A postal worker in a nearby community called this newspaper after the last issue was mailed and asked why the paper wasn’t being received in her office in an adjoining county until Friday. I was asked to please publish a story saying the papers weren’t being delayed by the post office.
I was assured the papers are distributed the same day they are received and never held in the local office for delivery at a later time.
I believe her story but the post office is to blame for the delay. In recent weeks the postal system has moved the processing of more mail from area offices to the Omaha. That move has added at least another day to the time required to deliver the papers.
When I started at The Express, the papers were printed Wednesday afternoon and the addressing process was started at 5 p.m. that day. Many times we were able to publish pictures and stories reporting Wednesday happenings. In an attempt to meet the advancing deadline times, the paper is now printed and addressed Tuesday night for, in many communities, Friday delivery.
When I was a youngster, The Express was printed on Thursday afternoon and had Friday delivery to the Kansas and Nebraska trade area.
When I started at the newspaper, The Express had about 20 community correspondents. Many of those folks were able to write their reports on Monday morning and the post office department would have their letter in our box later that day. That is no longer possible as the letters must travel more than a hundred miles for processing.
It was once possible to mail a letter addressed to a Red Cloud address in the morning and have a reply back that afternoon. Now a paper printed Tuesday night doesn’t reach Red Cloud, a distance of only 29 miles, until Friday.
Thankfully, we are now able to deliver the paper electronically. Replicas of the paper are available on the internet Wednesday afternoon. And access to those electronic papers is included in the annual newspaper subscription price.
Some folks who used to visit the newspaper office every Wednesday afternoon to pick up the paper now access the electronic version. Recently, one of those former Wednesday afternoon front office customers said she checks the e-edition every Wednesday evening and makes her weekly grocery list while reading the Ideal Market insert.
Last week the postal system reported having lost more than $2 billion thus far in 2023. That is more than double the amount the system projected.
Thus far in FY 2023, first class mail volume has declined 5.2 percent. Package business declined 3.2 percent.
The agency’s plan to solve its financial problems by raising rates twice a year and cutting services isn’t working.
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And another thing that isn’t working this week is the dictatorship tactics law enforcement directed toward a newspaper at Marion, Kansas. That action is a threat to our civil liberties. And more than that, that raid led to the death of the elderly co-owner of the newspaper.
Before her death, Joan Meyer, when speaking about what happened at her newspaper said, “These are Hitler tactics and something has to be done.” Meyer was associated with the award winning Marion County newspaper for more than 70 years.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides members of the Fourth Estate certain protections which allow them to do their job. Those rights were trampled on in Marion County.
We can’t allow such actions to be repeated.
In that raid on Friday, the Marion Police Department executed a search warrant at the Record’s offices and at its publisher’s home. Various records and electronic equipment were seized.
The action, however, has not stopped the newspaper. With the help of other publishers, the Record is expected to be published on schedule this week. And its story is circulating around the world.
Remember when the General Motors car dealership was caught in a sceme financing fictious auto sales? T-Shirts were sold with a message that indicated if you didn’t know where Washington, Kansas was you should ask General Motors Acceptance Corporation. After sustaining a substantial loss the finance company certainly knew where Washington, Kansas, was. After the raid people around the world are learning where Marian, Kansas. That isn’t good.
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