Where is my newspaper?

Things have been getting worse for King Country News when it comes to successfully getting our newspapers into your letterboxes over the past few months.

We have been following up on instances where things do not work as they should, with mixed results in terms of improvement. We continue to focus on this.

We have also noted that the papers we have in our office and at other locations in Te Kūiti, have been running out early on Thursdays.

People that have stopped into our office in Te Kūiti to pick up a paper have mostly mentioned not receiving one at their home. This is despite us not reducing the number of papers we print.

It is obvious that something different will have to be done if we want a different, more consistently reliable outcome, for readers.

We must seriously look at what an alternative setup might look like for those areas where we just cannot seem to get things working as we would prefer.

Simply printing more papers is not a satisfactory solution.

We have spoken with other community newspapers, and they are dealing with the same challenges we are.

A few of them are contemplating reducing, and in some cases, stopping letterbox deliveries.

In the past month, one of those newspapers has stopped all home deliveries in favour of bulk pick-up points for their newspaper.

For us, it looks as if we should leave things alone where we are getting things mostly right, and only make a change where things are not working well.

Stopping home deliveries in Te Kūiti is not a decision we would take lightly.

However, every week we hear from an increasing number of people frustrated when their paper is not in their letterbox when it should be.

We understand a good number of people would also be disappointed if stopping letterbox deliveries meant their paper was not in their letterbox every week.

However, that’s what is already happening for a lot of people. Those people are then picking up a paper from one of the other pick-up points around town and we are also running out of the papers there, too.

If no-one was expecting a paper in their letterbox, those still wanting a printed newspaper could plan to collect one when they were next in town.

For those others that want a paper, but might not get out and about as often, we trust that their neighbours, friends, or family would pick up an extra paper for them, too.

No decision has been made yet, however, stopping home deliveries in Te Kūiti, and increasing the number of papers we have available in our office and two or three other locations in town, is starting to look like the most obvious change we can make to better ensure everyone that wants to, can get their hands on their weekly community newspaper.

We will give a bit more time to assess this situation and share what we decide to do very soon.

In the meantime, here is a reminder of the places in Te Kūiti where you should be able to get your hands on a printed copy.

The King Country News office, Queen Street Dairy, Patels Mini Market, Mobil Service Station, New World Te Kūiti, Z Te Kūiti, SuperValue Te Kūiti and BP 2GO Te Kūiti.

Aaron Buist –

CEO King Country News