We all like to view the New Year as a harbinger of fresh beginnings. It can also be a harbinger of new challenges, especially for many businesses, in this economic environment. Westside News is no different.
Westside News is proudly the last weekly community newspaper group, which continues to publish in Monroe County. All other papers stopped publishing years ago, due to the changing landscape and economic realities of print publications. Westside News does not want to be the next weekly paper to leave this area. There is a need and a desire for community news, and Westside News wants to continue to fulfill that need.
Westside News, like most weekly newspapers, can no longer sustain the cost of delivering free newspapers to homes. It has become increasingly difficult, or even impossible, to continue that business strategy, due to rising costs. The cost of printing for Westside News has increased more than 40% since the end of the pandemic. Finding and keeping good carriers to deliver to homes has become exceedingly difficult. Post office delivery is extremely expensive and provides less flexibility to transport papers to homes.
Our hybrid method of delivering newspapers, to meet these challenges, makes us unique. For those who want or prefer a printed edition, we have dozens of locations serving as a drop-off site for our print editions. Many are in grocery stores, such as Tops, Big M, ANG Market, Food Towne, Crosby’s, Arrow Mart, 7-Eleven, Byrne Dairy, Murray Superette and more. Along with these are restaurants, pharmacies, senior centers, libraries, town halls, etc. There is a list of the drop sites printed in our publications each week. Also, the list can be found on our website at https://westsidenewsny.com/pick-up-a-print-edition-at-these-locations/.
Should you prefer to have copies delivered to a location not included on our list of drop-off sites, please let us know by emailing info@westsidenewsny.com and we will try to make it happen. To help us with this process, please ask the proprietor of that site if they are agreeable to having us deliver weekly copies to their locations. Not every business would like the extra foot traffic that is generated with our publications being available in their place of business. Maybe they have all the business they want. For those businesses that would like the extra foot traffic, they can contact us at the email address above or by calling 352-3411.
Alternatively, many people look to our website to read our publications. The weekly editions can be found there each Friday morning, before our publications are even printed, let alone delivered. One of the great assets of our online publications is that every business supporting Westside News through advertising, reaches a market which extends beyond our print delivery footprint. We have people viewing our website from all the counties we serve and beyond. Westside News has been providing a digital experience for many years. It’s not something new. To find our publications simply go to https://westsidenewsny.com/digital-edition/.
As Westside News progresses through these changes, your patience and understanding of the situation is very much appreciated. We thank you for your continued support and interest in our success, as we attempt to provide information that is of significance to you. The support of our advertisers is very important. Please let them know that having their advertisement in our publications is valuable to you.
As a promise to our readers and advertisers, Westside News is already the best at delivering the news to our communities each week, and we are not going to be anything less than the best.
Keith Ryan
Publisher
Westside News Inc.
