A number of loyal readers and Journal Tribune subscribers have written or called the newspaper this week asking why we stopped publishing our Monday print edition.

As publisher of the Journal Tribune, I’d like to clarify some of the reasons for our decision to do this.

While it’s true online readership continues to grow and the newspaper industry is rapidly becoming more digital, it’s not the only factor behind this move.

Minimum-wage increase regulation not only affects our business initially, but in the long term also necessitates greater costs for the newspaper as employees are still with the company in years to come.

While other newspapers in Maine have substantially raised the price to purchase their product, we have had minor increases and several years without increasing our cover price or subscription rates. To keep up with ever-rising costs, to keep the Monday newspaper, the Journal Tribune would need to raise subscription costs by more than 50 percent and we did not want to pass those costs on to the community. 

In addition, we are crediting your account for all Monday editions left on your subscription. For an example, if you have 13 weeks left on your subscription, you will receive 13 more days at the end of your subscription. This is our commitment to you, the subscriber, that you get what you paid for.

We believe the newspaper is a genuine resource for the community and we want to make our product as affordable as possible for as many people as possible. 

We encourage you to spread the word that we are committed to providing you a six-day-a-week print news and information resource that serves the communities we live and work in.

— Contact Publisher Devin Hamilton at (207) 282-1535 or by email at publisher@journaltribune.com.


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