No usuals, only constants

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We begin Week Two of working remotely. We are refining our systems to be better organized and efficient.

I am here at the office, so my routine is not so different than usual.

Usual, now there’s a word that has lost its meaning in this pandemic time. Everything is changed and I, for one, am having a little bit of trouble wrapping my head around it. But just the same, what’s usual is a new reality.

The question I try to remember to steady me is “How do we get stronger in the face of this lack-of-usual?”

For the production of the paper, this lack-of-usual disrupts the system and asks us to reexamine all of our procedures. One of the things we have done is eliminated our Wednesday postal bag deliveries to 20 different area post offices. After confirming that the post offices that were not on the hand delivery route almost always got their papers on Thursdays, circulation manager Roger Snedeker set up a new Wednesday system, which cut down the number of drivers on the road from three to one.  

He checked with the post offices and there is good news – the post office works and all bags were received for delivery on Thursday.

Another system change was to move our editorial meeting from 3:30 p.m. on Monday to 11:00 a.m. This gives us more time to adjust the planning that we do each Wednesday. We’re on a learning curve with Zoom meetings, which is a virtual meeting space and we look forward to doing more creative work on that platform.

There is no usual these days, but there are constants. Those constants are our relationships with you—our readers, our advertisers, organizations and local governments. Those remain as strong.

In these days of lack-of-usual, we remain committed to finding ways that allow this disruption to open new potential and to bringing you the local news that is so essential to your well being.

Even in our distance, we are connected and committed.

[In these lack-of-usual times, please consider subscribing to the paper or renewing early. Sponsoring an ad for your favorite business is also something to ponder. You can renew online (riverreporter.com/subscribe) or leave a message for Roger at 845/252-7414, ext 130 and he'll call you. If you want to buy an ad for your favorite business, call me at 845/252-7414, ext 134. ]

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