NAC apologizes for late deliveries

The Newspaper Agency Corp.'s presses are running better and papers are now finding their intended homes, according to NAC President Harry Whipple.

"I'm not aware of any papers that haven't been delivered," Whipple said Monday.

It was a different story a week ago when subscribers of the Deseret Morning News and Salt Lake Tribune received their papers hours late or not at all.

The NAC, which prints both papers, runs presses in downtown Salt Lake City, but the whole operation is moving to a $90 million facility in West Valley City. Last Tuesday's metro edition of the Morning News marked NAC's first daily press run at that facility.

Currently, only one of the three new presses in West Valley is running, with plans to activate another new press in April and the third in May, Whipple said.

"We've had problems from time to time," he said about delivering papers over the past week.

There have been reports of the Utah Valley edition of the Morning News being delivered to subscribers as far north as Roy in Weber County.

Last week NAC officials blamed late papers in the Salt Lake Valley on a new production process, implementing new technology, operating a new press for the first time and a redesigned classified section.

But bad weather Sunday, Whipple said, was the culprit for late delivery in some areas.

And editions of Monday's paper, he added, were off the presses and on the road early. Whipple said the goal is that by June, home delivery of papers will be even earlier than normal.

"We know we're making progress," Whipple said. He also apologized for any inconvenience the transition to a new press facility may be causing readers.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com