‘Where’s my newspaper?’

Some readers of The Lakeland Times have been contacting the newspaper office for more than two years now to explain they sometimes have to wait a month, or more, to get certain editions of their paid print subscription. Sometimes they never receive them at all.

Just as frustrated as its readers, the Times decided to try something different — the newspaper placed an airtag GPS tracking device in a few different editions to find out exactly where the issues in the delivery process are occurring. 

According to Times general manager Heather Holmes, there was a point in time when periodicals were a priority for the United States Postal Service (USPS), however, it seems as if those days have come and gone. 

One subscriber based in Florida, who understandably declined to go on record with the Times about this issue, got one of their papers, the Tuesday/Friday, April 1 and 4 edition, on April 17. 

This was one of the papers the Times placed a tracking device on, with the subscriber aware of that, and besides numerous stops at different USPS locations along the way, the tracking device showed two separate hangups.

First being dropped off in Rhinelander, the paper made its way to a Milwaukee bus station, where it sat for more than two days until it was transported to a Milwaukee airport. From there, it spent less than a day in Louisville, Ky. and then to an Orlando airport. 

From April 9 to April 15, six days, the paper stayed at the Orlando Post Office. 

On April 16, the paper arrived at Vero Beach Post Office and the subscriber received not only the April 1 and 4 edition of the Times, but other editions they didn’t receive at all until that point — the March 18 and March 21 edition.

One other subscriber, who also agreed to allow the Times to place a tracking device inside one of their editions, is a little closer to home. He agreed to go on record with the newspaper. 

Randy Mayer of Fort Atkinson received his Friday, March 28 edition of the Times on March 29, which is normal, but the issue was he received a previous edition he already assumed was never going to come. Mayer still hasn’t received two other March issues that were mailed.

While there was only a one-day delay for that particular issue, the tracking device still illustrated for the Times first-hand the complexity of the USPS mailing system — the March 28 edition left Rhinelander on March 27 and arrived in Green Bay later that night. From there, it went to Milwaukee, then Watertown, then Madison all within the day of March 28, before arriving at the Fort Atkinson Post Office the next day, March 29. 

Mayer said “for years” he received his Friday edition of the Times the next day. Then “all-of-a-sudden” that changed.

“How this all started for me was I (hardly got) any issues in March,” he said, adding he contacted the paper as a result and agreed to allow the Times to place a tracking device in one of his next editions. “And so that issue came on Saturday, like I normally get … along with that one with the tracker in it came another issue from the middle of the month, and I still never received the other two issues from March.”

Mayer said he went to the Fort Atkinson Post Office on March 31. He made USPS staff aware one of his papers was tracked. 

“They went kind of ballistic,” he said. “ … You know, they didn’t touch it, they didn’t want it, I wouldn’t have given it to them anyway, but I showed it to them and they said that’s not even legal.”

Mayer said the local postmaster agreed to speak with him. 

He asked the postmaster why he doesn’t receive his newspapers routinely on Saturdays anymore. 

The postmaster, Mayer said, told him they deliver “everything we get, from either Green Bay, Milwaukee or Madison.”

He explained the conversation began to take a confrontational turn. 

“So he basically said ‘If you want that paper delivered on Saturday, you call up The Lakeland Times and tell them to deliver it to you themselves,’” Mayer said. 

He proceeded to ask the postmaster if he could speak with his supervisor, but Mayer said the postmaster indicated to him that wasn’t going to happen. 

Mayer said he consulted with the Janesville Post Office and explained to that postmaster what happened. He was told there was a “1-800 number for this kind of stuff.”

“And so I got the 1-800 number from her and I got through to a person, which took a few times, and indicated that I was just frustrated in reference to the timely delivery of this paper from Northern Wisconsin to Fort Atkinson, which comes from our local post office, but … from my understanding, goes to Rhinelander, then it goes to Green Bay, then it goes to Milwaukee or Madison or something and then it goes to the Fort post office,” Mayer said. “And so I told her what the guy told me … I mean, I was pretty shocked … and so she was really, really good. And she goes ‘Someone’s going to get back to you right away.’ Boom, a … postal inspector called me … but she wasn’t really concerned with my story as much as she wanted me to send her that tracker or take a picture of it.”

He said he hesitated, and after a few days, he told the postal inspector he didn’t have the tracking device anymore.

Mayer emphasized there’s nuances to living in rural towns and believes checks he mailed were not delivered intentionally by the Fort Atkinson Post Office because of him confronting staff about his missing newspapers. 

The local postmaster he first spoke with about his newspapers, he said, must have been told to issue an apology because Mayer received a message from him saying he was sorry.

Newspapers’ point of view

Holmes said the Times is taking between 10 to 20 calls a week from readers mostly out of the area wondering where their newspapers went.

She stressed her frustration with USPS services and the impacts it has had on both newspapers.

“We pay a lot of money to have our papers delivered on time,” she said. “A newspaper sitting in Orlando for six days is ridiculous and very poor service!”

River News office manager Corey Richter said he receives calls from disgruntled subscribers in waves.

The Lakeland Times and Northwoods River News began delivering newspapers to local post offices in the area two years ago to limit local delays and to prevent the Rhinelander Post Office from shipping the papers to the Green Bay USPS distribution center just to be turned around and shipped back.

Getting people their papers in a timely fashion is even tougher around certain holidays. 

There have been six postal rate increases in the last three years.

“Every time they increase the price, the service gets worse, which doesn’t make sense,” Richter said.

He explained both newspapers are paying Rhinelander Post Office to distribute papers locally, even though both the Times and River News have taken that task on themselves. 

Subscribers in towns like Manitowish Waters or Presque Isle, for example, wouldn’t see papers until Monday or Tuesday, according to Holmes, if USPS still sorted and delivered.

“So we’re double paying for local mail,” she said. “The other option is lost subscriptions because they’re not getting their paper on time.”

Holmes and Richter have built solid relationships with local postmasters.

Holmes said they’re “equally as frustrated with the system of things.”

It’s the USPS major hubs, Richter indicated, where the problems lie.

“Almost everywhere, whether it’s locally or some place outside of Madison or Green Bay or Milwaukee, the local post offices are pretty good,” he said. “They all say the same thing: ‘We get mail, we deliver it. We can’t deliver it until it shows up.’ So that seems to be the case.”

Holmes said that’s why the Times reached out to certain subscribers and began tracking papers. 

“Because we can guess, but we don’t know for sure,” she said. 

Delivery issues with USPS have been going on for “years,” Holmes said, and when people who want a physical copy of the paper in their hands had enough of not getting what they paid for, they don’t renew their subscription.

“And that’s a big financial hit on us,” she said. “ … All we can do is keep fighting and keep working with the National Newspaper Association, the Wisconsin Newspaper Association and other papers.”

‘Enhancing Service Standards’

USPS made an announcement on March 20 that the federal agency will be making “refinements” to its model to save an estimated $36 billion over the next 10 years. 

The “adjustments,” the announcement said, will affect first-class mail, periodicals, marketing mail, package services, priority mail and more.

“The enhancements are estimated to save the Postal Service at least $36 billion over the next decade through reductions in transportation, mail and package processing and real estate costs,” USPS said. “The service standards refinement will occur in two phases to ensure effective operational implementation: the first phase will begin April 1. The second phase will start July 1.”

USPS said in the announcement it already has saved $2.2 billion from cutting annual transportation costs “by streamlining networks and optimizing air and surface options” and saved $2.5 billion by decreasing 50 million hours of work through more productivity and closing unnecessary facilities.

For more information on the “enhanced service standards” promised by USPS, visit https://about.usps.com/what/strategic-plans/delivering-for-america/details.htm#fcps.

Check out our e-editions

While we understand there’s nothing quite like having a hard copy of the paper in your hands, our e-editions are available for hard copy subscribers at no additional cost. Therefore, if you want to read the news the same day its published, you can by contacting our offices to get signed up.

Northwoods River News phone number: 715-365-6397.

The Lakeland Times phone number: 715-356-5236.

Trevor Greene may be reached via email at [email protected].