Mass News Mailing Fails to Reach Every Address

The U.S. Postal Service disappointed The Monticello News staff last week, and every address in Jasper County did not receive a Monticello News Thursday or Friday. And, some which did receive the paper, did not receive it until well after it should have.

However, it appears the vast majority of addresses in Monticello, Hillsboro and Shady Dale did receive a newspaper.

Unfortunately, some subscribers did not receive their papers in outlying areas. For unknown reasons, a subscriber in Wrightsville did not get his paper as he usually does. That makes no sense. It was addressed and mailed like always.

One purpose of the mailing was to familiarize residents who have Mansfield and Newborn addresses and live in Jasper County with the local newspaper, as many of them have moved in from other areas and may not know what all the county offers.

Unfortunately, some of those people did not receive newspaper. I know this because my stepdaughter and her family have a Mansfield address and as of Monday had not received a Monticello News.

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Likewise, persons with P.O. Boxes in those towns did not get a paper, as the post offices are located in Newton County. Subscribers with post office boxes in those towns had their mail thrown in with the other out of town, and have not yet gotten the paper.

Papers for the mass mailing were delivered to the Covington post office annex which serves the carrier routes for Mansfield and Newborn. However, because that should have covered most of the subscribers, the post office box subscribers papers were not delivered separately. I take the blame for that.

Some of the papers delivered to Covington found their way back to Monticello on Friday. No one really understands why.

And, it turns out some people who live in Jasper County have Covington addresses. Those addresses did not receive the paper either.

Several people who do not subscribe did receive the free newspaper and commented to us, so that we know it reached many of the people it was intended to reach. We are sorry it did not reach all.

The mass mailing was a huge undertaking, especially with it being probably the largest paper we ever published. It was expensive and required many extra hours of work. However, the nature of the beast is that it is hard to do much in advance.

So, the mass mailing was no more perfect than any other week’s paper. We try hard to be accurate, and we try to proof and get rid of typos. But, alas, it is not to be. We are human, and make mistakes.

Hopefully, however, the paper reached most of the voters and the information inside helped them to make up their minds, if they were undecided, so they were prepared to vote Tuesday.

And, maybe, it informed some residents that there is indeed a local paper that covers the news of Jasper County.

For more information about The News, interested persons may call 706-468-6511, e-mail editor@themonticellonews.com, or log onto our website, www.themonticellonews.com.

Our mailing address is P.O. Box 30, Monticello, GA, 31064, and our physical address is 237 West Washington Street, Monticello, about one-half block west of the Monticello Square.

We love to hear from our readers, and we appreciate feedback. Please send us your suggestions as we strive to improve your community newspaper.