I’m surprised the post office didn’t kill Saturday
delivery sooner. They’re broke. Even though they were hemorrhaging money for
the past several years, they needed permission from Congress to make any
significant change, and you know what that means…nothing gets done.
We knew it was coming, remain committed to
delivering our newspaper through the mail, and have been planning for months
the change to delivering a weekly Friday COURIER starting on Friday, March 1.
As owner and publisher, I’m so excited about this
change we are throwing a community party on March 7 with the Claremont Chamber
of Commerce.
Our attitude was simple. We were not going to wait
for USPS to figure out when and how to cut services. That’s why the COURIER
staff reviewed every option to sustain a healthy community newspaper, while
keeping the high content standards our readers and advertisers expect.
And did we ever come up with a plan!
As mentioned, on March 1 the COURIER will be
delivered by the post office to your mailbox on every Friday. The paper will be
noticeably thicker as we add pages and color to accommodate a week’s worth of
news. We will invest in cleaner, whiter newsprint to make the photography pop,
the advertising sing and the text easier to read.
But we are not stopping there. Parts of the
newspaper will be redesigned to help guide readers through a larger edition.
The calendar will we reworked with new features (this includes a new nightlife
column) and more photography. Remember Back Page? Claremonters like gossip, and we are bringing
back this ever-popular column. And there’s more to come.
My point is the COURIER is committed to producing
a great community newspaper, we understand our readers and advertisers rely on
the print edition and we have no intention of cutting corners…so to speak.
We also realize there are many of you who need
your Claremont news 24/7, which is why the daily updates on our website will be
a perfect fit. Since some of this content will be published before the print
edition, it will stay behind a paywall for subscribers only. If you have a
subscription, just create a login and full access is yours. Just like our
passion for the print edition, we understand in this full throttle world that
expects news published in a timely manner.
But again, we are not stopping there! Our online
users will get emails each week with Claremont news highlights with links to
the full story on the website. Don’t want them? You can cancel the emails any
time. Use a smartphone? Starting in March, check out our new mobile website
designed for that little screen. With over 2200 Facebook friends, we will continue
to post news links and display our best photos of the week.
Even the way we display photography on the website
will be improved. Instead of one photo gallery per print edition, now a gallery
will be attached to the end of stories so you can see the images from that
particular shoot. Read all about an event…see the photos packaged together with
the story.
To continue our focus on helping small businesses,
we have created simple, easy to understand online marketing packages to enhance
print advertising. Our widely popular online business directory already sends
1300 customers to Claremont businesses a day. And it’s free to register your
business.
Don’t have the time to figure out your Internet
marketing? We will help you get started and even maintain your presence as one
of our customers. The COURIER will remain a key component in helping Claremont
businesses succeed. We have done this for decades, and will continue to do so
in this ever changing digital age.
I could keep going, but we want to surprise you
all as we role out these improvements next month. I also realize in this day, change
can be scary and create gloom about the future. But even as other newspapers
struggle, the COURIER will continue to prosper as one of the best community
newspaper companies in the country.
From the staff and myself, we want to thank you
for all your support and good wishes.
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