I set up several sites on the same topic. I did this so that the google spyders will register the titles of the blogs so that when you put in search terms about the AJC that there is a greater chance of my sites being located. There is one main site and several others, like this one, to direct you to the 'home site' for this complaint. I am also available via: Harris2016@aol.com

Click on this link to go directly to the main blog site:

http://www.atlantajournal-constitution.blogspot.com

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ACI distributes for the AJC, they are having serious issues in Boston, here is that info FYI:

Globe staffers prepare newspapers for delivery in Newton.

Credit: Craig LeMoult

How The Globe’s Home-Delivery Woes Morphed From An Annoyance Into A Crisis

January 4, 2016

DAN KENNEDY

Boston Globe owner John Henry now has a full-blown crisis on his hands. Before Sunday night, the Globe’s inability to deliver newspapers to its paying customers looked like an annoying but manageable problem—provided it was solved within the next few days. But the stunning revelation by the paper’s new distributor that it could take four to six months for home delivery to return to normal changes everything.

Following Sunday night’s devastating story by Globe reporters Mark Arsenault and Dan Adams (it’s also on the front of today’s print edition if you can find one), it’s clear that there is going to be an ugly—and very public—standoff between the Globe and the new distributor, ACI Media Group of Long Beach, California.

Earlier claims that only 5 percent of customers were being affected have given way to reality. The Globe’s chief executive, Mike Sheehan, now says the number is 10 percent, citing ACI’s own figures. Anecdotally, that still seems low. As of this morning, people living in 112 zip codes are still experiencing delays. Or, as many customers have been complaining, no delivery at all.

Other than the four- to six-month timeframe, I thought the most mind-boggling part of the Globe story was a quote from Jack Klunder, the president and chief executive of ACI, who claims he told Globe executives exactly what to expect:

“I said ‘I cannot describe to you how painful it is,’ ” Klunder said, recounting his warning to Globe officials. “I used the expression ‘massive disruption.’ ... You’re going to get thousands of calls, emails—social media is going to be blistering you. The news media is going to be blistering you. You’re going to like where you are at the end of this cycle but you’re going to go through this.”

Sheehan essentially denies being told that, saying the problems of the past week go “far beyond any reasonable definition of disruption.”

Incredibly, Arsenault and Adams also report that ACI can’t be held liable for any performance problems during the first three months of the contract.

Despite all this, I suspect there’s more than a little posturing going on. Both sides have to know that a months-long delivery crisis is unacceptable and will set off an avalanche of canceled subscriptions (I’ve already heard from people who want to cancel but can’t because the phones are jammed), refunds to advertisers, and severe damage to the Globe’s brand and reputation. (Klunder seems to think this isn’t going to hurt ACI’s reputation at all. “We’ll be fine,” he’s quoted as saying. And why not? The Globe hired him despite similar problems in 2014 at the Orange County Register.)

But what can be done? We can safely assume that Globe executives don’t want to give ACI more money. Although Sheehan is quoted as saying the switch was mainly made to improve service (oops), he adds that he was aiming to save money as well. Perhaps the Globe could cancel the contract and re-up with the previous vendor, Publishers Circulation Fulfillment. But the network of hardworking, underpaid delivery people has already been so thoroughly upended that there’s probably no sure way of restoring the status quo.

Among the many threads to this ongoing story, one emerging theme may be tension between the Globe’s newsroom and the business side. The era of good feelings engendered by John Henry’s ownership suffered a setback this fall, as the paper eliminated about 45 positions through buyouts and layoffs at the same time that Henry was launching Stat, a well-staffed website covering health and life sciences.

On Saturday night and into the early-morning hours on Sunday, many dozens of Globe journalists volunteered to deliver the Sunday paper. It was a feel-good story, to be sure, and it would have been seen as a nice gesture if the delivery woes were just a few days away from being solved. But there was an edge to it as well. I spent some time at the paper’s Newton distribution center, and unhappiness was clearly evident among newsroom staffers toward their colleagues whose job it is to manage the paper’s business operations.

“We’re fighting for our survival here, and I like doing what I’m doing,” technology columnist Hiawatha Bray told me as he assembled papers alongside reporter Todd Wallack. “Not just because I get paid, but because I love journalism.” When I asked him why he thought the switch in vendors had been so painful, Bray replied, “I’m sorry, I have no idea. We have nothing to do with whatever it was that happened, and we’re just mystified.”

Added Wallack: “People deserve their paper. I agree with all our readers. They have a right to expect the paper to be there every morning.”

For that matter, Sunday night’s bombshell story was something of a declaration by Globe editor Brian McGrory that the paper can best serve its readers by holding powerful institutions accountable—including the Globe itself.

A final point. If you feel tempted to snark about the Globe’s dependence on print circulation some 20 years into the digital age, you need to understand a few things about the newspaper business. Digital is both the present and the future, of course. But print is still where the money is, not just for the Globe but for nearly all newspapers. Online, advertising is ubiquitous and therefore cheap. In print, advertising remains a lucrative if declining source of revenue.

Moreover, if we’ve learned anything from the past week, it’s that a lot of people still like to read the newspaper in print. On one end of the scale are the Globe readers who took to Twitter and Facebook to complain about the delivery problems. On the other are the total digital holdouts. I’ve heard stories that Globe employees took calls from customers who don’t even have an email address.

One person who hasn’t been heard from throughout the chaos of the past week is John Henry himself. This is his first real crisis since he purchased the Globe in 2013. But if there’s anything we’ve learned throughout his long tenure as principal owner of the Red Sox, it’s that he has a tendency to let bad situations play out—sometimes too long—before he acts.

It would be nice to hear from him. But it would be even better if he commits to doing whatever it takes to fix this mess. The Globe doesn’t have four to six months to get it right.

- See more at: https://news.wgbh.org/post/how-globe-s-home-delivery-woes-morphed-annoyance-crisis#sthash.JzhHGhUj.dpuf

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Monday, January 4, 2016

Globe splits deliveries between two companies

JOHN IOVEN/GLOBE STAFF/FILE

The Boston Globe has rehired a former distribution partner to help fix its delivery problems.

By Mark Arsenault GLOBE STAFF JANUARY 06, 2016

After more than a week of confounding problems getting newspapers to subscribers, The Boston Globe has turned to its former distribution partner to handle about half of its home deliveries across the region, Globe chief executive officer Mike Sheehan said on Tuesday.

The deal with Publishers Circulation Fulfillment Inc. follows an unexpectedly difficult rollout for the Globe’s new distribution firm, ACI Media Group Inc., which left tens of thousands of newspapers undelivered in its first week after taking over distribution within the Boston region on Dec. 28.

PCF will take over the routes starting Monday, and may help with delivery of this Sunday’s paper. Sheehan predicted “an extremely rapid return to 100 percent deliveries and improved customer service.’’“We can’t apologize too much,” Sheehan said, moments after the new deal was consummated.

Maryland-based PCF has agreed to resume Globe deliveries throughout a swath of territory defined roughly as extending from the Cape Cod Canal to Boston and west to Wellesley and Weston, as well as territory north of Boston from Peabody to Newburyport, and east to Rockport. This territory includes about 50 percent of the home delivery customers in the greater Boston market, Sheehan said.

Globe, new distributor trade blame

The day ended with no clarity about when all subscribers could once again count on getting their newspapers.

ACI will ideally devote its delivery resources to fewer subscribers in more confined geographic areas, places they’ve avoided significant problems, Sheehan said. “This simplifies things for them and will allow them to be successful,” Sheehan said. The distribution areas shifting to PCF are the ones where ACI had experienced the most problems making its deliveries, Globe officials said.

The move comes after two days of negotiations with the companies, during which ACI agreed to take the reduced role, Sheehan said. “These were not at all contentious negotiations,” Sheehan said of the talks with ACI, a Long Beach, Calif., company

In a statement, ACI president Jack Klunder said, “We understand how important The Boston Globe is to its subscribers and the community at large, and this will help restore delivery dependability as quickly as possible.” Klunder apologized for “disappointing some readers as we entered the market.”

ACI officials acknowledged in interviews Sunday that after a week on the job, they still did not have enough drivers to cover all the routes. The company said it was aggressively trying to hire more, but faulted the Globe for not properly warning its readers about the disruptions that would come with the switch.

The Globe has about 115,000 daily subscribers and 205,000 on Sunday. About 90,000 daily and 190,000 Sunday subscribers live within the territory ACI took over last month.

The breakdown of home delivery triggered overwhelming frustration and anger from readers, who flooded the paper with complaints that so overwhelmed the telephone system it made it difficult for reporters to place calls from the newsroom. Globe staff from departments throughout the organization volunteered to deliver the paper last Sunday, the largest distribution day of the week.

Sheehan said Globe executives came back to PCF “to get newspapers back into the hands of our readers as quickly as possible.” Asked what the paper has learned from the disastrous past 10 days, Sheehan gave a rueful smile and said, “Where do you want me to start? My God.”

“It is extremely difficult to do something like this without a transition period,” he offered. “To flip a switch overnight is more disruptive than anyone would have ever imagined.”

“And more important,” he said, “for a company that’s about to invest a lot of money in a print production facility in Taunton, it’s a reaffirmation of how important the print product is and is going to be for a long time.”

“We learned how many people in this market for whom the [printed] Globe is their link to the outside world.” And, he said, the paper learned, “Never let down the customers again.”

Delivery problems could last up to 6 months, distributor says

The Boston Globe got a double-whammy of bad news regarding its switch to a new delivery service.

Boston Globe staffers helped deliver the Sunday print edition amid delivery service woes.

Suzanne Kreiter / The Boston Globe

By Eric Levenson Boston.com Staff | 01.04.16 | 11:53 AM

Delivery problems with The Boston Globe’s new circulation service affected up to 10 percent of newspaper subscribers, and it could take four to six months before service returns to normal, the Globereports.

That’s a double-whammy of bad news for the Globe, which last weekswitched delivery companies from Publishers Circulation Fulfillment to ACI Media Group.

Globe chief executive Mike Sheehan said the switch was part of a plan to provide better service, and that ACI brought “material” cost savings. Sheehan told the Globe he would not have made the switch if they had known the severity of the coming service problems.

“Ten percent of our people not getting papers?” he said. “That was never communicated to us. That goes far beyond any reasonable definition of disruption.”

However, ACI executive Jack Klunder said the company had warned the Globe of coming disruptions. Klunder said service will get back to normal in four to six months.

“We were adamant that these guys communicate to the readers early and often about the disruption that would take place,” Klunder said. “We were pretty clear about that and I’m not sure the communication plan was as graphic as I suggested it should be.”

In a show of good faith, teams of editorial and business staffers for the Globe volunteered to help deliver the Sunday paper.

One key problem with the service was made clear when the volunteers were handed a delivery route “that appeared to have been prepared by someone under the influence of methamphetamine,” columnist Kevin Cullen wrote Monday morning.

“The route wasn’t circuitous. It was circus. If you handed an Etch-a-Sketch to a really drunk guy and told him to turn the knobs, that’s what our route would look like,” he wrote.

While my own subdivision in Kennesaw has no recent problems with the distribution of the 2 'junk' throwdowns, it is clear that the rest of the Metro Atlanta area continues to be plagued by the rude and foul mouthed scum employeed by the AJC to toss down their unwanted advertising sections.

Below is an incoming item sent to me from Mr. Covey of Lawrenceville which goes into his dealings with an AJC driver.

The matter is NOT going away unless someone goes to court asking for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to keep their HOA or even just their own home free from the AJC littering.

Readers of one of my 4 blogs will recall that I have threatened to do just this is even 'one more' of their trash publications ends up on my property. This warning by me to the AJC resulted in several months of my home in Kennesaw being staked out by AJC people to make sure that none of their drivers mistakenly left me a little present.

I am still entirely willing to take them to court if I do get another unwanted gift and I would be pleased to join into any class action suit by other consumers.