Our print
readers received an interesting looking newspaper this morning — or
will receive one sometime today — due to some production problems
overnight that delayed printing.
I’ll have a column in the Friday edition explaining as much as is understandable about what happened, but essentially a number of backend computer files required to put the paper out became corrupted sometime Wednesday, and the fix took hours. The shortened schedule for printing forced us to do the unexpected — print an all black-and-white edition to save time in producing the plates that run on the press for color pages. The press normally starts at 12:15 a.m. daily; this morning’s run began around 7 a.m., meaning that as I write this we still have papers being dropped off. Between the late delivery and black and white cover, some readers may feel a hint of nostalgia for the old afternoon edition that didn’t have color either.
Jokes aside, I want to apologize for readers for the delay. Also, the effort of more than 12 Sun employees in pre-press, the press room, IT, and the mailroom is worth noting. Those dozen people, not including carriers who were sent home around 2 a.m. and asked to return at dawn, spent all night diagnosing the problem and working with an outside company’s tech support to get things fixed. It’s a cliché that the newspaper is a “daily miracle,” but nights like last night give you an idea of the effort and a little magic behind getting this thing to 20,000 doorsteps day after day.
Like I said, I’ll try to have more information later, both here and for print readers. If you’re still waiting for your paper, please have patience. But also understand things are a little scrambled with delivery schedules, so do call us later today (360.377.3711) if you haven’t received your paper.
And be looking for a full-color Sun on Friday.
My son was reading his tweet from the Kitsap Sun as I was reading the paper this morning. “Didn’t you notice that the paper is in black and white?” he asked. “No, I didn’t notice until you mentioned it”, I said. It looks fine to me. I don’t mind the paper being in black and white at all, just as long as the online version is in color.
At least this person received a paper. It’s just after 1pm & I still have no paper – called the Sun as requested at the end of the editor’s remarks. The circulation rep was non-apologetic and not forthcoming with any details, except to inform me that “looks like we will not be able to get a paper out to you today”. I was offered a one-day credit or the option to receive both the Thurs. & Fri. editions on Friday a.m. I chose the latter – will see if that really happens.
I am curious what the decision-making process was for deciding who would get a paper today – late or otherwise?
I am close to canceling my paid-in-full year’s subscription – not because of today’s late paper; I understand that “stuff happens”, but for “customer service” to not even offer a lame excuse, much less a valid one, for why “it looks like we will not get a paper out to you today” is NOT customer service. This, with the fact that I have begged for my paper to be delivered in plastic during the rain – since resubscribing at the end of Nov., I have not had a single paper delivered in plastic – and we have been thru some nasty wet & windy days during this time, leaving me with swollen and soggy papers.
I enjoyed the retro look. Thanks for the explanation. No apology is necessary. I don’t know of any human activity that goes according to plan 100% of the time.
It’s after 1:00 PM and I still have not rec. a printed Thu. paper.
By some coincidence I did not rec. a paper on Mon., Tu., or Wed
???
JK
It’s 4::40pm, and we still haven’t received a newspaper on 3rd Ave. in Suquamish. The number you give leads to voice mail hell, asking for an extension or a staff person’s name. Lacking a paper, I have no clue about either. Frustrating.
I’m a little late with this, but I want to thank the editor, the staff and our carrier.
I think you should have used the name of that company that wouldn’t support you at odd hours. I love the story about calling for help in Belgium. We appreciate what you said about the carriers. Ours deliver other papers, too, so I expect he had to make the route twice that day. He actually called us to let us know he had just put the paper in the box. We’re on a hill with a 500-foot driveway, so it’s not easy to run down and look.