Staffing issues present unique Sun challenges
If you see a newspaper carrier out and about, please tell them thanks
When it rains, it pours … and boy, that’s been the case lately for our circulation department at the Yuma Sun.
We’ve had a bit of a struggle as of late when it comes to hiring and retaining delivery drivers. It’s a critically important job, but it’s not easy. This team works late at night, driving through the county to deliver the Sun seven days a week, 365 days a year. They have to make sure to get every subscriber on their routes, while at the same time keeping an eye on the weather to make sure papers don’t get wet or – more likely – blow away in an early morning storm.
Finding the right people to do this job has led to some challenges for us, which unfortunately have impacted our readers in several ways big and small.
For some readers last weekend, the Yuma Sun arrived much later than normal, which led to a flood of calls in our offices from upset readers looking for the paper.
To all of you who called or emailed us, we apologize for the delays, and we’re working hard and fast to find solutions to get the Sun out our door and to you as quickly as possible.
On that end, we’ve asked our newsroom and pressroom to do what they can to give our delivery team a bigger window to deliver the paper. That means early deadlines for everyone involved.
Our reporters are writing their stories earlier in the day, our page designers are wrapping up the paper three hours earlier than usual, and our pressroom team is coming in hours earlier to get the paper finished sooner. But that does cause some challenges for readers, too.
To meet those deadlines, our pages have to be done before the lottery numbers come out. And on the sports side of the house, we will miss some of the later games and scores. If an NBA game has a 7 p.m. tipoff, for example, that game won’t wrap up in time for us to get it on the page.
And for that, we apologize too. Our goal is to provide the latest news and scores as we can every night.
Right now, we’re trying to find a balance – and it’s admittedly a delicate one – between meeting our delivery deadlines and still having all those late scores and lottery numbers in the paper.
We know we aren’t alone in facing staffing challenges. We’ve talked to a variety of business owners both in Yuma County and across the U.S. who are struggling too. But we are confident that we will work through these issues – we just ask you for your patience while we do so.
In the meantime, if you see your newspaper carrier out and about, please take a moment to thank them. This team is working double-time right now to make sure our papers make it out – and we sincerely appreciate them, as well as those in the newsroom and pressroom who are shifting schedules to get us out the door early.
And if you know someone who’s interested in a delivery job, give us a call at 928-539-6988.
One more thing, readers. If your paper is late, please remember that all subscriptions include free access to our online edition at www.yumasun.com, which is posted every morning by 5 a.m. This is an online replica of our print edition, as well as the stories on Yumasun.com.
And as always, thanks for reading!