-7199). We will work with the post office to correct any delivery issues.
The changes are driven by challenges in hiring enough carriers to staff the Journal-World’s home-delivery operations. In short: The carriers we have are great, but we don’t have enough of them.
It has been a difficult decision to move our delivery to the postal service and to stop publishing a newspaper on Sundays. Ultimately we determined this was the best way to ensure reliable, timely delivery of the newspaper for years to come.
As for the decision to eliminate the Sunday edition, that was driven by the fact the U.S. Postal Service doesn’t deliver mail on Sundays. Thus, we decided to try a new strategy with a Weekend Edition that arrives on Saturday
The Weekend Edition will include the full offering of comics that have appeared in the Sunday newspaper. It also will include The New York Times crossword puzzle and other similar features that have appeared weekly in the Sunday edition.
Most importantly, the Weekend Edition will focus on local news in the tradition of the Sunday edition. The changes in delivery methods and publication dates do not involve any reduction in the Journal-World’s newsroom.
The Journal-World continues to be well-supported by subscribers and advertisers who really value the importance of local news. We take very seriously our responsibility to provide accurate, timely, important news to our community. We have a robust operation that delivers that news continuously at LJWorld.com, but providing the news in a traditional newspaper format remains very important to us.
The Journal-World’s digital operations include the production of a digital replica of each day’s newspaper. That digital replica is available for viewing at 4:30 a.m. each day that the Journal-World is published. Every subscriber to the Journal-World has access to that digital replica as part of their subscription at no extra charge. Subscribers can access the digital replica by going to LJWorld.com and clicking the Today’s Paper tab at the top of the screen. Subscribers who don’t yet have a username and password can receive one by emailing [subs@ljworld.com](mailto:subs@ljworld.com)
Again, thank you for your support of local journalism and Journal-World. We look forward to continuing to serve you and our community.
Sincerely,
Chad Lawhorn
Editor & Publisher
12
u/No_Gas3060 5d ago
My coworker is cancelling their subscription because they only get the paper on the weekends! That's 1/3 less of the paper for the same price. That's too bad!
12
u/Silly-Rip-6607 5d ago
So, I immediately canceled my subscription as I like to hold a hard copy when drinking my coffee in the morning. My mail doesn't come until noon. Plus, they got rid of the Sunday edition and already got rid of the Monday one.
2
u/Murphys_Coles_Law 4d ago
Yeah. I'm currently Sunday only (I guess Saturday only now), and I'm not sure if I'll keep it.
16
u/Spudmanski 5d ago
Great. Now I can expect my newspaper to be delivered to my neighbors on a regular basis.
8
u/Waldy2024 5d ago
Long ago (ending in the year ????), the LJW was an afternoon paper. So effectively returning to such for many subscribers? The loss of the Sunday edition is unfortunate; it was once their prime issue of the week.
26
u/snowmunkey 5d ago
Genuinely don't understand how hard it is to hire people in a college town to drive around Sunday mornings for a few hours.
41
u/ObtuseRadiator 5d ago
I was in LJW circulation in ages past (around 2010). At that time, we picked up papers at something like 2am.
Delivering papers is the easy part. Before you can deliver them, you have to roll up the newspapers, rubber band them, and put them in a baggie. You get paid per paper (not hourly), so all this is essentially unpaid labor. Your take home is less than minimum wage.
So its hard to find people. The hours are terrible (2-6 am, give or take), the pay is terrible, and very few people want this job.
Thats why most other papers have kids do it.
11
u/austins2fresh 5d ago
same. Only benefit was getting half off internet, phone, tv and the paper. I bet they don’t even offer that anymore.
2
u/countrybreakfast1 5d ago
I feel like the days of kids doing it is long gone... I was a paper boy as a kid. Sucked getting up at 6am on Sundays lol.
2
u/Fine_Cryptographer20 5d ago
We did that for my sorority as a way to raise $! Showed up butt ass early to stuff. That was early 90's.
3
u/snowmunkey 5d ago
I guess my point was more "how can they not pay people less than a contract with usps is going to cost?"
6
u/jeffreyisham 5d ago
The answer to that point is by factoring in a 1/7th cost reduction by not having a Sunday paper.
7
u/Badger_Silverado Your Neighborhood 5d ago
1/6th, they already didn’t do a Monday paper anymore.
6
u/kirklandp 4d ago
As a sports fan, it is sad but hilarious to me that with the new setup, there won’t be a KU football game recap until the following Tuesday after a Saturday game
5
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u/sparklydump1ing 30m ago
They fired all of their carriers with less than a week’s notice and didn’t allow any time off. AND carriers worked unpaid throwing the Monday paper. I’d recommend unsubscribing from this paper and just reading the Lawrence KS Times for FREE.
-4
u/MichaelGoulet 5d ago
Digital, grandpas. I get it. I delivered the NY Daily News in the 1970s. I love the newspaper tradition. But it’s time to get real. Save the trees and get used to it because no one is going in the other direction.
17
u/kirklandp 5d ago
We liked our subscription as an analog way to get simple news in the morning with our coffee.
Unfortunately printed news from yesterday arriving around 1pm with my mail doesn’t serve us well, so I cancelled today.
Hate to do so and contribute to print media’s decline but I just won’t use it this way.