Scott Underwood: Delivery changes, commitment remains the same

Jan. 2—My weekly column has been published pretty much every Monday since 2008.

Today, a new era begins: Tuesdays are my new day to hold forth in print.

That change is necessitated by a much more significant change. Beginning this week, The Herald Bulletin has shifted from Monday print editions to Tuesday print editions. We'll also continue to distribute print editions on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

You've probably seen the notifications of this change over the past month in our print editions and on our website.

Having struggled for months to find enough delivery carriers, we've decided after long deliberation to shift all home print delivery to the U.S. Postal Service.

We do owe a huge debt of gratitude to all of the longtime carriers. Many worked hard at it for years to deliver papers to our subscribers through all sorts of bad weather and other obstacles.

But we just reached a point, in a rapidly changing economy, where we couldn't contract enough carriers to get the job done for our subscribers.

With the shift to the U.S. Postal Service delivery, it makes more sense for us to print Tuesdays instead of Mondays, since many of our national holidays are on Mondays, and the USPS doesn't deliver on national holidays.

I've received questions from a couple dozen readers about the delivery change. Some have noted that they like to read their paper in the morning but their mail doesn't arrive until later in the day.

I understand and regret that we won't be able to guarantee morning delivery, but I would encourage you to use our website to get 24/7 news updates. Access to our website is included with your print subscription.

Also included with your subscription is access to our e-edition. This electronic replica of the print edition is available before 6 a.m. each Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. So it's definitely an option to be considered for those who like to read The Herald Bulletin in the morning.

If you need help accessing heraldbulletin.com or the e-edition of The Herald Bulletin, call our customer service desk at 765-640-4848.

Thank you so much to all of our loyal readers who have stuck with us through newspaper industry changes across the years.

You are the reason we do what we do.

And our products extend well beyond our newspaper print editions and website.

For example, we've been hard at work on our next two magazines.

The spring issue of Madison will be distributed with The Herald Bulletin on Jan. 26 and will be available for free at our offices — 1133 Jackson St., Anderson — and professional offices and retail outlets across the county.

Madison's cover story for this issue focuses on special occasion celebrations. The magazine, as always, will be chock full of captivating photos and interesting stories about local people and places.

We're also working on a new enterprise — a Black History month magazine to be distributed with the newspaper in early February.

The content will include columns written by local Black community leaders, as well as articles focusing on rich local and state Black history.

Editor Scott Underwood's column appears Tuesdays. Like him on Facebook. Contact him at scott.underwood@heraldbulletin.com or 640-4845.