My mistakes keep me humble

    As most of you have noticed by now, we have increased the price of the newspaper to $1 an issue. This has not come without lots of thought and preparation, but we all know how good old Murphy’s Law works.
    This was the first time I have had to deal with a price increase and believe me there are many steps to the process. We have numerous dealers and racks around the county. The dealers scan the bar code on the front of the newspaper each time a customer purchases one, so we sent them a letter three weeks ago informing them of the increase so they would have time to adjust their scanners.
    We notified Nexxus and IControl, companies who handle some of our bigger accounts, so they could adjust their systems as well. I had to order new price plates for the front of the racks and Handy Honey Hubby spent several hours changing the change mechanisms in the racks and installing the new price plates to reflect the increase.
    We also had to inform our circulation software company so they could make the necessary changes.
    I notified our web administrator so they could adjust the price on our website. I also changed the annual price on the inside of the paper as well. Lots of small tasks, but each needed to be done to assure a smooth transition.
    So, at about 10:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 4, I was just about to fall asleep. The newspaper was put to bed earlier that evening and I was able to breath a sigh of relief that everything had been done. Then, like a flash of lightening, I had a thought. Oh no! I forgot to change the price on the front page of the newspaper!!! After all my preparation, I forgot the most important thing of all. How could I charge people $1 for something that said it cost 75 cents?
    All day Tuesday I made frantic phone calls to other publishers in my group, along with Jim Moser, the owner of this newspaper. They all had a good laugh at my expense and provided suggestions to take care of the problem. We ended up posting signs at the stores telling of the increase, but also told the employees to sell the paper for 75 cents to anyone who made a fuss. Hopefully there weren’t too many of those.
    One of the first things I did when I got to the office was to get on my computer and make the change to the front page. And so it is official – the Jackson County Herald-Tribune officially costs $1 a week.
    I hope you feel it is worth the extra 25 cents. I can guarantee you that we work hard every week to bring you the best coverage of our community you can find anywhere.
    Over the years these little snafus have taught me an important lesson to never get too proud of a job I have done. At the end of the day there is always one little thing I have overlooked. It just keeps me humble.