Come back, MX

Posted on by Steve Neely

On behalf of thousands of customers of Plum Natural Market in Forest City and Barley’s in Spindale, we are disappointed at your recent decision to quit delivering your paper to these businesses for pickup.

Believe it or not, Rutherford County is considered a mountain county full of progressive-minded, environmentally friendly and healthy-lifestyle people who look to Asheville as our big-city mecca for entertainment and live music. We are also interested in the local political scene in Asheville and enjoy the other articles about issues and people and food.

We have had numerous complaints about not having a place in the county to pick up our “real newspaper.” Please reconsider your recent policies, and we will be very, very, grateful.

— Steve Neely
Forest City

Xpress Distribution Manager Sammy Cox responds: Thanks for the kind words and for taking the effort to voice your concerns. In seeking to reduce expenses, we evaluated our entire distribution model, which led to reducing outlying locations on route delivery, discontinuing third-class subscriptions and eliminating our expensive parcel shipments to businesses outside our 1,000-mile delivery network. We had been shipping UPS parcels to about 30 locations, including Spindale, Forest City, Greenville, Cherokee, Andrews, Columbia etc., at an annual expense well over $10,000. We always took pride in providing this service to our loyal readers, and as soon as we decided to eliminate parcels, we sent a memo to these businesses thanking them for their support. Our distribution team is open to any suggestions that could lead to future deliveries to your area. Meanwhile, we do have an incredible Web site (www.mountainx.com) that provides even more layers of information than our print version. I know it’s not the same as browsing through Xpress with a hot cup of coffee, but do check us out online.

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Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

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One thought on “Come back, MX”

  1. Piffy!

    I would imagine there are people driving from Asheville to those regions at least once a week who could be persuaded to deliver said papers at a much more affordable rate than UPS, yes?

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