When you’re nearly 130 years old, you have to adapt to the times.
Such is the case with the Whidbey News-Times and South Whidbey Record.
Without a doubt, we’ve all wondered what the COVID-19 pandemic would mean to us as individuals, and to the businesses in our community.
For the newspapers, it’s meant working remotely, something that was unfathomable just over a year ago, but has become strangely comfortable, for better or worse.
The next big change in store for the News-Times and Record is one readers will notice very quickly.
Starting with the Wednesday, March 24 edition of the News-Times and Record, subscribers will be getting their newspaper in their mailboxes.
We believe this partnership with the U.S. Postal Service is a win-win. It promises to be better for our readers in that delivery should become more consistent, especially as we streamline our processes.
Over the past year, it’s become increasingly difficult to fill newspaper carrier positions on Whidbey Island, particularly on the South End. It was never really easy to fill those jobs because of the late hours, remote areas some of them cover and the sometimes unwelcoming weather, but the pandemic resulted in even fewer people being willing to do the wind, rain, sleet, hail and dark of night thing.
Being short newspaper carriers has resulted in less-than-reliable delivery on an increasing basis. For that we apologize. We’ve heard your concerns. We want every single reader to receive their newspaper dry and on time.
We notified our carriers 30 days prior to this change, and they were very understanding. Some had been planning to give up their routes, but stayed on to get us through to March 24. Being a carrier is a hard job, and we are grateful to those who have taken on the challenge over the years. They will forever hold a place in newspaper history.
So, starting with your next edition, you can expect to find it on your usual delivery days, Wednesday and Saturday, inside your mailbox. We hope you’ll find this change a positive one.
• As always, I welcome your comments and concerns. You can email me at kgraves@whidbeynewsgroup.com
