Over the last several years The Register has lost subscribers in the hinterlands of southeast Kansas due to cost-cutting measures by the U.S. Postal Service.
Today’s Register will not reach Le Roy readers until Wednesday or Thursday. Time was, a drop-off at the Iola post office meant the Register was on a direct route to its destination.
Orders from higher-ups now dictate fewer handlers in smaller post offices, if not outright closures, and more in metropolitan Sectional Center Facilities where large volumes are handled. Today, the paper takes a circuitous route from the Iola post office to post offices in Fort Scott and then Kansas City before it heads this way again. The delay makes the term “news” an oxymoron by the time the Register reaches the several hundred subscribers we have across the region. Many have voiced their opposition to this “service” by the post office by ceasing their subscription to the paper.
Our recourse has been to offer readers an online subscription where readers can view an exact replica of the newspaper in a PDF format. The download takes only seconds and at $10 a month is a savings compared to delivery by mail.
But old habits die hard.
For many, that’s not how they want to read the Register. And for some, the Internet is not an option because of lack of access.
By the next generation, that problem may no longer exist. But it could be one of a different color. If today’s youth are growing up not reading a newspaper it’s unlikely they’ll adopt it as a habit when they are out on their own.
The news last week that Neosho Falls and perhaps Piqua will be losing their post offices affects the Register. Five days a week we make “drops” at those post offices so our readers can get next-day service. Now, those subscribers will be on the Fort Scott/Kansas City route and we pray will not blame the delay on us.
COMING DOWN the pike is the likely elimination of Saturday postal service, which also will affect delivery of the Register’s Weekender edition. If Congress approves the measure, our online edition will become even more critical for those wanting reports of Friday night sports and other weekend-related news.
Newspapers are one of the postal industry’s most loyal customers. Every day we direct hundreds if not thousands of dollars their way.
It’s ironic that their measures to save money will incur losses by forcing customers to redirect their business via other routes, including paperless.
This kind of progress is a mixed bag.
— Susan Lynn
