To the editor:
This letter is for the paper's subscribers, most of whom probably don't know of the delivery change to take place next week. Beginning the day after Labor Day, the paper will no longer be delivered by carriers, many of whom have been delivering for years, but by the U.S. Postal Service. I have nothing against the Postal Service and, in fact, am a supporter of it, probably because my father was a carrier.
In the future, you will no longer receive a paper on holidays since there is no mail service. The day after, you will receive two papers, maybe. Most of the time the paper will be delivered but there will be days when you don't receive a paper at all and I say this from experience since I have another paper delivered by mail. There are any number of reasons for this, from a delay in the papers getting to the post office to the Postal Service having a large volume of regular mail and not being able to sort the papers for delivery. This is periodical mail delivery and does not have the priority that first and second class mail has.
If you don't receive a paper, there is no one to call to find out why. Again, this is from personal experience. The mail carriers don't know why they don't have a paper to deliver and neither does the post office.
I realize circulation is not what it used to be nor is the advertising revenue what it once was and that this is a cost-cutting measure. But the end result is that the subscribers will not get what they expect nor what they are paying for.
John Mascio
Steubenville