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on to your hats, readers, as another change is coming to
help make things better at your favorite weekly newspaper.
Since Brett and Susan Ainsworth bought The Retrospect in
1999, they have consistently plowed the newspaper’s
resources back into the product.
The company has added pages, features, coverage, personnel
and more to the paper over the years and readers have responded.
Let’s emphasize “responded.” Our subscribers
are incredibly loyal and new ones sign up all the time.
Less than eight years ago, the newspaper had 3,400 subscribers.
By the end of 2008, we expect to have almost 6,000 paid
weekly subscribers and newsstand purchasers.
With
circulation at daily newspapers declining dramatically,
we recognize that our growing circulation is a good problem
to have. Unfortunately, our ability to mail over 5,000 papers
a week has stretched us and our mailing equipment to the
limit. Further, there is also a good probability that U.S.
Postal Service changes will soon require us to make major,
expensive changes to how the paper is mailed.
With
that in mind, publisher Brett Ainsworth recently announced
to the staff that AFL Web Printing, the Voorhees company
that prints The Retrospect, will take over many of the newspaper’s
day-to-day mailing and circulation operations, starting
with the edition of April 4.
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Please join The Retrospect staff in doing the happy dance.
For us, it means that most of us will have another day each
week to do what we do best – write, photograph, draw,
design and make a newspaper that you want to read.
Circulation coordinator Coleen Glen will continue to oversee
general circulation responsibilities and take on some new
tasks.
For our readers, there will be advantages. It means that
they will have a toll-free phone number to call when they
want to renew their subscriptions, when they want to change
their mailing addresses or – this should happen less
frequently – the paper doesn’t show up on its
accustomed day. We don’t want readers to misconstrue
this important change. The newspaper is not being taken
over by a big corporation. Contrary to many business stories
these days, this is a cost-adding move designed to continue
growing the newspaper. This investment should give us more
time to make The Retrospect better than ever.
Watch these pages for more news about the big changes. We
hope you’re excited, because we sure are!
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