At this time each year, I search for insightful words to let our customers know how much we value them, but nothing ever seems good enough. So I simply say thank you. Thank you to our readers, both print and digital. Thank you to our advertisers who make it possible for the American News to invest in employees, products and content.
Thank you to our employees for their day-in-day-out dedication. Producing the American News 365 days a year, the 170-plus page Farm Forum each week to five states, Outdoor Forum each month and publishing online at AberdeenNews.com 24/7 comes with its share of rewards and challenges. We are thankful for our employees’ dedication.
The American News had a successful 2012. As it is for so many businesses in South Dakota, our success closely follows the agriculture market. So thank you to all the agriculture producers positively driving our economy.
This past year, we added a new product to our core list: Outdoor Forum, a monthly tabloid magazine designed for the outdoor sports enthusiast. We hear great feedback and positive reviews from readers. We also added more live sport events and three new American News mobile apps. We continue to see great growth in our digital/mobile platforms and look to provide even more products and advertising solutions in 2013.
While the financial business model for 2012 has been a success for the Aberdeen News Company, we have areas of our business we must improve, primarily our delivery service. With the low unemployment in our area, attracting and retaining carriers is difficult. We have too many routes down too often, and this adversely affects our delivery. For this, we apologize and thank our members for their patience. We are monitoring our delivery and striving to improve.
We have all hands on deck and also increased the number of district managers to help deliver. I have taken on a route myself. I must say, it has been an education getting up every morning long before dawn, finding houses in the dark in all types of weather. And then there are the unique places subscribers ask to have their paper delivered. I have been amazed with the number of people awake and waiting for their American News in the morning — and been a little shocked at how casually dressed some are. But it is very nice that we are invited into your homes each and every day.
While we have had some challenges in delivery, we have a great number of excellent carriers. People make all the difference and we have wonderful carriers that provide outstanding service. We just need more. Thank you to all the independent American News contract carriers who brave the dark, cold, heat, rain and snow to deliver our products each and every day.
So a great big thank you to our readers, our advertisers, our employees and our independent carrier force. We look forward to growing and serving you in 2013 and beyond.
