Alaska’s largest newspaper is no longer delivering print copies to the Kenai Peninsula. The Anchorage Daily News delivered its last physical newspaper to the area last week after it became too expensive to send papers south of Girdwood, said Daily News Circulation Manager Mark Wasser.
Wasser said the Daily News saw a 60 percent decline in print subscribers from the Kenai Peninsula in the last decade, as more started reading the paper online. And he said, amid high transportation costs, print delivery no longer made economic sense for the company.
The Peninsula Clarion also terminated its contract with the Daily News. Prior, the Clarion was delivering the paper to houses on the peninsula.
The distribution team at the Clarion could not be reached before airtime.
Wasser said the Daily News is constantly rethinking where it’s delivering papers and whether that business is economical. He said they’ll likely reevaluate their delivery service in the Talkeetna and Trapper Creek area next.
Local stores that were carrying the Daily News, like Safeway, will no longer be doing so. Wasser said print subscriptions will now become digital subscriptions.
Readers who want a physical copy of the paper can read the PDF “e-Edition” online or can get it delivered by mail. By-mail copies of the paper would come a few days late and require separate postage.
