CL signs distribution deal with St. Pete Times
July 16, 2008 at 7:37 pm by Wayne GarciaCreative Loafing laid off an assistant circulation director and gave two weeks’ notice to 18 independent contractor who deliver print copies of our weekly after signing a deal to have the St. Petersburg Times distribute the paper instead.
Publisher Sharry Smith informed staff this afternoon in an e-mail that read, in part:
We were recently approached by the St. Petersburg Times to open discussions about contracting with their distribution infrastructure to distribute CL.
After many conversations and very careful deliberation we have signed a distribution agreement with the St. Petersburg Times which will begin with the July 30 issue.
This agreement will affect our distribution expenses in a very positive way ….
Smith said the agreement provided both companies protections in terms of confidential information and would not be a problem despite the Times‘ distribution of what some view as a rival publication, the daily *tbt tabloid.
Smith would not reveal the financial terms of the distribution agreement.
July 17th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Funny… Today’s CL delivery was covered by a stack of yesterday’s tbt*.
I’m sure it’s just coincidence.
July 17th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
This is the next phase of changes to newspapers – services such as printing, delivery, ad design, ad sales, and more will not only be outsourced, but multiple papers owned by different companies will outsource together.
The final phase will be the outsourcing of news gathering.
That is when newspapers will finally complete their evolution, and these completely outsourced services will start a process of restructuring through mergers and acquisitions…
With CL saving $$ on delivery, they can forestall cutting staff and put of the inevitable just a bit longer.
July 18th, 2008 at 2:59 am
The purpose of outsourcing is to allow your efforts and resources to be focused on what you do best (aka core competency). In your above forecast Jim, you state the final phase will be the outsourcing of news gathering and I’d have to disagree. If the business that is outsourcing is in the business of news gathering they will either fold or enhance distribution channels (whatever form they may be in) providing content to companies that need to purchase it (you don’t outsource what you are good at). You may see merging at this stage but that’s typical when markets mature.