Toward the end of May, the Albert Lea Tribune was informed that Mankato Free Press, which was printing both the Tribune and the Austin Daily Herald, would by shutting down its printing operations at the paper.
Toward the end of May, the Albert Lea Tribune was informed that Mankato Free Press, which was printing both the Tribune and the Austin Daily Herald, would by shutting down its printing operations at the paper. Editorial Board Tribune Columnists - 48 Toward the end of May, the Albert Lea Tribune was informed that Mankato Free Press, which was printing both the Tribune and the Austin Daily Herald, would by shutting down its printing operations at the paper. Though it continues to publish its paper, the reason the Free Press stopped its printing operation is becoming more common — expense. It’s expensive to print a newspaper. Like so many things, costs just seem to keep rising. Of course, what this meant for both of our papers, which are owned by the same company, is that we needed to find a new printing operation, and in short order we found one in White Wolf Regional Print Facility out of Shelden, Iowa. Through this process of finding a new printer, it required staff to adapt and adopt new procedures and steps to get the press to the printer and eventually into your hands. All things considered, the changeover has gone relatively smooth with only a few minor hiccups along the way that affected one of our routes and perhaps your paper. Something that has gone unseen by our readers are changes in deadlines. Before, editions had to be to Mankato no later than 6 p.m. and ideally by 5 p.m. Now, deadline for our Wednesday paper is 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday and 4 p.m. Friday for our Saturday paper. This may mean that some things that happen on Tuesday and Friday may not make the Saturday edition as they have in the past, but at the same time this does provide some opportunity as those things that normally took place in the afternoons, but that are often missed, can now be covered. It’s a give and take that at the end of the day will result in both of our platforms — newsprint and online — being able to continue to cover our areas confidently. What this does mean for our readers, we believe, is a higher quality publication in terms of appearance including a cleaner print job all around with sharper photos. We still continue to acclimate to this change, but so far we are happy with the printed edition going forward — and we hope you will be, too. Things in life change and like everybody, we, too, have to adapt to these changes, but we’re confident that White Wolf will be a good partnership.
