Over the last several months the Herald has received numerous letters from mail subscribers about slow delivery of the Herald.
We have heard stories about papers being delivered anywhere from two weeks late to more than three or four months late.
A mail subscription to the Herald costs $130 a year (that’s $2.50 per week). That fee pays for the postal permit, postage, and the manpower to package and deliver the papers to the U.S. Postal Service. Each week, the papers are sorted, bundled, and shipped as prescribed to the Postal Service. Lately, we wonder what happens once they are dropped off.
Before the coronavirus pandemic and the Postal Service cutbacks of last summer, concerns of late delivery were few and usually were resolved with help from our friends at the Doylestown Post Office. Now, we far too often hear that a paper has not been delivered on time, if at all. We also hear, for example, that an issue of the Herald from December was delivered with a March issue of the Herald – in May.
It appears to be a systemic issue rather than a local one – the local USPS offices operate as efficiently as they always have, but they are at the mercy of regional and national masters that manage the equipment and manpower required to get the mail delivered on time. It is important to note that our local post offices are required to ship their mail, even local mail, to a regional location, where it is sorted and shipped back to the local office.
This situation is disappointing for everyone. It is of no use to our subscribers, and it certainly does not please us. Our options to mitigate the problem are few. First Class mail is not offered as it costs more than two times the cost of our permit postage. First Class mail has also become unreliable (I was informed by our operations manager that we received a check from a subscriber today that was sent to us via First Class mail and postmarked in December 2020 – from Frenchtown!).
Home delivery, which is the most consistently reliable method of delivery, is offered to local mail subscribers as an alternative to mail subscriptions, and costs $260 a year. Some subscribers switch, some do not.
Readers can always pick up the Herald for free at local stores while supplies last or at the Herald office in Lahaska. The store locations can be found on our website.
For those mail subscribers who are experiencing slow delivery times, or none at all, we offer a full refund with heartfelt thanks for your interest and loyalty to the Herald.
Joe Wingert, Publisher
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