By: Forrest R. Church, Publisher
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
The business world can be cutthroat. I have heard you should never share experienced struggles; if you do, your enemies will, and your friends might even use it against you. I agree with this mindset to a certain extent for corporate America, but the concept of hometown rural farm village Northwest Ohio is different.
My personal and professional life has also never been “the norm.” So, while I have discussed some very raw personal and professional topics over the last two decades as your publisher within my newspaper columns, this may top them all in terms of sensitivity.
In addition, I cannot tell you how many people come up to me at a chamber meeting or ballgame and talk to me about these columns.
I am genuinely honored and consider many of you friends thus I feel that openly communicating about OUR newspaper (partnership) is important.
This topic is not just about our family-owned business and our newspaper team; on a certain level, it is also about you and likely the community/school district you live in. This topic concerns hometown newspapers that have merged to become The Village Reporter, with the earliest traces dating back to the 1870s.
There have always been critical small-town connections between hometown newspapers and the communities they serve.
A DRIVE TO MINNESOTA
I just finished a long drive from Northwest Ohio to Minneapolis, Minnesota, during beautiful fall weather. I am attending the annual National Newspaper Association Convention, where our newspaper staff has won countless awards over the years. I am proud of their efforts and always look forward to these conferences held in various locations across America.
I need drives like this to escape the daily grind at our newspaper offices; it allows time to think clearly outside of the daily routine.
At home, I have been known to disappear, which translates into grabbing a thermos of coffee and driving around our county roads at 3 a.m. It has often been the only time I can find quiet time to think.
This is why I generally drive to these conferences instead of flying; I cherish quiet time, even if it is driving down highways across the heartland of America.
I struggle to find quiet time back in Ohio, as up to 1,500 daily emails hit my inbox, numerous messaging and text message services constantly beep, and the phone endlessly rings. Just as I start to have “a thought”, boom, endless distractions (mostly good) pull me to a different direction.
While being amazed by the landscape in Wisconsin and Minnesota during the fall season, I was troubled during the drive by a topic I sensed might be forthcoming, which I had addressed in a prior column months ago. My “crystal ball” concern months ago has unfortunately occurred.
EXPENSE INCREASES
The week before my trip, we received notice from our print press that the tariff war would significantly increase the cost of the press plates needed to print The Village Reporter as no American companies produce these plates.
This is not just affecting our newspaper; it’s also impacting publications across the nation that, as I am sure you already know, are struggling.
Since our newspaper is full color on every page, we use considerably more plates than newspapers that generally publish mostly black and white pages. Since American companies do not manufacture the vast majority of newspaper supplies, we are caught directly in the crossfire of massive tariff increases.
I thought about these print plate increases and how to cover the expenses for most of the drive. Usually, these annual National Newspaper Association Conventions fire me up, but I was feeling deflated on this trip.
But I listened to some great devotional audio, and by the time I arrived, I stopped feeling sorry for the cards we were dealt and fixed my attitude problem.
I sat down in a corner restaurant booth once arriving in Minneapolis to enjoy dinner, opening my laptop in fear of that number that would appear in my inbox since I could not address incoming emails throughout the day, to find the first email appearing from our print press notifying me that newsprint prices would now also sustain a significant increase in fees as well.
I will admit “I had a moment”. Note the prior paragraph stating my resolved attitude problem (let’s say it returned).
THE HAND WE HAVE BEEN DEALT
What can I possibly do to cover these expenses when our profit margins are near non-existent in good publication weeks and we go well into the red (negative) on low advertisement weeks?
As I have written in the past, the level of community news coverage we can provide at The Village Reporter is all based on advertisement revenue (we hope to break even on subscription sales vs what we charge).
Should we eliminate color and reduce page count (news coverage) to offset these expenses? We are “all in” with The Village Reporter and desire to provide the highest quality newspaper with the most local Williams County – Fulton County area news possible.
Our faithful readers have seen this over the past few decades as we have worked relentlessly to build this newspaper to what you have come to expect.
Some weeks, generally only when we are at three news sections, we may have a small profit margin selling newspapers at $2.00 per copy. Most weeks, when we are 4, 5, 6, and even seven sections, we sell papers at a loss.
Keep in mind that many newspapers across the nation sell their editions for the same price, and often are a single section (12 pages).
When you see multiple sections each week within our product, each section is comparable to an entire edition provided by other publications.
Example? A 6-section weekly edition of The Village Reporter equals the page count of six entire newspaper editions of different publications for the price of one edition.
If that boring mathematical concept only registers with the guy trying to pay the bills (me), it would be like ordering a cheeseburger at two different local restaurants when the sandwich costs the same price at both locations. One restaurant gives a single burger. The second restaurant (us) distributes 5, 6, or 7 cheeseburgers when your plate arrives.
I have been advised by peers that I have not effectively communicated the great deal we offer readers. Not only is our page count 3, 4, 5, 6 times larger than other publications, but news is also provided in a daily newspaper format for subscribers who can log in anytime and read stories immediately on our website (no waiting for the traditional newspaper to arrive in the mail).
Other expenses have also risen drastically since our last newspaper increase. The Post Office has raised rates SIX TIMES in recent years; we absorbed this increase every time.
And of course, our team deserves livable wages, which our company has also absorbed. This has placed us in a position of operating in the red for several weeks in 2025, which must be quickly resolved.
We have been the only local business I know of that has absorbed endless inflation and tariff increases without passing the expenses along to customers.
Think about how long ago you noted a price increase for your lunch, when a sub sandwich may have cost $5, and now you are lucky to walk away without spending $12.00. Have you seen a 99-cent cup of coffee, or is $3.00 the new norm? Has anyone tried to buy ground beef or noted the price of eggs?
I could go on endlessly, but I am sure every reader just had endless purchase prices jump into their head, a struggle each of us faces, not just those in business.
Keeping newspaper rates where they have been since pre-COVID is no longer an option. If you retain anything from this column, I hope you understand the effort made to avoid having to pass along these increases. Unless we make significant cuts to our newspaper product and staff, this is the only option, as much as it sickens me.
As I wrote pre-holidays 2024, we had several senior citizens who have been with us for decades write and say they absolutely love our Community Newspaper and how we have grown; however, they could not afford to resubscribe (essentially, groceries were more critical).
In a highly gracious gesture, many of you donated subscriptions to bless them. This is just one of the reasons why I love living in Northwest Ohio; the kindness of our citizens is extraordinary. These stories echo in my head when considering pricing; the decision to increase pricing did not come easy.
I have been publishing Community News long enough (next year will be 25 years) to know we will have a few readers visit our office and scream that our price increase is highway robbery. Essentially, they will feel we should provide our product for less than it costs to print.
I have shared a story before, probably twenty years old now, in which a customer took our heads off over a single edition paper rate (I think it may have been $1.25 at the time).
Ten minutes after this individual left our office, I went to an area gas station for a cup of coffee, only to see the same gentleman in line ahead of me.
It was hard not to notice that he bought a large amount of cigarettes and scratch-off tickets, which likely equated to buying fifty of our newspapers. Yet apparently, in his mindset, our operation with hundreds of weekly local payroll hours was too expensive. #perspective
The forthcoming price increase will likely be a negative topic of conversation in convenience stores. But I also know most of our readers will understand and continue supporting us.
They may even feel good knowing that by buying a local copy at the store or subscribing, they are partnering with us to strengthen our community news operation.
New pricing will be announced in a future newspaper edition. Please note that additional subscription options will be made available to readers. If readers choose only to receive electronic/website options (we have not offered this previously), there will be little to no increase in subscription prices.
Those wanting the “full package”, including the traditional mailed print paper, will see an increase to offset these out-of-control expense increases.
We are also going to make an optional “news fund” available for local citizens to support our local newsroom coverage (much like a restaurant tip). There have been stories of Community Newspapers around the country receiving substantial seed money to ensure their news coverage continues strongly (testimonies have been shared at our newspaper association gatherings).
All revenue received above and beyond base subscription prices in the form of “newsroom tips” will be utilized 100% to send our writers and photographers into local communities to continue providing the local news our readers have become accustomed to.
While distraught by out-of-control expenses in our industry, they are just a battle we will work through. We are not alone in facing this experience. What is your story?
Please know that we will continue to work as hard as possible for readers, bringing the best possible local news coverage. I remain optimistic that great days are ahead for our community newspaper, our small Northwest Ohio towns, and our country.
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That is it for this week. I’d love to hear from you. As always, feel free to reach out to me at publisher@thevillagereporter.com or via mail at 115 Broad Street, Montpelier, Ohio 43543.
Source: The Village Reporter
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