The Post-Standard to move newspaper printing from Syracuse plant

Workers operate the press at The Post-Standard. (File photo by David Lassman | The Post-Standard)
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Syracuse, N.Y. – Printing of The Post-Standard will move from Clinton Square to Advance Local’s press facility in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, starting in August.

Tim Kennedy, regional president for Advance Local, said the change will not affect delivery times for Post-Standard subscribers. The newspaper will continue to be printed seven days a week and be home-delivered on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and available at retail stores the other days.

He said the look and news content of the newspaper will not change.

The media company’s journalists, sales professionals and other employees moved in 2013 from its offices on Clinton Square to Merchants Commons on South Warren Street.

In 2017, Advance sold that Clinton Square building where the newspaper has been printed since the early 1970s. The buyer, VIP Structures, leased back to the newspaper the printing facility in the rear of the building.

Kennedy said the lease will expire at the end of the year, which he said was a significant factor in the decision to move production.

The press has been used less as more readers get their news from the newspaper’s online partners: syracuse.com, nyup.com and the e-Post-Standard, the digital replica of the newspaper.

In addition, the company has seen a drop in the amount of printing it does for other publications, part of a national decline in print publication sales. In 2014, the press printed seven publications in addition to The Post-Standard. Today, beyond The Post-Standard, it does the printing for one daily publication and two smaller non-daily customers.

Kennedy said another factor was the need to invest millions of dollars to replace obsolete parts and related systems for the press, which was installed in 2002 as part of a $40 million expansion.

The Post-Standard press hall on North Salina Street. (Nicholas Lisi | The Post-Standard)

Spending the additional money to upgrade the press cannot be justified by the plant’s current use, he said. That money is better spent on local news coverage, Kennedy said.

The 20 full-time and 18 part-time employees who operate the press will be offered other positions with the company. Those who choose to leave will be offered severance and job placement assistance.

The Harrisburg plant prints The Patriot-News, a daily newspaper owned by Advance Local.

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