http://m2.toledoblade.com/business/2014/...ntown.html

Hmmmm, methinks young Master Autello knew something was afoot.

Outsource. The hypocrisy of the Blade continues


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Of course you can bet the CEO, Board of Directors and others in the C Suites will feel no pain at all

Hopefully they will be gone from Toledo for good soon enough. The city of Toledo would be much better served in the Detroit papers took over that market and came in with their no-nonsense reporting and limited political agenda. The Blade is now a generation removed from anyone that thinks they serve a meaningful purpose in the city. No one trusts their reporting and everyone understands what their motivation is. I am shocked they are still in business. Hopefully not for long.

The unions at the Blade are in a Contract year, with the current contract up in August. The Blade has notified the mayor's office that all this will happen August 1st. There is speculation (and I personally think that's all it is) that this may be a negotiating gambit on Allan Block's part. Several things are at work here, probably more than I know but here are a few:

The Blade's printing presses were replaced in about 1988. They're old. Part to repair them are scarce and getting more so. The plates that are needed to print are expensive and are only available from Great Britain, where the presses were made. These machines need to be replaced. As I understand it, they have done that in Pittsburgh at the Post Gazette, or are about to.

There is a place in BG that prints the local edition of the Wall Street Journal. I've been told that they are installing new presses to handle the Blade's printing needs.

When the Blade locked about half of its employees out 7 years ago, plans were discussed with the affected department foremen well in advance. That hasn't happened as of two weeks ago.

The Blade has had their guns set on the Mailers (Mailroom handles all the inserting of ads and bundling of papers) since the last contract signing. This is one of the groups mentioned. Not a lot of full time jobs, but a lot of jobs overall.

The pressmen (and women) have pretty much had their way with the Blade over the years and I get the impression Allan has had enough of that. Strikes me as the kind of guy who doesn't like to be told what he can or can't do. Of course, if they're going to outsource the printing, what do you need pressmen for? Also losing their jobs will be paperhandlers and pre-press employees.

I for one find it a bit unbelievable that the Blade will make more money paying another company to print their paper 20 miles away and truck it back to Toledo than they would buying new presses, amortizing the costs, and moving forward.

This is a confluence of a lot of factors. Printed media is dying. That's number one. Circulation numbers continue to plummet. Advertising doesn't come close to paying for the cost as it used to. J.R. and Allan's dad set up his trust for the paper(s)/Block Communications to automatically add new family members to the Board of Directors when they reached age 26. More hands out to take a piece of the shrinking pie.

I'm very glad I was able to get out when I did, but I still have a lot of friends there and it pains me to think what is going to happen to them.

(05-31-2014 03:38 PM)MotoRocket Wrote:  Hopefully they will be gone from Toledo for good soon enough. The city of Toledo would be much better served in the Detroit papers took over that market and came in with their no-nonsense reporting and limited political agenda. The Blade is now a generation removed from anyone that thinks they serve a meaningful purpose in the city. No one trusts their reporting and everyone understands what their motivation is. I am shocked they are still in business. Hopefully not for long.

Have you read the Free Press?

(06-24-2014 11:20 AM)DetroitRocket Wrote:  

(05-31-2014 03:38 PM)MotoRocket Wrote:  Hopefully they will be gone from Toledo for good soon enough. The city of Toledo would be much better served in the Detroit papers took over that market and came in with their no-nonsense reporting and limited political agenda. The Blade is now a generation removed from anyone that thinks they serve a meaningful purpose in the city. No one trusts their reporting and everyone understands what their motivation is. I am shocked they are still in business. Hopefully not for long.

Have you read the Free Press?

i remember when blade went on 6-mos strike in 60s. toledoans tried reading free press; they weren't happy with it.

(06-25-2014 08:42 AM)joeo58 Wrote:  

(06-24-2014 11:20 AM)DetroitRocket Wrote:  

(05-31-2014 03:38 PM)MotoRocket Wrote:  Hopefully they will be gone from Toledo for good soon enough. The city of Toledo would be much better served in the Detroit papers took over that market and came in with their no-nonsense reporting and limited political agenda. The Blade is now a generation removed from anyone that thinks they serve a meaningful purpose in the city. No one trusts their reporting and everyone understands what their motivation is. I am shocked they are still in business. Hopefully not for long.

Have you read the Free Press?

i remember when blade went on 6-mos strike in 60s. toledoans tried reading free press; they weren't happy with it.

Ummmm, it's not the same Free Press. This FreeP has been around only 10-15 yrs.

interesting when I renewed my subscription to the Blade I received a free subscription to the Washinton POst. Much better national and international coverage. Maybe a weekly local paper is all we need.

My kids were watching a show on Disney channel the other day. I walked in the room and saw there was a kid reading a newspaper on the show. Another teenager comes up to him and asks him what he's doing. The one reading the newspaper says....."did you know that you can read the news you got on your phone yesterday, a day later in this newspaper?"

That sums up the dying "print" business.