05-05-2010 UPDATE: KC STAR LAYOFFS COULD HAPPEN TODAY Extremely reliable sources at the Kansas City Star say the newsroom rumor is the next round of layoffs will happen today at the Kansas City Star. Employees at Kansas City's leading newspaper have been twisting in the wind for several weeks waiting for the ax to fall. As expected, it has resulted in extremely poor morale at the newspaper as employees don't know from day-to-day if they will keep their jobs. Reportedly, four newsroom employees will be given their walking papers, and 12 overall.
04-26/27-2010 PRICE CHOPPER INSERTS AN ISSUE KC STAR MAY FACE MORE LAYOFFS If you deal with Kansas City Star employees please be nice and understand the tough situation they are in these days. It is not easy not knowing if you could lose your job at any time. Rumors are once again heating up that there could be another round of layoffs this week--or even pushed to next week--- at the Kansas City Star. According to sources, up to 10 editorial employees could be affected and a total of 20 employees company-wide might be given their walking papers. In addition, one and possibly two more furloughs are likely to be implemented this year. What is particularly frustrating for employees is many believed the financial outlook at the paper was improving and felt their jobs were safe. Once again, Star employees are in the unenviable position of twisting in the wind waiting for the ax to possibly fall on their careers and lives. "There is nothing you can do to keep your job so all you do is wait and then get whacked or see your friends get whacked," says a reporter dejectedly. "It is certainly taking the pleasure out of a job I have always been passionate about." Several sources have also told Bottom Line that supermarket giant Price Chopper might be pulling its advertising from the paper, which could result in a seven-figure revenue loss.
04-26-2010 PRICE CHOPPER? "No info on the layoffs, but I believe the supermarket advertiser the Star is losing is Price Chopper. From my information, they've been talking recently about moving more toward the direct mail route, rather than the newspaper route because of declining circulation."
ASSOCIATED GROCERS "The reason Price Chopper and every other grocery store (Sun Fresh, Apple Market, Hen House) chain run by Associated Wholesale Grocers in KCK is looking away from the Star is because they laid off their entire print shop last year and the stores aren't happy about it because the outsourced group is doing a bad job. "AWG is just trying to cut more costs to save its flailing backside by laying off even more workers. If Price Chopper is going, every store outside of HyVee in KC is probably going as well because their ad buys are run out of the same building.
04-28-2010 PRICE CHOPPER RENEWED "Price Chopper just renewed their contract with the Star...The Star never printed any of the inserts for the major grocers."
PRICE CHOPPER STORY...
Price Chopper - led by Dante Cosentino and Fred Ball started shopping for an alternate delivery method for their circulars that were being placed in The Star. They reportedly went to The Star after a bid by Mail South netted great savings over their current distribution agreement w/ The Star. Mail South was apparently offering some kind of GPS-aided delivery system for Price Chopper. Faced w/ losing their biggest insert client (AWG) folks at the daily rag started jumping through all sorts of hoops over a 6-8 month period and ended up saving the deal, increasing Price Chopper's reach and allowing Price Chopper to be independently inserted into the paper, apart from the rest of the AWG inserts (read: primary placement). Price Chopper also wanted to get the top of their ad piece to stick out from the regular paper so people would grab it first. The present deal (from what I was told) calls for an in-home day of Tuesday with zero wiggle room from USPS on delivery time frames. The deal involves direct mail, through The Star, of roughly 600,000 pieces every week to every residence within a 50-75 mile radius of the city. Subscribers to The Star have the piece inserted in to their Wednesday paper. Non-subscribers will have the piece in their mail box, (theoretically Tuesday) thus completely doing away with door-hangers in the areas that delivery channel was being!
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