I was talking to a representative of the Greenhorn Valley Library. as we had been in weekly contact for several weeks. The library uses a third party to renew their subscription to the Greenhorn Valley View and there seemed to be a problem.
As he mentioned they hadn’t gotten last week’s paper, I shared the story of what had happened. He quickly apologized for laughing at our misfortune (and yours) but then said, “You couldn’t have scripted a crazier story.”
I had to agree. I told him that due to the events of last week we had two choices as editors of a small weekly newspaper – we could cry or we could laugh. We’ve done both.
In case you missed the excitement, last week was a mass mailing. We have the opportunity twice a year to send 3000 copies of the newspaper in an effort to attract subscribers.
To keep the story short and to the point, the key person at the place that prints, labels and distributes the newspaper quit, and left no one trained to replace him.
As a result, the labeling and paperwork necessary for the post office to distribute the newspaper failed – miserably.
When the efforts on our part to fix the situation by telephone and email also failed, Lori and I did what we could to directly fix the situation on Saturday morning . First, we woke up the night person at the printing destination and then drove to Rye and Colorado City with what was left of the mass mailing production.
Hopefully, sometime before this week’s paper you got last week’s.
If you haven’t, let us know. In nearly 13 years we have never missed a press deadline. However, after that hand-off there are other entities involved in distribution to nearly every Colorado County and 15 states.
Despite the 326-word intro, that is not the point of this story. The point is the warm, supportive, understanding people we saw when we were at the two post office facilities on Saturday.
Yes, we encountered some hostility. Many people were just letting us know they hadn’t gotten the paper because they missed it. One couple told us they hadn’t gotten their paper and, as we started to give the abbreviated version above, they said, “Oh, we read it online last night, we just like to have the hard copy.”
(Editor’s note: If you have a print subscription, an e-edition is free, just go on our website to sign up as and Existing Print Subscriber)
Many started their comments in terms of how many years they have subscribed. Even if we don’t know you personally, if you are a longtime subscriber we know your name and hope you understand how much we value you as a customer.
As I mentioned earlier you can get the Greenhorn Valley View as a print edition, as an e-edition, as a combination of both, at Valley Market, and at Colorado City Loaf and Jug (they had papers on time because there is no government paperwork associated with them). And last Saturday, if your timing was right, you could have gotten one in either Post Office parking lot.
One elderly couple pulled up next to us in the Rye Post Office and said, “Are you folks the ones with the Greenhorn Valley News? (I know old memories die slowly). After we responded to the affirmative, he handed a newspaper out the car window, “I got an extra copy in my box and I only paid for one, I thought you might need it.”
We did need it, but more than that we needed the wonderful responses from the subscribers we have.
Thank you for being the people you are. You are appreciated.