Recognizing the Complexity and Value of Transferring Information

The Problem
This is a New York Times newspaper vending box located right near my office in the parking lot of a wonderful coffee shop called Jessee’s. The other day I noticed the box and it occurred to me how radically things have changed in terms of how we transfer information in our culture. Consider how a newspaper ends up in a box like this one: Newspapers are bundled after print and available for delivery collection at a distribution center starting at midnight the morning of publication. Drivers pick up their day’s delivery and spend the next eight hours depositing them in vending boxes on their route and collecting coins and the unsold papers from the previous day. Considering how most of us consume news information today–instantly and online–this process seems obviously inefficient and antiquated (the boxes can weigh up to 100 pounds and cost $450 each). Needless to say, this kind of business is not long for this world. Here’s a quote from a CNN article I found on the subject:

“It’s 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday, and a white delivery truck for the New Jersey Record has just pulled into the parking lot outside the Plaza Diner in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The driver — Mike, who asked that his last name not be used — is at one of his 130 stops on an eight-hour shift that began at midnight. Mike’s job, which takes less than a couple of minutes per stop, entails filling the coin-operated machine with the day’s papers, collecting unsold copies and emptying the machine of its coins. Even though Mike has a full schedule and lots of stops, it doesn’t equate to pushing as many papers as he once did. Mike loads 15 copies of the Record into one machine — and that’s a good load, he says. Other locations receive only five to seven copies. He’s also tasked with filling machines for USA Today. Though he’s been on this job for only two years, Mike has been on the route long enough to know business is down. He says newspapers sell better at train stations than from the street machines he services.”

The Solution?
The image below represents the solution to the inefficiencies of the vending box model. TimesReader is an application that pulls New York Times content to your computer every day in a more “traditional” reading format than the New York Times website. It also archives up to a week of back “papers” and allows all kinds of unique navigation options. In addition to more content, subscribers get an ad-free interface. For now,though, the website, which provides all New York Times content unrestricted will be the “solution” for people like me. But at some point, The New York Times, and other leading newspapers, will figure out a paid model and the TimesReader will be there to pick it up- particularly if additional devices (such as the rumored Apple tablet) strike deals with newspapers– see the video with Bill Keller at the end of this post for more on that subject.

The Real Problem
The real problem isn’t really the method of delivery. See, the vending box method may seem like an inefficient vestige of the past (which it is, in some respects), but we shouldn’t necessarily consider the online solutions as preferable on the basis of perceived simplicity. I think that the contemporary delivery methods are probably dependent upon significantly more complex systems. With the print model, there is one “template” and several delivery methods (homes, businesses, boxes, and particular vendor outlets). With the online model, there are multiple templates (website, emails, unique content channels, advertising, mobile applications, etc.) and the massive conundrum of delivery (from once daily to constant delivery to a multiplicity of formats).

The real problem is regaining a perception of value, which, in part, requires an accurate perception of complexity. I’m not sure how likely that is- it’s going to depend upon the unique perspectives of individuals everywhere. (For example, consider the perspective of the vending box delivery driver once that system is phased out.) But that aside, the current climate of content consumption is driven by our expectation that it’s all free.

The graph shown to the left (courtesy of The Awl) highlights an overall diminishing circulation trend among the major U.S. papers (the Boston Globe sank below the 400K mark, which is why it does not appear on the chart). However, the Wall Street Journal appears to be enjoying a healthier reality than the others. Because of the overall decline in circulation, though, advertising is waning and news offices are laying off many journalists (and plenty of other positions integral to the production process). None of this is going to be solved (even by a micropayment scheme) until we recognize the value of the systems required in order to produce this content and act upon that recognition.

The Real Solution
So, I don’t exactly know what the real solution is, but I do know it has everything to do with perception of value. With newspapers, the value hierarchy begins with the inherent value of the information itself, followed by the value of the thinking behind it– the writers, editors, producers, etc., followed by the value of the organizational systems, followed by the delivery systems, followed by the value of the corporeal product itself. It’s clear what’s expendable. I also know that many other industries besides journalism are facing this very same issue right now, including our own. For us, and companies like ours, the value hierarchy is very similar to that of a newspaper. Much of our costs have more to do with planning than implementation, and despite our knowledge that the planning is the foundation of any product, getting the customer to recognize the value of it a challenge. That’s why we’ve spent the majority of the past year highlighting the value and necessity of planning, slowly changing the culture of our small corner of the web. I hope that a similar progression occurs in other industries as well.

In the video below, Bill Keller speaks to the digital group at the New York Times, and speaks to many of the topics I’ve mentioned above– potential pricing models, new delivery methods, and new technologies to fulfill them…

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Bill Keller speaks to the digital group at The New York Times from Nieman Journalism Lab on Vimeo.