Statewide newspapers to continue delivery in southeast Utah

by Buckley Jensen

Rumors have been rampant the last couple of weeks that the Newspaper Agency Corporation, which prints and distributes both the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret Morning News, planned to stop delivery to southeastern Utah (Grand and San Juan counties) on the first of February.

Several phone calls to both papers on January 23 were met with declarations of ignorance on the subject.

On the 24th, I received a telephone call from Kelly Roberts who was in a position to assure me that delivery would continue as usual and that there was nothing to worry about.

I asked Roberts to respond to why the rumor got started in the first place, given the fact that nothing will change.

“We recently renegotiated multi-year contracts with our carriers and we had problems south of Price.” he said.

“Our delivery ends at Price and another carrier has to piggy-back the papers to Moab, Monticello and Blanding. We were having problems with the negotiations and from a pure dollars and cents issue, southeastern Utah is one our least profitable runs, given the distances involved for the number of papers sold.

“For a few days the business people who look at things from the dollar and cents side of things were suggesting we discontinue delivery south of Price.

“We are sorry anything leaked out. I suspect the rumors started with those involved in the carrier contracts. We want to be the state newspaper, and as long as we can justify it, newspapers will come to Grand and San Juan as they always have.”