By Kari Mar
La Conner Community News
Great news: After 15 long months, the U.S. Postal Service has finally granted La Conner Community News its periodicals permit.
There may not be a parade. There will definitely not be a marching band. But around here, this is absolutely confetti-worthy.
Periodicals permits are notoriously slow to obtain, but wow, was this ever a journey for one little newspaper in one little town. We are thrilled to finally have it because it means that beginning Thursday, Sept. 10, we can shift delivery of the newspaper from our wonderful team of newsies to the U.S. mail — just in time for the rain, wind and general Northwest dampness to return.
It is a little bittersweet.
For the past 15 months, a cohort of dedicated volunteers has faithfully carried this newspaper to your doorstep every Thursday. We love them. I know many of you love having the paper magically appear on your porch. I know our newsies have developed fond friendships with your dogs and know more about the average driveway length around here than they ever thought they would.
But hand delivery was always intended to be temporary. The plan was to move to mail delivery once our periodicals permit arrived.
There is, however, one rather important question: Can the Postal Service actually get your newspaper to you on Thursday?
That is not something we are taking for granted.
Postal cutbacks and consolidation have made newspaper delivery increasingly difficult in rural communities across the country. La Conner mail is ordinarily routed through a sorting facility in Tukwila, more than 50 miles away, and some rural newspapers now report that copies can take days — or even weeks — to reach subscribers.
A two-week-old newspaper is useful for lining a bird cage. It is less useful for finding out what happened at Tuesday night’s Town Council meeting.
So we have been working on another solution.
Our board member and distribution manager, Lindsay Hughes, has spent the last few weeks working with the Postal Service to arrange for La Conner Community News to enter the mail locally. The plan is for papers to be waiting in La Conner early Thursday morning, ready for local postal carriers to deliver them directly to your mailbox or P.O. box that day.
Next week, we are going to find out whether it works.
And this is the part I love: Our newsies have already told us that if the mail doesn’t get the paper to you reliably, they would rather put their walking shoes back on than have you receive stale news.
So this is an experiment, not a goodbye.
Beginning Sept. 10, look for La Conner Community News in your mailbox. Let us know when it arrives. If the system works, we will have found a more sustainable way to deliver the newspaper — and our newsies can retire before the November sideways rain arrives.
If it doesn’t?
We’ll regroup, call the newsies, and figure out Plan B.
Because however it gets there — mailbox, porch, newsie or carrier pigeon — the goal remains the same: Thursday means newspaper day in La Conner.
Kari Mar is the editor and publisher of La Conner Community News.
