Bucks County Newspapers Cut Carriers

The Bucks County Courier Times and Doylestown Intelligencer have told their newspaper carriers they are out of jobs.

The new round of cuts hit the newspapers that have already dealt with losing most of their staff since being purchased from locally-owned Calkins Media by national chain Gatehouse Media, which has since merged with Gannett. Ex-employees and a staff roster provided by a former Calkins Media employee show that more than 70 percent of staff have been cut from the Bucks County Courier Times and Doylestown Intelligencer, which has consolidated from offices in Doylestown Borough and Tullytown Borough into one office at the Oxford Valley Mall in Middletown Township. since the sale finalized in 2017.

Readers with print subscriptions recently began reporting to LevittownNow.com that carriers were telling them and dropping letters in their newspapers stating their jobs were ending as distribution moves from Gannett to a new contract with the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The newspapers did not confirm how many people will lose their jobs due to the change, but Shane Fitzgerald, who oversees the two Gannett papers in Bucks County and a dozen others across the state, directed a reporter to a statement he published Tuesday.

Fitzgerald wrote the change comes as Gannett has consolidated printing to a regional plant in New Jersey. The same plant recently began printing the Philadelphia Inquirer, which is owned by a Philadelphia nonprofit that recently closed its Montgomery County press facility.

“We’ve certainly reconfigured the most efficient way to get our printed products to our customers,” he said.

“The industry trend is that many news organizations share costs of producing their products with other media companies to scale of efficiency and to hold the price of our printed papers. This is integral to the survival of the free press.”

Fitzgerald called it “painful” as the delivery carriers for the county’s two daily print newspapers lose their jobs. He noted that some might be able to find work with the new delivery system and some can deliver newspapers for the Gannett-owned Burlington County (New Jersey) Times.

One carrier told Bucks County Courier Times subscribers they will miss the job after roughly 20 years dropping newspapers at their homes.

“When arriving at the warehouse for work three weeks ago, all of the carriers were handed termination notices. Talk about a blind side! It still hasn’t sunk in yet!” a husband and wife team of carriers wrote in a letter to customers, adding that recent delivery delays were not their fault.

A former employee of the Bucks County Courier Times called the change a “big deal” for the dedicated delivery workers losing their job and the customers who knew them. They compared it to when the newspapers shifted from using teens to adults for neighborhood drop offs in the mid-2000s.

Last year, Gannett closed its large Falls Township printing plant and moved to printing in New Jersey.

After years of staff accepting buyouts or being pushed out, Fitzgerald wrote to readers that the newspaper recently added four reporters to assist with coverage.

Since the Calkins family sold the newspapers, the Bucks County Courier Times and Doylestown Intelligencer have shifted to more of a regional and statewide format under the USA Today Network.

The newspapers have both seen circulation decline over the past two decades. As of 2019, the Bucks County Courier Times printed about 12,100 copies per day and the Doylestown Intelligencer printed about 9,400 copies.

The newspapers are designed out of state by Gannett and sources have said deadlines are early the afternoon prior to publication, causing stories that happen after lunchtime the day before not to make the next days’ print edition.

Last week, Gannett, one of the largest owners of newspapers in the nation, announced their revenues have decreased by 12.9 percent over the past year. They reported print advertising dropping by 24.9 percent and their marketing business having revenues sink by 10.4 percent.

While newspapers have declined in popularity, the nation has also been dealing with COVID-19, which has impacted many businesses that advertise with news organizations.

During a call with investors, Gannett CEO Mike Reed said the company is focusing on growing online subscriptions and stabilizing the loss of print subscribers. He said that the company is adding events, is working on a sports betting partnership, and looking to sell historical content via non-fungible tokens to increase revenues.

Gannett did report growth in online subscribers in the first quarter of 2021 with a goal of hitting 10 million across the company in the coming years.

Gannett is in the process of cutting more than $300 million in “synergies” across the company. Reed said the company could hit $325 million in savings soon.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to reflect a correction that the sale from Calkins Media was in 2017, not 2007.

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