HOT PURSUIT

Mother Nature threw a wicked curveball at us last week.

Our newspaper is sent to the printing plant in Madelia electronically, so we never have to worry about getting the pages there. The only worry we have is getting the papers delivered back to Steele County on Wednesday for delivery to the area post offices and newsstands.

The blizzard conditions grounded the delivery truck last week as roads around the Mankato area were closed. With the winds swirling ferociously, Mother Nature took our papers hostage, depriving our dear readers of the paper they have come to love. It was the first time this has happened in my 14 years with the Times.

My heart about sank when I got the call that the delivery truck couldn’t come on Wednesday morning. Long ago I learned the valuable life lesson that there are just some things in life that you can’t control. And this certainly was one of them.  

I figured we would be able to get ahead of the storm. But, as luck would have it, we weren’t able to.

And, to make matters even worse, I knew it meant the truck wouldn’t be coming until Friday because Thursday was supposed to be the worst day of all.

That’s exactly what happened. The truck couldn’t get to us until Friday morning, which meant most of our readers didn’t receive their newspapers until Saturday. What a nightmare.

But we quickly regrouped on our end and decided to take advantage of modern technology. As a one-time courtesy, we opened the E-Edition through our website at www.steelecountytimes.com right away Wednesday afternoon at no cost so everyone could enjoy the newspaper, most likely even earlier than they normally would.

It seemed to work. Our website generated a significant increase in traffic with readers seeking to read the newspaper online.

This is a perfect reminder to our readers about the electronic option. We have subscription options where people can get only the print newspaper, both print and E-Edition or just the E-Edition.

I’ll admit I love holding the newspaper in my hands as most of our readers seem to agree. Only a small percentage of our readers take advantage of the E-Edition. But with society constantly changing and everything becoming instantaneous, it’s nice to be able to offer our readers the E-Edition for their viewing pleasure.

Some folks may change their minds after the catastrophe we experienced last week with the weather and extra-long delay in getting the newspaper. So, this week we are offering a special amazingly low rate of $1 for six months of the E-Edition. We have options to send the entire newspaper electronically right to the inbox of your email. If you’re interested, call our office, email news@steelecountytimes.com or go to the website for additional details.

I know how so many people love to read their newspaper every week. I hear it all the time. I want to make sure you get the newspaper in the format you want.

Despite the delay last week, I think we have proven Mother Nature can’t completely stop us from spreading the local news to our loyal readers. I hope she knows it doesn’t pay to try and hold our paper for ransom.

As we have shown many times in the past, we’re always in hot pursuit of getting the news out in a timely manner no matter what it takes.