Posted on: Sunday, November 7, 2004
USA Today print run moves to Kapolei press
Advertiser Staff
The nation's largest-selling newspaper, USA Today, will get a distribution boost in Hawai'i starting tomorrow, as printing of the national publication for Hawai'i shifts from San Francisco to Kapolei.
The Advertiser's new Kapolei production facility today starts printing the Monday-through-Friday newspaper with a run of about 15,000 Monday copies, compared with typical sales of 2,200 copies flown in from San Francisco.
Because of the printing change, USA Today will benefit from morning delivery on O'ahu and same-day delivery on the Neighbor Islands. Previously, the paper was delivered in the afternoon on O'ahu and the next day on Neighbor Islands.
With more timely delivery, more hotels are ordering copies of the paper that is especially popular with travelers, said Mike Fisch, president and publisher of The Advertiser.
"There were a lot of hotels that didn't carry it because it didn't get in till 2 o'clock in the afternoon," he said.
Craig Moon, USA Today president and publisher, said printing in Hawai'i will better serve readers. "This move emphasizes our efforts to provide the latest news and information to residents of Hawai'i and to our largest audience: travelers," he said.
Fisch said USA Today circulation in Hawai'i is expected to grow further around the start of next year when home delivery of the paper is scheduled to begin.
Kapolei becomes the 36th U.S. location to print USA Today, which is also printed in four foreign countries and has an average daily circulation of 2.3 million.
The paper is published by Gannett Co. Inc., which also owns The Advertiser. Previously, a 40-year-old printing press at The Advertiser's Kapi'olani Boulevard headquarters had insufficient capabilities to print USA Today.
"This is a prime example of our new capability in Kapolei giving us the ability to garner print work from the Mainland," Fisch said. "This is moving printing work to the Islands."
The $82 million Kapolei printing and distribution plant began operating in June. Besides The Advertiser and USA Today, the press prints several other publications, including Hawaii Fishing News, Hawaii Army Weekly, Hawaii Navy News, Pennysaver, Buy & Sell, Ka Nupepa, West O'ahu Current and Leeward Current.
