As Green as we can be
To reinforce our shared commitment with the industry we’re going to do the newpaper equivalent of going waterborne for our next two issues, July and August. All 21,000 shops and related businesses will be getting an ultra-green copy of our papers in the mail. We’re going to change our newsprint to the highest practical recycled content and make corresponding changes in the printing inks we use. No penguins, seals, or additional trees will be harmed in the process.
That’s the green phase, not the lean, and it’s not permanent because we have a better long term solution.
Lean and Green
In September 2010 (our 29th anniversary) we will be making a more permanent change to Autobody News’ print editions which may make us look like more of a newsmagazine than a newspaper. We’re not reducing the regional coverage we offer—quite the opposite, we want more regional emphasis. We’re just changing the way it is printed. At the same time we will adjust our design to take advantage of a newer, higher tech printing process.
We’re going to a slightly smaller format with a glossier paper stock to make the paper lighter and brighter.
Come September Autobody News will be a bit smaller in its page area (trim size). It’s still going to be environmentally friendly but we want to take advantage of new technology to make photos and advertising graphics crisper and higher resolution. Because the paper stock will be lighter in weight we will be able to offer more pages, and more news items to our readers.
Truth be told, we’re also responding to our own regulators—in our case the U.S. Post Office—which is making “required recommendations” (a phrase only a government agency could coin) to the kinds of publications that go through the main mail channels.
Mailing our current editions’ format is eventually not going to be in compliance with the Post Office’s guidelines so we are facing our expected future now.
We are making our changes in a coordinated way so that readers, advertisers, mail carriers and—yes, business owners—can coexist profitably. We want you, our readers, to share in the benefits of a brighter publication.
