Where are my flyers?

The phone has been ringing off the hook at the offices of the Picton Gazette. Readers have two pressing questions: what is the Gazette doing in my Canada Post mailbox, and, where are my flyers?

You’d be surprised just how many readers plan their shopping around the sales advertised in flyers. Not to mention their lunch menus.

The answer to both these questions lies in a major change to Ontario’s print media industry.

On 15 September, Metroland, the company that prints most of the advertising flyers delivered across Ontario every Thursday, announced it had entered receivership. That means it commenced a formal restructuring process under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

It also announced it would no longer be printing 70 local community papers across the province. These will shift to digital publication.

For the time being, there are no printed flyers to be distributed by your local community newspapers. And for the most part, those community newspapers are gone. This should be bigger news than it is. One reason you are hearing so little about it is the newspapers themselves are not reporting it. Another is that Metroland’s newspapers are not terribly good. They are mostly advertising vehicles with little in the way of local news.

The Picton Gazette wants its readers to know that it is independent. It is not published by Metroland. We have been making changes to accommodate the loss of flyer distribution. The newspaper is being quietly and efficiently delivered by the professionals at Canada Post. It has been redesigned for a better reading experience. And it now comes out on Tuesdays. Very soon, newspaper boxes will be out on our main streets and at key gathering places. Mail delivery to every home in the County occurs Wednesdays and Thursdays.

As the world goes digital, we are committed to remaining Canada’s oldest printed community newspaper. At the same time, we are enhancing our internet presence. We have been in touch with the local advertisers who have traditionally distributed their flyers with us. They, too, are feeling the impact of Metroland’s collapse. We will do our best to work together to keep real, independent news reporting, and printed advertising, coming to your mailbox every week.

—Staff