NEWSPAPER DISTRIBUTION UNDER CONTRACT.
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Details of the System Employed in Many American Cities in Which Transport Vehicles are Hired for the Work of Circulating the Various Editions of Newspapers.
NTEWSPAPER "scoops" mean .1.11 transportation, in one form or another. The classic instance is Gordon Bennett's scoop. A scoop, however, is but half landed in getting to the editorial desk. It must be circulated to the public, and it is the organization that gets the news " out!' first that wins. Always it is minutes that matter, and very often it depends on the efficiency of the motor distributing fleet whether h journal can steal a march IS uccessf ully on its contemporaries.
Newspaper van drivers must let nothirg interfere with completing their delivery in the least possible time Failure to get to news stands and railway termini on time means a loss in
circulation. Lowered circulation means less advertising revenue. It will be realized, therefore, that the distributing fleet of a modern newspaper must be well bought, well maintained, and well handled. As many of these trips have to be made at times of the clay when traffic is at its peak, depend .nbility is vital. Motor vehicles possessed of rapid acceleration and a short wheelbase provide more opportunity to gain a few seconds here and a few feet there. 'Where traffic stops are frequent the gain amounts to minutes and miles ut the end of a long run.
In the United States the distribution of newspapers by motor vehicles is taken very seriously. Big wages are paid to drivers and big things are expected of them. To see two drivers representing competing papers manmuvring for the advantage in a trafficjammed New York street forces home how necessary a fitting is a bumper. Many vehicles in this service are fitted with indicators to show how long they have been stationary and how long they have been moving. An 'explanation is soon demanded of the driver whose standing time is deemed excessive.
New York newspapers, as a rule, do not operate their own vehicles, but entrust their distribution to companies specializing in that class of work. Vehicles with short wheelbases predominate in the big fleets operated by such companies ;four of the largest of these have been in existence for 10 to 15 years, and between them own as many as 159 short,wheelbase vans.
Metropolitan Distributors, Inc., for instance, own 82 Autocars. These vehicles are furnished to newspapers and merchants under rented contracts, the company assuming all responsibility for upkeep, maintenance, operation and insurance. They are rented with or without drivers, and a reserve supply of both drivers and vans is constantly kept on hand to be used in case of collision or accident. Amongst the patrons of this company are the New York Times, the New York Tribune, the New York World, and the American News Co. The company owes much of the .successful development of their business to the service rendered by the makers of the vehicles which they use.
This factor is also appreciated by the Metropolitan News Co., probably the pioneers of newspaper distribution by motorvan. The loss of running time of their 42 short-wheelbase vehicles is kept at a minimum by a rigorous maintenance policy.
The newspaper delivery work for the New York Sun is exclusively, covered by Messrs. Dingell and Donohue, with a fleet of 23 short-wheelbase vans. The distribution of the New York Evening Graphic is handled exclusively by the Interborough News Co., 12 vehicles of a similar type being utilized.
• Many big fleets of short-wheelbase vans are engaged in newspaper distribution in other large cities in America. In Philadelphia, for instance, about 1,400,000 copies of newspapers are distributed every day, and more than 70 per cent. of these go to news stands and termini in short-wheelbase vans. The Public Ledger, the Inquirer, and the Gazette-Democrat are all distributed by this means.
The most noteworthy instance, however, is that of the Evening Bulletin. It was the ambition of the proprietors of this paper to "cover Philadelphia like a blanket," and as they use 52 Autocars to circulate 500,000 copies daily, it may be said that they have succeeded to a considerable degree.