Small-town newspapers say mail delays are crippling their business

Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight

Delayed Postal Service deliveries of small-town newspapers are frustrating readers, undermining subscriptions and hurting advertising revenue, according to publishers across South Dakota.

“It’s taking nine days to get a paper from Armour to Sioux Falls,” said Julie Hinckley of Rocket Printing, which prints several small-town publications. “That’s unacceptable for timely news.”

Armour and Sioux Falls are about 95 miles apart. Many smaller publishers, like those that work with Rocket Printing, depend on the post office for deliveries to subscribers who’ve moved away to Sioux Falls or other locations but still want to receive their hometown paper. Some larger newspapers that formerly hired people to deliver the paper now count on the post office even for local deliveries, due to tighter budgets, a migration to online readership and a lack of people interested in having a paper route.

The Postal Service had announced last year it would pause — at least until this year — a controversial plan to downgrade several mail processing centers, including one in Huron. The pause followed pushback from the state’s congressional delegation.

In a Feb. 21 press release, the Postal Service announced a $3 billion cost-cutting initiative, but also mentioned $3 million in planned upgrades to the Huron facility. The release did not mention the removal of any sorting operations.

Then, in early April, a postal employee emailed David Bordewyk, executive director of the South Dakota NewsMedia Association, to say that some sorting operations were halted in Huron, and some newspapers and other bulk mail were going to a postal facility in Fargo, North Dakota, before being routed back to South Dakota for final delivery.

The change adds days to delivery, according to newspaper publishers.

“We’re getting calls left and right,” said Barb Pechous with the Wagner Post. “Advertisers are starting to pull back.”

Dan Bechtold with the Winner Advocate said readers are assuming their subscription has lapsed when papers don’t arrive on time.

“If something is coming up people want to know about, they’re going to miss it,” he said.

After reaching out to member newspapers, Bordewyk heard from at least a dozen papers reporting problems. He also reached out to the state’s congressional delegation, whose staffers said the Postal Service claimed the problem stemmed from newspapers not properly sorting their own mail.

Bordewyk said that explanation “doesn’t make any sense,” because papers have been sorting the same way for years.

“Are they changing the rules in the middle of the game?” he said. “If things need to be fixed, tell us. Work with us.”

Bordewyk said the Postal Service has not provided newspapers with any updated guidance on how to prepare mail. He hopes to arrange a meeting between the papers and the Postal Service.

The Postal Service responded to a request for comment by asking for more specific questions from South Dakota Searchlight, but did not immediately respond upon receiving those questions.